You know when you’re in the presence of a great charismatic leader. She exudes calm and an inner fire all at once. She soothes your worries with her take-charge mindset, but she never smothers or ignores you. She’s proud without being arrogant. Her ideas are bold and extremely effective. Her style is undeniable. Her sense of humour is second-to-none. She’s right where she wants to be.
Hard work and dedication are essential ingredients for success at work, but they’re only part of the equation.
In days of yore, our culture trained women to behave in more submissive ways, and shackled with this counter-productive set of behaviours, it was difficult for even the most talented girl to rise to the top. Then there was the age of feminism and a backlash that left the guys feeling emasculated by female leadership. While the 80s was a great time for female leaders, the days of power suits and boyish haircuts are behind us now, too.
These days, the ideal female leader is a more complex creature than her 80s or 90s predecessors. She walks in a world where strength is valued just as much as the ability to nurture, where men are not so much competitors as colleagues and collaborators.
The result? The modern world of female leaders is populated by some exceptional women who are also just exceptional human beings. Women are beginning to take the reigns en-masse, and true leadership is emerging in fabulous female form all around us.
Here are the top ten attributes to cultivate if you dream of blasting through the glass ceiling.
- Rockstar Communication
Communication is more than a skill; it’s a commodity in the digital age. The ability to deliver and receive communication effectively impacts on all aspects of your job that require interaction with other human beings.
Listen. Really listen. Pay attention to non-verbal cues. Be in more of a hurry to understand than to be understood. But when you have something to say, practice the skill of placing yourself in your listener’s shoes and deliver only what they need to know to get the message. And have some fun doing it – you’ll get better results from everyone around you if you make them smile!
- Grace Under Fire
It’s a biological imperative that human beings are attracted to the tallest, fittest, most graceful member of the tribe. Women who stand up straight, who move with assurance and power, communicate control and ease with every nuance.
If you’ve got two left feet, become a practitioner of yoga or a martial art, dance or any other movement discipline and start enjoying your physical power and beauty. You will command attention.
- Style and Substance
A sense of style is not a mere matter for flippant fashion mags. In the modern world, presentation of products, websites, office spaces and cars is important – so why wouldn’t your personal presentation rank high on the list of priorities?
If you think nothing of dashing out the door without a jot of makeup, remember the old adage that your face belongs less to you and more to the people who have to look at it all day long. Hire a stylist if this paragraph made you break out in a cold sweat.
- Inner Zen
There is a big difference between listening to your colleagues and being a candle in the wind. Your ability to stand your ground when you believe in something, to handle crises with quiet confidence, and to rally the troops before battle, are all indications of leadership material. But the biggest indicator of inner strength is the ability to listen to contributions and even criticism without losing your temper or your nerve.
- Panache!
Panache is a step beyond confidence: it’s the ability to have fun while being confident. Self-doubt, insecurity, self-deprecation – these are the characteristics of a by-gone era, girls. Over-confidence, over-compensation, bullishness – also by-gones, if a bit more recent. The modern woman conducts herself with enough self-assurance to level the playing field between herself and her male colleagues, and enough humour about it that nobody feels like she’s cultivating her chest hairs. Get used to being in the limelight. It’s where you belong.
- Good Balance
In the modern age, workaholics just come off looking: a) inefficient and b) uninteresting.
So balancing a family, a career and a life outside of both is a big ask? No kidding. But the few who find this balance and thrive while finding it are demonstrating major skills in the areas of scheduling, prioritising and relationship management. Now doesn’t that sound like a leader you’d like to work with?
- Compassion
Many in the business world have only recently awoken to the reality that people are their most valuable asset. In the new landscape, people management is not achieved through threatening, bullying and belittling the worker into delivering more. It’s achieved through reaching out and finding out exactly what makes people tick, what they want and need in order to shine, and what contribution can be made to make them feel deeply content in their chosen careers.
Begin practicing the art of caring for your team right now.
- Thinking Outside The Box
So you think women can’t read a map? Maybe it’s time to learn. Maps, diagrams, lists and charts are all tools of strategy, and strategic thinking is a core attribute of a charismatic female leader.
The ability to think strategically results in smarter responses to the unexpected and more efficient methodologies. Put simply, good leaders always have a vision, and a plan for how to execute it.
- A Fire In The Belly
Ambition is a bit of a dirty word in some circles. But if you take its meaning from its Latin roots, it means to take action around something. In this context, we can recreate ambition as our friend: a desire or drive to take actions, based on a theme or intention.
Whether you use this word or find another that’s got less baggage, the fact remains that people are drawn to leaders who think up a plan, then act on it with gusto and tenacity.
- Rock-Solid Networks
Networking can be a nebulous term, but when boiled down, it’s about having a community around you that is inspired to help you succeed. In the first instance, the way to build this community is through acts that show your interest in their success: introductions, mentoring, contributing in whatever way comes to mind.
But the second and most critical step (and the one that many women shy away from) is the ability to call on your network to help you when you need it.
