HBR's 10 Must Reads on Women and Leadership (with bonus article "Sheryl Sandberg: The HBR Interview")

by Harvard Business Review, Herminia Ibarra, Deborah Tannen

What will it take to create a more gender-balanced workplace? If you read nothing else on leadership and gender at work, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you understand where gender equality is today--and how far we still have to go. This book will inspire you This collection of articles includes "Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership," by Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli; "Do Women Lack Ambition?" by Anna Fels; "Women The Unseen Barriers," by Herminia Ibarra, Robin Ely, and Deborah Kolb; "Women and the Vision Thing," by Herminia Ibarra and Otilia Obodaru; "The Power of Who Gets Heard and Why," by Deborah Tannen; "The Memo Every Woman Keeps in Her Desk," by Kathleen Reardon; "Why Diversity Programs Fail," by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev; "Now What?" by Joan C. Williams and Suzanne Lebsock; "The Battle for Female Talent in Emerging Markets," by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid; "Off-Ramps and Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success," by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce; and "Sheryl The HBR Interview," by Sheryl Sandberg and Adi Ignatius.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Self Help

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 23, 2018

Reviews

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In keeping with HBR, this is mainly geared towards private sector. I knew that going in, but am still always disappointed by the reality. But some of this is still applicable to public sector. I thought the most interesting part was an interview with Sheryl Sandburg at the end, which they threw in as a “bonus appendix”.

[Agnes Roantree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skipped one article (can't remember which one) and the rest was nice, lots of useful words that will make me sound important (seriously, the language was great in all of them) but not that many ground-breaking thoughts and concepts. Still a good collection that, hopefully, makes me more aware of certain things in the workplace.

[Danijela Jerković · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes on HBR's Must Reads on Women and Leadership...

“The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.”
~Padmasree Warrior (CEO & Founder, Fable)



1: Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership
by Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli

Women occupy 40% of all managerial positions in the United States. But only 6% of the Fortune 500’s top executives are female. And just 2% of those firms have women CEOs.

We’ve long blamed such numbers on the “glass ceiling,” the notion that women successfully climb the corporate hierarchy until they’re blocked just below the summit. But the problem stems from
discrimination operating at all ranks, not just the top, say Eagly and Carli.

Therefore, to move more women into your company’s executive suite, you must attack all barriers to advancement simultaneously. For example, prepare women for line management with demanding assignments. Use objective criteria to measure performance.

Women’s leadership style—characterized by innovating, building trust, and empowering followers—is ideally suited to today’s business challenges. Tackle the obstacles to women’s progress, and you’ll increase your firm’s competitive prowess.

Understand the Career Barriers Women Encounter...
Extensive academic and government research studies identify these obstacles:

- Prejudice
- Resistance to women’s leadership
- Leadership style issues
- Family demands

Intervene on Multiple Fronts...
Because of the interconnectedness of obstacles women face, companies that want more women leaders need to apply a variety of tactics simultaneously:

- Evaluate and reward women’s productivity by objective results, not by “number of hours at
work.”
- Make performance-evaluation criteria explicit, and design evaluation processes to limit the
influence of evaluators’ biases.
- Instead of relying on informal social networks and referrals to fill positions, use open-
recruitment tools such as advertising and employment agencies.
- Avoid having a sole female member on any team. Outnumbered, women tend to be ignored by
men.
- Encourage well-placed, widely esteemed individuals to mentor women.
- Ensure a critical mass of women in executive positions to head off problems that come with
tokenism. Women’s identities as women will become less salient to colleagues than their
individual competencies.
- Give women demanding developmental job experiences to train them for leadership positions.
- Establish family-friendly HR practices (including flextime, job sharing, and telecommuting).
You’ll help women stay in their jobs while rearing children, allow them to build social capital, and
enable them eventually to compete for higher positions. Encourage men to participate in the
family-friendly benefits, too (for example, by providing paternity leave). When only women
participate, their careers suffer because companies expect them to be off the job while exercising
those options.
- Give employees with significant parental responsibilities more time to show they’re qualified for
promotion. Parents may need a year or two more than childless professionals.
- Establish alumni programs for women who need to step away from the workforce. Then tap their
expertise to show that returning is possible. Consulting giant Booz Allen, for example, sees its
alumni as a source of subcontractors.

If women are to achieve equality, women and men will have to share leadership equally.


“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
~ Muriel Strode (Poet)



2: Do Women Lack Ambition?
by Anna Fels


“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”
~ Marianne Williamson (Author and Activist)



3: Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers.
by Herminia Ibarra, Robin Ely, and Deborah Kolb

Becoming a leader involves much more than being put in a leadership role, acquiring new skills, and adapting one’s style to the requirements of that role. It involves a fundamental identity shift.

The context must support a woman’s motivation to lead and also increase the likelihood that others
will recognize and encourage her efforts—even when she doesn’t look or behave like the current generation of senior executives.

People become leaders by internalizing a leadership identity and developing a sense of purpose. Internalizing a sense of oneself as a leader is an iterative process. A person asserts leadership by taking purposeful action—such as convening a meeting to revive a dormant project.

Leadership identity, which begins as a tentative, peripheral aspect of the self, eventually withers away, along with opportunities to grow through new assignments and real achievements. Over time, an aspiring leader acquires a reputation as having—or not having—high potential.

The Baseline...
People become leaders iteratively: They shoulder increasingly challenging roles, learn from mentors, and experiment with new behaviors. Then, if their performance is affirmed, they repeat the process.

What the Research Shows...
That process is often more difficult for women than for men because of subtle biases. For example, behavior considered assertive in a man is seen as aggressive in a woman and thus denigrated rather than rewarded.

The Path Forward...
Just naming those biases can help men and women alike to understand what’s going on. That frees women to focus more on leadership purpose and less on how they’re perceived.

The three actions we suggest to support women’s access to leadership positions are

(1) educate women and men about second-generation gender bias,
(2) create safe “identity workspaces” to support transitions to bigger roles, and
(3) anchor women’s development efforts in a sense of leadership purpose rather than in how
women are perceived.

These actions will give women insight into themselves and their organizations, enabling
them to more effectively chart a course to leadership.

Learning how to be an effective leader is like learning any complex skill: It rarely comes naturally and usually takes a lot of practice.


“You are never too small to make a difference.”
~ Greta Thunberg (Environmental Activist)



4: Women and the Vision Thing
by Herminia Ibarra and Otilia Obodaru

Women are still a minority in the top ranks of business. The reason? Their perceived lack of vision, according to Ibarra and Obodaru. In 360-degree feedback, women score relatively low on key elements of visioning—including ability to sense opportunities and threats, to set strategic direction, and to inspire constituents.

The authors’ research suggests three explanations for women’s low visioning scores:
- Some women don’t buy into the value of being visionary.
- Some women lack the confidence to go out on a limb with an untested vision.
- Some women who develop a vision in collaboration with their teams don’t get credit for having
created one.

Regardless of the cause, women seeking more senior roles must be perceived as visionary leaders. They can start by understanding what “being visionary” means in practical terms—and then honing their visioning skills.

What “Being Visionary” Means?
Being visionary is a matter of exercising three skills well:

1) Sensing opportunities and threats in the environment
2) Setting strategic direction
3) Inspiring constituents

How to Strengthen Your Visioning Skills?
- Appreciate the importance of visioning.
- Leverage (or build) your network.
- Learn the craft.
- Let go of old roles.
- Constantly communicate.
- Step up to the plate.

The challenge facing women is to stop dismissing the vision thing and make vision one of the things they are known for.

In a senior leadership role, it’s the best use of their time and attention. It’s a set of competencies that can be developed. And of all the leadership dimensions we measured, it’s the only thing holding women back.


“Rarely are opportunities presented to you in a perfect way. In a nice little box with a yellow bow on top. 'Here, open it, it's perfect. You'll love it.' Opportunities – the good ones – are messy, confusing, and hard to recognize. They're risky. They challenge you.”
~ Susan Wojcicki (CEO, Youtube)



5: The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why
by Deborah Tannen

Communication isn’t as simple as saying what you mean. How you say what you mean is crucial, and differs from one person to the next, because using language is learned social behavior: How we talk and listen are deeply influenced by cultural experience. Although we might think that
our ways of saying what we mean are natural, we can run into trouble if we interpret and evaluate others as if they necessarily felt the same way we’d feel if we spoke the way they did.

Most managerial work happens through talk—discussions, meetings, presentations, negotiations. And it is through talk that managers evaluate others and are themselves judged. Using research carried out in a variety of workplace settings, linguist Deborah Tannen demonstrates how conversational style often overrides what we say, affecting who gets heard, who gets credit, and what gets done.

Tannen’s linguistic perspective provides managers with insight into why there is so much poor communication. Gender plays an important role. Tannen traces the ways in which women’s styles can undermine them in the workplace, making them seem less competent, confident, and self-assured than they are. She analyzes the underlying social dynamic created through talk in common workplace interactions. She argues that a better understanding of linguistic style will make
managers better listeners and more effective communicators, allowing them to develop more flexible approaches to a full range of managerial activities


“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”
~ Oprah Winfrey (Media Executive and Philanthropist)



6: The Memo Every Woman Keeps in Her Desk
by Kathleen Reardon


“Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt (Former First Lady of the United States)



7: Why Diversity Programs Fail
by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev

The Problem...
To reduce bias and increase diversity, organizations are relying on the same programs they’ve been using since the 1960s. Some of these efforts make matters worse, not better.

The Reason...
Most diversity programs focus on controlling managers’ behavior, and as studies show, that approach tends to activate bias rather than quash it. People rebel against rules that threaten their autonomy.

The Solution...
Instead of trying to police managers’ decisions, the most effective programs engage people in working for diversity, increase their contact with women and minorities, and tap into their desire to look good to others.


“Leadership is hard to define, and good leadership even harder. But if you can get people to follow you to the ends of the earth, you are a great leader.”
~ Indra Nooyi (Former CEO, PepsiCo)



8: Now What?
by Joan C. Williams and Suzanne Lebsock

Women are being believed!
Women, if colleagues make you uncomfortable, tell them.
If you’re harassed, report it

“Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.”
~ Dianne Feinstein (Senior United States Senator)



9: The Battle for Female Talent in Emerging Markets
~by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid

How to Attract and Keep Talented Women?

1. Find talent early. The best place to start looking is in the universities.
2. Help your women recruits build networks to fight isolation and gain visibility while achieving
their business goals.
3. Give them international exposure, but provide plenty of support for families in the host
countries.
4. Build ties outside the company—to clients, customers, and communities.

It will be years before the glass ceiling is broken in emerging markets, but some multinational companies are helping to speed up the process by ensuring that they attract and retain the most talented women available.

This not only improves the prospects of these companies in developing countries but also has a significant effect on the women they employ. The remarkable reality is that these women are at the forefront of change, shaping the very world in which they live.


“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence, and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”
~ Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook)



10: Off-Ramps and On-Ramps Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success.
by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce

For professional women, it’s unusual not to step off the career fast track at least once. With children to raise, elderly parents to care for, and other family demands, many women feel they have little choice but to off-ramp.

When women are ready to step back on track, opportunities are limited: Available jobs don’t measure up in pay or prestige to previous positions. Result? Women returning to the workforce are demoralized. And companies miss the chance to leverage women’s best skills. With talent shortages looming over the next decade, firms must reverse the female brain drain if they hope to beat rivals.

Like it or not, many highly skilled women need to take time off. How to ensure your company’s access to their talents over the long term? Help off-ramping women maintain connections that will enable them to reenter the workforce without being marginalized. Reduced-hour jobs, flexible workdays, and removal of off-ramping’s stigma are just a few strategies. For example, consulting firm Ernst & Young used such approaches to reverse an expensive downward trend in women’s
retention and increase its percentage of female partners threefold.


How to reverse female brain drain in your firm?
Consider these strategies:

- Create Reduced-Hour Jobs
- Provide Flexible Workdays
- Provide Flexible Career Arcs
- Remove the Stigma
- Stop Burning Bridges
- Nurture Ambition

In short, the talent is there; the challenge is to create the circumstances that allow businesses to take advantage of it over the long run. To tap this all-important resource, companies must understand the complexities of women’s nonlinear careers and be prepared to support rather than punish those who take alternate routes


“It’s okay to admit what you don’t know. It’s okay to ask for help. And it’s more than okay to listen to the people you lead – in fact, it’s essential.”
~ Mary Barra (CEO, General Motors)



It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.
~ Madeleine Albright

[MCheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The article “The Power is Talk” had a huge impact on me... I felt like the author was calling me out on all of my inner thoughts. I had no idea that those things weren’t just a “me” thing, but a product of socialization based on my gender. Wow.

The other article I enjoyed was “Why Diversity Programs Fail”. I felt like it had some really helpful tools that any business could apply to actually help with diversity, rather than just talking the talk.

The reason I rated this 3 stars was because it really bothered me that most of the articles talked about this study or that study, but had no citations or links to the actual studies. Not only would I have appreciated this for further reading, but it just made me really skeptical that I just had no information other than a vague idea that “they” did a study on “thing” with “some people”.

[Rina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t aware there was such thing as Harvard Business Review (HBR)’s 10 Must Read. The topic for this one (Women and Leadership) was definitely near and dear to me, so I was the perfect audience for it.

The contents of the 10 chapters/tracks really resonated well with me. The suggestions on increasing diversity, improving salary gaps, and having more women in leadership roles were great, they just needed to be implemented across organisations and corporations.

Great collection of essays, book excerpts, and interviews on Women and their journey in leadership roles! One that I most probably will revisit over time.

See my bookstagram review.

[Sophia Exintaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most disturbing thing is how old (1993-2018) the articles are (and were at date of publication 2019) and yet how relevant they all still feel.

The best article of the lot was « Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership » by Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli, 2007. Look for it online. It talks about how the « glass ceiling » metaphor is now past its use, and we need to look out for a labyrinth with invisible obstacles all along the way.

« Women and the Vision Thing » by Herminia Ibarra and Otilia Obodaru, 2009, needs to be read by every single person in the workplace so everyone has a sense of the strange bias in leadership that works against women’s success in the field.

Overall a good collection of articles. And remember you can read them online for free (a certain number a month).

[Helga Picarra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este livro tem artigos muito pertinentes, que servem como um bom ponto de partida para discussões importantes sobre o mundo corporativo e as mulheres.
Entretanto, julgo que seria necessário investigar com mais detalhes as reais dificuldades das mulheres negras, nas diferentes geografias, e as várias vertentes de "leadership" - que não está apenas associada ao mundo corporativo, é um tema que deve começar a ser abordado desde a família e o ensino de base.
Apesar disso, recomendo a leitura, pois pode servir como base para as mulheres que já estão inseridas no mundo corporativo, repensarem no seu papel.

[Maya Bobotis · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the articles in this entire collection stuck with me. It was actually quite touching and made me feel seen as it addressed men’s ignorance regarding the power they hold to be change-makers.

Other than that, a lot of it felt a little out of touch in proposing “work-life balance” strategies for women that seldom offered comprehensive and complementary strategies for the men in their lives to adapt as well.

In sum, while I appreciate the sentiment as a feminist myself, I find this collection of articles reveals that we still have many layers to uncover and address if we truly hope to reach a world where women can thrive.

[Mojdeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes ,it’s definitely a 5-star review. Maybe it feels so powerful because it’s my first time really learning how I’m perceived as a woman in the world. I’ve always felt confident, but I now see that confidence is judged differently by men and by the industry.

The chapter “Who Gets Heard” really hit home. I finally realized that when people say “work on your confidence,” they mean something very different from what I thought ,and now I understand the “why” behind so many questions I could never answer before.

The future feels different now. But to change it, we first need to understand how confidence is interpreted, and then work to redefine it so more voices can be heard and respected.

[Yesica Aguirre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Women’s power base it’s strength in the inside force and ambition surrounded by values and personal goals, but must of all the persistence and ability to adapt to everything and be resilient. In today’s world this super women powers are constantly attack by people and men that doesn’t want to appreciate or that sadly believe that bulling and sexual harassment can be a solution to intimidate the unstoppable growing that women have in our world today. This book give us plenty examples of how we can kept growing everyday and more with nothing but values and continuous challenging ourselves.

[Débora · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone that is very into this topic, most of the articles didn't bring me anything new (for sure some will be very enlightening for some people!). However, that didn't matter since the whole book is powerful, empowering, extremely important, and it has some great calls to action. I would without a doubt recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Additionally, this was my first HBR's 10 Must Reads book, and I've enjoyed the concept so much that I have already bought a bunch of other books from this collection (I do prefer the books over reading the articles online).

[Jae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great collection of articles focusing on women in the professional world. It touched upon so many aspects. I wanted to reread every article one more time some time in the future when I actually am facing those issues.

Some of the articles are quite old. But it is great to see that the ideas people brought up 15 years ago have become the norm. I can definitely feel the changes happening. On the other hand, there are still so many things remaining unchanged.

Highly recommend this book!

[Madi Thurgood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciated how data based all of the papers were. They provided a fairly comprehensive path forward which is at times missing from social science papers.

Big focus on discussing gender issues at work and the importance of flexible work. I appreciated how all of the authors talked about how both work and home/personal lives have strong impacts in the different ways that men and women participate in work - specifically in upper leadership.

There was only 1/10 papers that I didn’t love. Overall there’s lots to take out of the book.

[Clarissa D · Rating 3 out of 5]

These articles may have been groundbreaking when they were written, but a lot of this has become part of the ether or is conflicting. Yes, the first few articles go hard into the double bind thing. That's good background. I really liked the one that is a critique on one woman's approach to notifying her manager of the misogynistic culture in the company. It is such a great example of how advice to women varies so much depending on who you ask and can be so conflicting.

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it so much. Lots of the facts in the articles are a bit outdated but the theories and concepts suggested are all very relevant. Somewhat sad how old some of the articles are yet everything being said still feels so relevant today. Maybe would be good for me to read again 5 years down the line, but a great read nevertheless. I lowkey miss reading HBS articles for class so this was great for the morning commute

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful... and discouraging. The fact that the career success of women and people of color is still gate kept by the desire of men to share the sandbox is disheartening. If the middle class white man is still the key to unlocking the upward potential of all others then we need to raise empathetic men that believe in equality. Please.

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read some articles but to be honest, I cannot get or remember all information. i think the reasons are I dont know how to apply those info into my work. i will expect somethjng more applicable to my situation more. however, there are some truths to note about why men behave like that. knowing that might help me have different view points for my boss and colleagues

[Lauryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This one didn't inspire me at all: there was a lot of information regarding the problems women face in workplaces/inhibitors to career success, but there was not enough on what we should do or change, or how I can change. More informative than execution-based.

[Denise Dziwak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The basics to get re inspired and in action to drive gender equality

Inclusion comes from understanding the basis, both societal and intrinsically that drives women out of the workforce or outs then in worse conditions for success. These 10 papers cover most of the topics.

[Debbie Collard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got some great information from this book about relevant and current topics.

[Cass · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great

[Teodora · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and inspiring collection that invites the reader to dive deeper and go to the original books about the topic of women and work.

[Radhika Chavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insights. Authors have covered good % of all aspects of the topic filled with their personal experiences.

[Leela Shamash]

i love that they cite the malleus maleficarum in this

[An Hoàng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad

[Lauren Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic compilation of writings that cover various issues women face to become leaders. There were many ah-ha! moments for me that were relatable to my own work-life experience and this voiced how I was feeling. Great read!

[Carolin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is getting outdated. One of the articles is from 2005 and I think aka hope lots has changed since.
It’s also very US centric which I can’t take very serious in this context with the number of holidays on offer and no meaningful maternity or paternity policies. It would have been interesting to find out what is working in other countries

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discusses both women and minority issues. Recommends classifying value as more than just the hours put in, but rather the quality and value of the work. It also suggests people who are more invested in the company and its values can provide more to the business. I enjoyed reading it and looking past the stereotypical climbing of the corporate ladder to getting more fulfillment at work and being ok with a zig-zagging career.