By Lopa Patel, 10 December 2009
On 7th December 2009, former journalist and political press secretary Amanda Platell wrote a highly inflammatory article entitled ‘Moody, indecisive and always trying to behave like a man, why ladies make truly lousy bosses’ published in UK national newspaper ‘The Daily Mail’. I felt I couldn’t let Platell’s Top 20 Female Boss misconceptions go unchallenged, so here is my response.
Top 20 Female Boss Misconceptions Challenged.
1. Amanda Platell's misconception number 1: 'Nor are we (women) single-minded enough, nor focused, nor task driven, nor adept at that simple but essential boss task of giving orders'.
Answer: This is not true otherwise there would be no female bosses at all. Former UK Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher is a good example of a female who was “single minded, ‘focussed’, ‘task-driven’ and ‘adept at giving orders’.
2. Female bosses often think they have to be nastier than the nastiest male boss to succeed
Answer: This is not true. Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley is an entrepreneur. She started an early business technology group on her dining room table with £6 in 1962. In 25 years as its Chief Executive, she developed the company, now called Xansa into a FTSE 250 leading technology group, which has pioneered new working practices and changed the position of professional women - especially in hi-tech - along the way. She is extremely well-liked by men and women in equal measure and was recently appointed as the UK Government's Giving and Philanthropy Ambassador
3. Our (women’s) commercial DNA is not wired for corporate success.
Answer: This is not true either. Clara Furse, former Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange and Dame Marjorie Scardino, DBE, FRSA, Chairman of Pearson Plc prove that it is possible to attain corporate success in the City.
4. I had that classic female trait of being able to get the most out of people - it’s called nurturing now - but I also wanted to be liked, a fatal flaw in a boss.
Answer: ‘Wanting to be liked’ is not a fatal flaw. There are been much criticism of Lord Alan Sugar’s aggressive, authoritarian style from the business community and more praise for the men and women who have an inclusive, likeable style. ‘Britain’s Best Boss’ this year was Debbie Hinton who is a County Audiology Services Manager for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. Debbie’s staff were all very appreciative of her “can do” attitude to flexibility.
5. And like most women bosses, I took things too personally.
Answer: There are plenty of women bosses who don’t take things personally. Maintaining a calm, rational, reasoned manner is an important skill developed by most bosses.
6. I was a good manager of people, but a lousy risk-taker.
Answer: Entrepreneurial women are risk takers (either with their own money or a lender’s money) so this assertion is completely false. It is possible to be a good manager of people and be a risk-taker at the same time.
7. Companies with disproportionately more female board members have lower profitability and lower market value.
Answer: Platell quotes a survey to back this up, but as I am unable to find this report it is difficult to analyse the veracity of this conclusion. However Norway - where women make up more than a third of listed company Boards - would be in extremely dire straits of this assertion was true.
8. Companies made up of more women executives are good at keeping afloat, but not at motoring ahead.
Answer: This is not true. Ruby McGregor-Smith (pictured, left), CEO of Mitie Group Plc, is having a good recession. In fact, she is cleaning up. Mitie, the outsourcing company is winning contracts where others cut in-house costs and restructure. In May 2009, the group was already nearly three quarters of the way to hitting the full year's revenue target. For the year to March 2009, pre-tax profits rose 11 per cent to £78.4 million on revenues 8 per cent ahead at £1.52 billion.
9. We’re good at preventing bust but not at facilitating boom.
Answer: There are plenty of good examples of women who have led the growth for the company. Perween Warsi DBE (pictured, left) founded S&A Foods, the fastest-growing independent food manufacturer in the UK from her kitchen. She sold her business in 1998 and then bought it back again in 2004 with a help of venture capital firm 3i. Today S&A foods makes 1.25m ready meals a week, employs 600 staff, turns over more than £60m a year and has plans to expand internationally.
10. Women bosses tend to fall into two categories - too soft or too hard.
Answer: Individual leadership styles vary and the issue of being “too soft or too hard” is immaterial to gender or in fact to the role of being a boss. A wide range of skills are required to being a boss, including but not limited to, communication skills, leadership skills, financial acuity, organisational skills, vision, creativity, pragmatism, dedication and hard work.
11. Successful bosses mono-task, women multi-task.
Answer: Multi-tasking is an important skill for many professions but focus is more important for bosses and many women have both sets of skills. If women could only multi-task without being able to focus when required, there would be no women bosses at all.
12. Men are dispassionate, we (women) are naturally emotional.
Answer: this is a tired old cliché. Women can be just as “hard” as men if necessary. Consider Dawn Gibbins MBE (pictured, left), Chairman of Flowcrete. After an early bohemian backpacking lifestyle, Dawn set up a company from home in 1982 that today has grown to be a world leader, with offices in 30 countries and 12 manufacturing plants around the globe. Flowcrete, the Cheshire-based specialist flooring manufacturer, is the European market leader and number two in the world, with an annual turnover of £25m.Along the way Dawen has won the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year Award and been voted Most Influential Person in British Manufacturing. Construction…you can’t get much harder than that.
13. They (men) take risks, we ensure against loss.
Answer: this is another tired old cliché. Take the example of Indo-American, Indra Nooyi (pictured, left), first female CEO of Pepsi Co. According to Business Week magazine, since she started as CFO in 2000, the company's annual revenues have risen 72%, while net profit more than doubled, to $5.6 billion in 2006. Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named president and CFO in 2001. She directed the company's global strategy for more than a decade and led PepsiCo's restructuring, including the 1997 divestiture of its restaurants. Nooyi also took the lead in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998, and merger with Quaker Oats Company, which also brought Gatorade to PepsiCo.
14. Women are their worst enemies with the avalanche of sexual discrimination compensation claims in corporate life.
Answer: this is a huge assumption. Sexual discrimination should be tackled, through tribunals or the law courts, to highlight poor employment practice. Claiming that women are their own worst enemies by bringing such cases against their employer is giving in to stereotypes. Most people believe that the law is reasonable and fair when it comes to compensation payments which are usually calculated on loss of earnings.
15. We can’t go on blaming it on men and an unfair system weighted against women.
The “unfair system” can be tackled with improved legislation such as the Equality Bill which was passed by Parliament in November 2009. Norway didn't wait 100 years for an unequal system to correct itself - the results of equality legislation there have been remarkable.
16. You have to ask yourself why even in modern times there are few great female boss characters.
Answer: There are plenty of great female bosses around. Amanda Platell needs to just “get out more”!
17. Simon Cowell has The X Factor, in which Dannii and Cheryl are little more than pretty props.
Answer: Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole are both extremely successful singers in their own right and great mentors for young, would-be X-Factor contestants. Simon Cowell is a successful record producer but Platell’s analogy compares “apples and pears” rather than “apples with apples”. And why not compare Dannii and Cheryl with Louis (the fourth judge on X-Factor) is that because Platell’s assertion does not hold up?
18. Even on shows such as Dragons’ Den, there is only one woman dragon.
Indeed, there is only one woman dragon. However, as only 15% of the UK 4.7 million businesses are run by women (BERR, 2009) perhaps this is representative. TV Dragon Deborah Meaden also made her money in caravan parks which fall outside the ‘caring, catering and fashion’ businesses in which Platell attests women score highly! On Dragon’s Den Online Julie Meyer and Shaf Rasul are the only judges so here women represent 50% of the business world.
19: The two great success stories running UK companies demonstrate this point – one being Marjorie Scardino at Pearson, the publisher dominated by female magazines.
Answer: Pearson classifies itself as a publisher of educational and business information including ‘The Financial Times’ newspaper - the group is not dominated by female magazines ( I don’t believe they publish any?).
20. Sun-Tzu, The Art Of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought.’
Answer: Sun Tzu also said ‘The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting’!
On 7th December 2009, former journalist and political press secretary Amanda Platell wrote a highly inflammatory article entitled ‘Moody, indecisive and always trying to behave like a man, why ladies make truly lousy bosses’ published in UK national newspaper ‘The Daily Mail’. I felt I couldn’t let Platell’s Top 20 Female Boss misconceptions go unchallenged, so here is my response.Top 20 Female Boss Misconceptions Challenged.
1. Amanda Platell's misconception number 1: 'Nor are we (women) single-minded enough, nor focused, nor task driven, nor adept at that simple but essential boss task of giving orders'.
Answer: This is not true otherwise there would be no female bosses at all. Former UK Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher is a good example of a female who was “single minded, ‘focussed’, ‘task-driven’ and ‘adept at giving orders’.
2. Female bosses often think they have to be nastier than the nastiest male boss to succeed
Answer: This is not true. Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley is an entrepreneur. She started an early business technology group on her dining room table with £6 in 1962. In 25 years as its Chief Executive, she developed the company, now called Xansa into a FTSE 250 leading technology group, which has pioneered new working practices and changed the position of professional women - especially in hi-tech - along the way. She is extremely well-liked by men and women in equal measure and was recently appointed as the UK Government's Giving and Philanthropy Ambassador
3. Our (women’s) commercial DNA is not wired for corporate success.
Answer: This is not true either. Clara Furse, former Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange and Dame Marjorie Scardino, DBE, FRSA, Chairman of Pearson Plc prove that it is possible to attain corporate success in the City.
4. I had that classic female trait of being able to get the most out of people - it’s called nurturing now - but I also wanted to be liked, a fatal flaw in a boss.
Answer: ‘Wanting to be liked’ is not a fatal flaw. There are been much criticism of Lord Alan Sugar’s aggressive, authoritarian style from the business community and more praise for the men and women who have an inclusive, likeable style. ‘Britain’s Best Boss’ this year was Debbie Hinton who is a County Audiology Services Manager for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. Debbie’s staff were all very appreciative of her “can do” attitude to flexibility.
5. And like most women bosses, I took things too personally.
Answer: There are plenty of women bosses who don’t take things personally. Maintaining a calm, rational, reasoned manner is an important skill developed by most bosses.
6. I was a good manager of people, but a lousy risk-taker.
Answer: Entrepreneurial women are risk takers (either with their own money or a lender’s money) so this assertion is completely false. It is possible to be a good manager of people and be a risk-taker at the same time.
7. Companies with disproportionately more female board members have lower profitability and lower market value.
Answer: Platell quotes a survey to back this up, but as I am unable to find this report it is difficult to analyse the veracity of this conclusion. However Norway - where women make up more than a third of listed company Boards - would be in extremely dire straits of this assertion was true.
8. Companies made up of more women executives are good at keeping afloat, but not at motoring ahead.
Answer: This is not true. Ruby McGregor-Smith (pictured, left), CEO of Mitie Group Plc, is having a good recession. In fact, she is cleaning up. Mitie, the outsourcing company is winning contracts where others cut in-house costs and restructure. In May 2009, the group was already nearly three quarters of the way to hitting the full year's revenue target. For the year to March 2009, pre-tax profits rose 11 per cent to £78.4 million on revenues 8 per cent ahead at £1.52 billion.9. We’re good at preventing bust but not at facilitating boom.
Answer: There are plenty of good examples of women who have led the growth for the company. Perween Warsi DBE (pictured, left) founded S&A Foods, the fastest-growing independent food manufacturer in the UK from her kitchen. She sold her business in 1998 and then bought it back again in 2004 with a help of venture capital firm 3i. Today S&A foods makes 1.25m ready meals a week, employs 600 staff, turns over more than £60m a year and has plans to expand internationally.10. Women bosses tend to fall into two categories - too soft or too hard.
Answer: Individual leadership styles vary and the issue of being “too soft or too hard” is immaterial to gender or in fact to the role of being a boss. A wide range of skills are required to being a boss, including but not limited to, communication skills, leadership skills, financial acuity, organisational skills, vision, creativity, pragmatism, dedication and hard work.
11. Successful bosses mono-task, women multi-task.
Answer: Multi-tasking is an important skill for many professions but focus is more important for bosses and many women have both sets of skills. If women could only multi-task without being able to focus when required, there would be no women bosses at all.
12. Men are dispassionate, we (women) are naturally emotional.
Answer: this is a tired old cliché. Women can be just as “hard” as men if necessary. Consider Dawn Gibbins MBE (pictured, left), Chairman of Flowcrete. After an early bohemian backpacking lifestyle, Dawn set up a company from home in 1982 that today has grown to be a world leader, with offices in 30 countries and 12 manufacturing plants around the globe. Flowcrete, the Cheshire-based specialist flooring manufacturer, is the European market leader and number two in the world, with an annual turnover of £25m.Along the way Dawen has won the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year Award and been voted Most Influential Person in British Manufacturing. Construction…you can’t get much harder than that.13. They (men) take risks, we ensure against loss.
Answer: this is another tired old cliché. Take the example of Indo-American, Indra Nooyi (pictured, left), first female CEO of Pepsi Co. According to Business Week magazine, since she started as CFO in 2000, the company's annual revenues have risen 72%, while net profit more than doubled, to $5.6 billion in 2006. Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named president and CFO in 2001. She directed the company's global strategy for more than a decade and led PepsiCo's restructuring, including the 1997 divestiture of its restaurants. Nooyi also took the lead in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998, and merger with Quaker Oats Company, which also brought Gatorade to PepsiCo.14. Women are their worst enemies with the avalanche of sexual discrimination compensation claims in corporate life.
Answer: this is a huge assumption. Sexual discrimination should be tackled, through tribunals or the law courts, to highlight poor employment practice. Claiming that women are their own worst enemies by bringing such cases against their employer is giving in to stereotypes. Most people believe that the law is reasonable and fair when it comes to compensation payments which are usually calculated on loss of earnings.
15. We can’t go on blaming it on men and an unfair system weighted against women.
The “unfair system” can be tackled with improved legislation such as the Equality Bill which was passed by Parliament in November 2009. Norway didn't wait 100 years for an unequal system to correct itself - the results of equality legislation there have been remarkable.
16. You have to ask yourself why even in modern times there are few great female boss characters.
Answer: There are plenty of great female bosses around. Amanda Platell needs to just “get out more”!
17. Simon Cowell has The X Factor, in which Dannii and Cheryl are little more than pretty props.
Answer: Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole are both extremely successful singers in their own right and great mentors for young, would-be X-Factor contestants. Simon Cowell is a successful record producer but Platell’s analogy compares “apples and pears” rather than “apples with apples”. And why not compare Dannii and Cheryl with Louis (the fourth judge on X-Factor) is that because Platell’s assertion does not hold up?
18. Even on shows such as Dragons’ Den, there is only one woman dragon.
Indeed, there is only one woman dragon. However, as only 15% of the UK 4.7 million businesses are run by women (BERR, 2009) perhaps this is representative. TV Dragon Deborah Meaden also made her money in caravan parks which fall outside the ‘caring, catering and fashion’ businesses in which Platell attests women score highly! On Dragon’s Den Online Julie Meyer and Shaf Rasul are the only judges so here women represent 50% of the business world.
19: The two great success stories running UK companies demonstrate this point – one being Marjorie Scardino at Pearson, the publisher dominated by female magazines.
Answer: Pearson classifies itself as a publisher of educational and business information including ‘The Financial Times’ newspaper - the group is not dominated by female magazines ( I don’t believe they publish any?).
20. Sun-Tzu, The Art Of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought.’
Answer: Sun Tzu also said ‘The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting’!
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