Top 20 Female Boss Misconceptions

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’!

Female Bosses – lessons for us all?

By Lopa Patel, 10 December 2009

Glenda Stone, the former co-chair of the Women’s National Commission (WNC) Enterprise Taskforce and founder of Aurora Capital Management, was recently ordered to pay nearly £29,000 compensation after an employment tribunal found that she had unfairly dismissed a male employee. A press statement issued by her company on 3 December 2009 stated "Aurora conceded from the outset to an unfair dismissal as a result of the failure to adhere to steps of the procedure for the dismissal of the claimant."

Ms Stone’s case has grabbed the headlines because she was appointed to the WNC Enterprise Task Force to promote and encourage women in business and although her contract has ended, the PR backlash is not beneficial to female bosses in general. The case has inspired many disparaging articles about women’s management styles and female bosses. So are there lessons to be learned? Posted below are the ‘Top 10 Tips to being a best boss’ as taken from Britain’s Best Boss competition website.

Ten top tips for being a best boss

1) Put your trust in people: be as open as possible and be prepared to take risks sometimes.

2) Treat people as individuals: get to know them and be open to listening to their concerns as well as their ideas.

3) Deal with individual concerns and disciplinary issues promptly: the whole team will respect you for this.

4) Set objectives that have clear outcomes and keep careful records if you have any concerns about an individual's ability to manage flexible working effectively. If they fail to deliver, then you are justified in refusing another request until they demonstrate their capabilities.

5) Its OK to say 'no' to flexible working sometimes, for example, if there are issues around performance or there is a genuinely negative impact on operational needs.

6) Make sure your communications are effective and hold regular team meetings.

7) Treat people as you would want to be treated: think back to your own experiences, both positive and negative, of managers that have supervised you.

8) Keep people fresh and motivated by promoting training and development opportunities.

9) Remember to give credit where it is due and celebrate successes. Hold regular individual reviews.

10) Delegate responsibility: not always easy at first, but by putting your trust in people, they will become more engaged in the work. Your task will become easier, freeing you up to get on with the big picture stuff.

* Information taken from Britain’s Best Boss website (organised by Working Families in association with BT).

Sources:
Aurora Press Statement (3 December 2009)
Times Online - ‘Head of Government task force found guilty of bullying her workers.'
Daily Telegraph – ‘Gordon Brown's business tsar bullied workers, tribunal finds’
Evening Standard – ‘Boss of women's task force 'bullied own female staff'
Mail Online – ‘She got through 27 secretaries in TWO years...’
FT – ‘Business leader fears ‘eggshell management’

Parsis have civilization; other Indians don’t.

Excerpt reprinted with the permission of Aakar Patel, livemint.com

Indians have culture but not civilization. Culture is how we entertain ourselves; civilization is how we entertain others. Culture is our attitude to beauty and ugliness, to power, to religion, and to family. It shows in our music, in what makes us laugh. Civilization is our attitude to mankind. It’s defined as social development of an advanced stage, but civilization never actually arrives; it is only reached for. It assumes there is high purpose to life, to wealth, to culture. It believes that man will exhibit the signs of his evolution. He will improve upon man. For this he must build—but what?

The Birlas built six temples (India always being in urgent need of more religion).They built temples in Jaipur, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and Kolkata. Most of these are to Lakshminarayan, and these are only the big ones. No Indian family has built more, or bigger, temples than the Birlas, and that is their contribution to our culture.

Mukesh Ambani is building on Altamount Road a structure called Antilla, the most expensive home in history.Its architects Hirsch Bedner say their estimate for it is around $2 billion. That is Rs9,000 crore, and four people will live in this house. That is Ambani’s contribution to our culture.

The Birlas built schools for the rich, and the Ambanis made a school for millionaires.

BITS-Pilani’s fee is Rs1 lakh per year, Birla Vidyamandir’s fee is Rs1 lakh per year and Dhirubhai Ambani International School’s fee just for classes XI and XII is Rs7.57 lakh.

At the Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital (“Compassionate Quality Healthcare”), a check-up for headaches costs Rs2,850.

At the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (“Every Life Matters”), the wellness check-up costs Rs5,000.

At the Tata Memorial Hospital, which treats cancer, healthcare is free.

Rajashree Birla says Indians “don’t have the mindset to give away large amounts of money to charity”. The act of leaving “just a little bit for their children”, she says, “happens only in the US”.

“It calls for very large-heartedness,” she says, “I don’t see this happening in the Indian context in the near future at least.”

She’s right about our mindset and culture, but wrong in assuming that the problem is about large-heartedness: It is actually about a lack of civilization.

She’s wrong also about this not happening in future: It already has happened in India.

Of Tata Sons’ 398,563 shares, 65.8% is held by charitable trusts (Ratan Tata owns 0.84%).

How much money are we talking about? Tata Sons’ net profit last year was Rs3,780 crore.

Tata Sons owns 74% of Tata Consultancy Services and 84% of Tata Motors. If wealthy Indians want to give back to society, they need only buy Jaguar and Land Rover, and not Mercedes and BMW. Tata Sons owns 31% of Tata Steel, 20% of Tata Teleservices and 22% of Tata Tea.

Indians should buy their books from Landmark, their phones from Tata Indicom, their television sets and washing machines from Croma; and they should stay at the Taj. They should drink Tetley tea and Himalayan mineral water. They should watch TV on TataSky and get themselves insured with Tata AIG. Why?

Last year, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust gave away Rs201 crore. Sir Ratan Tata Trust gave away Rs153 crore. This is not CSR (corporate social responsibility) or other corporate varnish: It’s pure philanthropy. Witness its quality: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tata Energy Research Institute (Teri), Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for the Performing Arts. That is civilization.

In Europe, the ownership and efficient management of such a giant corporate by charitable trusts would be stunning.

But we use the phrase “Tata-Birla-Ambani” easily, as if the words were interchangeable. One of them has nothing in common with the other two. JRD sent 81% of Tata Sons’ income to charity. We thanked him by nationalizing his beloved Air India, firing him as chairman and running it into the ground.

The Tatas set up Teri, India’s first green industry initiative, in 1974.

Under R.K. Pachauri, in 2003, the name Tata was neatly excised from Teri and replaced with the word “The”. Now, Teri’s magazine and website are testament to the greatness of Pachauri, who will show up to collect any award you give him, including GQ Man of the Year. But that is our culture.

Parsis have civilization, but not culture. They cannot speak old Persian and their Avesta they cannot read.

For language, they lean on Gujarati, for music they lean on Brahms. Their beautiful women wear saris.

Their last names are Gujarati: Broacha (of Bharuch), Anklesaria (of Ankleshwar), Surti (of Surat), Mehta (accountant) and Gandhi (grocer). Their first names are great names in history, names that made Athens and Sparta and Corinth tremble—Ksayarsa, Kurush Buzurg and Daarivush. Herodotus and Thucydides called them Xerxes, Cyrus the Great and Darius. Parsis cannot even speak their own first names.

From 500 BC, Parsis fought Europe. They spilt and drew blood in history’s most famous battles: Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea. Hollywood’s cardboard Leonidas looks heroic in 300 (Xerxes is shown as demented), but actually the Parsi Immortals butchered the Spartans at Thermopylae and the terrified Athenians abandoned their city. Alexander the Great conquered the Parsis in 334 BC and the Arabs under Umar drove them from their lands in 644. But the real Parsi surrender came in Bombay when they submitted to the individualism of Enlightened Europe.

We hate sweeping statements about Indians, and generalizations about India. The problem is that everywhere in India the same evidence keeps slapping us in the face. We’ve become good at looking away. We think we are Aryans, descended from the Caucasus. Parsis also believe that.

Zarathushtra’s god was Ahura and his demons were Daiva. But the Rig Ved says Deva must be our god and our demons Asura.

Aakar Patel is a director with Hill Road Media.

Are the Tories really headed for a landslide victory?

By Alok Mitra, CEO Ethnic Minority Business Group, 5 December 2009

The media appears to be dominated with the bad news stories about the Labour party and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in particular. Even the Iraq enquiry is confirming what many already believe, that is that we went to war on the basis of the "dodgy dossier". 'The Sun' newspaper that is well-known for blowing in the direction of the prevailing political wind, have come out in favour of the Conservative party. Once the government starts to look like a party about to lose, the media and others think that they are "fair game". A string of bad headlines follow, everything is more critically reviewed and businesses start to court the party likely to win.

The Sun published a poll in the summer showing Labour at 18% and the Conservatives at 40%. A more recently published opinion poll puts Labour at 29% and the Conservative party at 39%. Against this background one would think that the Conservative party has the election in the bag and it is a "done deal".

From speaking to our members at the Ethnic Minority Business Group and also listening to the opinions of the wider public, we are detecting a far less clear-cut picture. Our analysis, at present shows that the Labour party is still very unpopular and this could get worse as the Iraq enquiry unfolds. However, the worst for Labour is probably over and there are still many disillusioned Labour voters who want change but still do not fully trust the Conservative party.

Even on the economy that has undoubtedly suffered under Labour, George Osborne has so far failed to convince much of the public that he has all the right answers to our economic problems. Politically, he appears to have left himself open to the charge that he is from a privileged background and is pro the wealthier members of our society.

The Conservative party will win, but by a much reduced margin

EMBG members believe that the Conservative party are likely to win the next general election but on a much reduced margin than the media would have us believe. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, Labour’s boundary changes mean that the Conservatives will need a very big swing to win a large number of seats, which will not be an easy task. Secondly, the economy is also starting to recover and is expected to continue into the first quarter of 2010. At least that is what many economists and the government are predicting. This should help Labour. The country wants change but if the Labour party can show that they are changing and that they would be no worse than the Tories at managing the economy then their chances may greatly improve.

Europe and immigration may still split the Conservative vote as the fringe parties such as UKIP pick up some of their votes. This could adversely impact the Conservatives in some of their marginal seats. The LibDems are in second place in some marginal seats and are starting to actively campaign for a hung parliament. Our best guess is that an election is likely to be called in late March 2010 and will be a very hard and bitterly fought election campaign. So stand by for some fireworks, class warfare and heated debates in 2010. The Conservative party would be wise not to assume that a clear victory is in the bag and I am sure that their campaign team and advisers are all too aware of that fact.

About EMBG

The Ethnic Minority Business Group (EMBG) was established in 1995 to support and represent ethnic minority businesses in Hertfordshire. It is not-for-profit organisation with 1200 members. Alok Mitra, a Chartered Accountant, is currently the Managing Director of CJM Consultants Ltd and Partner in his accountancy practice. Alok is the Chair of the EMBG and advises on business and economic affairs for the Hindu Council UK.

Click here to visit the EMBG website

Why educated Indians are only half-literate

Excerpt reprinted with the permission of Aakar Patel, livemint.com

Can India’s high growth continue? No. Last year India produced goods and services worth $1.2 trillion. This is around Rs50,000 per Indian. Of this, 54% came from services, 29% from industry and 17% from agriculture. Services include trade, transportation, hospitality, mobile telephony, and software and outsourcing. Industry means things such as manufacturing, mining and energy.

Of every 100 Indians, 60 depend on agriculture. The Indian farmer is unproductive. We are self-sufficient in agriculture, but what this means is that 60% of the population feeds 100%. So each farmer grows food for himself and less than one other person. America is also self-sufficient, but farming families are only 1.3% of population. To sustain growth, half a billion Indians will need to do something other than agriculture. But what?

China dominates industry, and India is a star in services.

Seventy per cent of India’s growth comes from services. Ten years ago, Wipro’s turnover was $150 million. Today it is $5 billion, TCS is $6 billion and Infosys is $4.5 billion. Software and outsourcing is only 7% of India’s GDP, but contributes 2% of overall growth. Soon this will become 3%. The IT-BPO sector is great: not polluting, not much bribing needed, and, because it’s urban, each job creates three indirect jobs.

But that isn’t going to happen.

Wipro employs 95,000, Infosys 105,000 and TCS 143,000. Of the Fortune 500, only Wal-Mart in America adds more people annually than either Infosys or TCS.

Last year Infosys hired 28,231 people, including 18,000 graduates paid Rs3 lakh a year. This year they will hire 20,000 at Rs3.25 lakh. Infosys is hiring though there isn’t enough business. We know this because 30,000 people at Infosys are “benched”. So why are they still hiring? And why raise salaries?

Because they cannot find competent people.

Infosys spends twice as much as its American competitors on training: 4% of revenue.

Nasscom says software firms reject 90% of college graduates and 75% of engineers who apply for jobs because they are not good enough to be trained. This year Infosys increased its training of employees to 29 weeks. That’s seven months of training. Why do they need so much training? And why is the quality of applicants so poor?

Because the educated Indian is only half-literate.

Nine half-literates are produced by our colleges, by Nasscom’s numbers, for every graduate of passable quality. What is Nasscom’s solution to this? It wants government to boost college enrolment from 10% of those in secondary school, to 25%. Nasscom knows this will only increase the number of job applicants, not the quality, but there’s no other solution.

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