Hi! Managers: Wanted: more female brains at the top

The male ego appears alive and kicking in executive suites here in Asia. It manifests itself as aggressive individual achievement. The male ego is characterised by domineering, competitive behaviour and an "I'm right; you're wrong" mentality. In management parlance, the male ego is known as authoritative management style, a style which needs refinement.

While women can also demonstrate so-called male-ego behaviour, it is more predominant with men. This is because there are very real differences between how men and women behave that can be traced to physical differences in brain structure and hormone levels.

For example, in general, high levels of testosterone in men make them more aggressive than women. Women have lower levels of this hormone and are less combative. They seem to prefer building relationships and collaborating, rather than competing against one another.

Men also have a tendency to think in a linear fashion and solve problems one at a time. This is because their brains are more compartmentalised than women's. Women on the other hand use a greater portion of their brains in problem-solving. This allows them to process more information simultaneously and multi-task more effectively than men.

How have these sex differences played out in organisations? In the past, men dominated management ranks, and the male ego thrived in corporate life. The authoritative management style worked well in relatively stable markets. Success was largely based on command and control and straight-ahead growth.

But things are different today. Technology breakthroughs, intense competition and recession pressures have disrupted markets. Effective leadership is no longer about linear problem-solving and force-fitting solutions, but about group problem-solving and adapting to a myriad changes in the market. Skills such as teamwork and organising priorities are at a premium.

Many organisations have been caught flat-footed. They are trying to compete in this new environment with the same set of male-ego skills that worked in the past. But these skills alone are not enough.

Clever chief executives recognise the need to develop new skills to compete in the future. They also realise that women, with their innate ability to multi-task and collaborate, have these skills in abundance.

But when they look at their executive ranks, they notice there are very few women around. The challenge is to develop more women and place them in leadership roles.

In the near term, this means creating a workplace that meets the needs of competent women. Longer term, it means developing a cadre of both men and women leaders who have the complete set of skills necessary to help organisations compete and win in the market place.

Larry Chao is the managing director of Chao Group Limited, an organisation-change management consultancy based in New York and Bangkok (www.chaogroup.com)