How Talented Women Thrive

"Centered Leadership" - a new approach to leadership being explored by McKinsey.

The hypothesis? That today's leaders can become even more effective through the model of centered leadership- which is exactly what it sounds like... bringing together the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual strength that drives personal achievement and inspiring others to follow.

Below is a summary of the 12-page article. *The ideas below are taken directly from the McKinsey Quarterly article.

After interviewing more than 85 women leaders from around the world (and a few men), their research team came up with a leadership model made up of 5 dimensions:

1. MEANING- finding your strengths and putting them to work in the service of inspiring purpose
2. MANAGING ENERGY- knowing where your energy comes from, where it goes, and what you can do to manage it
3. POSITIVE FRAMING- adopting a more constructive way to view your world, expand your horizons, and gain the resilience to move ahead even when bad things happen
4. CONNECTING - identifying who can help you grow, building stronger relationships, and increasing your sense of belonging
5. ENGAGING- finding your voice, becoming self-reliant and confident by accepting opportunities and the inherent risks they bring, and collaborating with others.

The McKinsey research team calls this "centered leadership" and, although it also works for men, has focused most on the ways women can actively build the skills to become more self-confident and effective leaders.

The concept emphasizes the role of positive emotions, and focuses on some of the characteristics that tend to distinguish women from men in the workplace, including:

• Women tend "opt-out" of work more than men do
• Women tend to take on a "double-burden" (motherhood and management), that drains energy in a particularly challenging way
• Women tend to experience emotional ups & downs more often and intensely than most men do.

Fun fact: Apparently, after concentrating on women participants, the team was approached by many men who wanted "what the women were having."

I like this study already.


***all information above was taken from the article in the McKinsey Quarterly.

DOWNLOAD the entire article HERE.