The Language of Leadership
Caroline Simard, Research Director at Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University
Voices 2015 www.globaltechwomen.com
Session Length: 1 Hour
Language can influence our perceptions of men and women, and the potential each has to lead. In this session, we discuss the language of leadership and the role bias can play in shaping different leadership outcomes for men and women. The session will offer strategies for individuals and managers to examine and sharpen their own voices and their advocacy of others, with an aim to advance women’s leadership and create effective organizations where all employees thrive.
White
Male
Anti-social
Low EQ
“Brutally honest”
Young
Obsessive
No blame, high responsibility message.
We didn’t create these social biases. We are not the cause but we all can be agents of change.
IN the 70s and 80s major orchestras in the country made a change. Women only made up 5% of all musicians. They were concerned that bias may be creeping into the evaluation process. What they decided to do is to introduce a screen in the audition.
The screen increased the probability of women making it past the first round by a full 50%. A small change but a very significant increase. Today 25% of musicians are women. The screen was a major contributing factor. This study illustrates two main points.
Ellen – How does this think to the point about setting your standards very clear at the beginning?
Clarify bias versus stereotypes. People aren’t as clear about how stereotypes relate to bias and how we act.
Gender stereotypes also affect the criteria we use to evaluate men and women. This study is done in the context of hiring for a police chief. As you know police chief is a very male-type job. In this study there were two different resumes. One had more education, and the other one had more on the ground experience.
In the first set of the experiment, participants were asked to evaluate these resumes with no names on the front and ask to say who they would hire and why. What they found is that the participants overwhelmingly preferred the candidate that had more education. And they justified their choice by saying – this person has more education and I think that is more important.
In the second phase of the study, they have the same resumes but now they put men and women’s names on them. The one with more education is a man, the one with more experience is the woman. People overwhelmingly preferred the male candidate, and when asked said that it was because he had more education. No problem there – education was what had been found to be the most important criteria before.
But, when the condition was flipped and the male candidate had more experience and the female candidate had more education, people overwhelmingly picked the male candidate. If education matters, Karen should have been chosen. But Brian was chosen – and when asked why they picked him they said because he has more experience. So the criteria for hiring shifted to justify their gut feeling that Brian would be a better pick for the police chief position because he confirmed their stereotypical assumptions about police chiefs being men.
REALLY RESONATES.
Language is a cue about who belongs in the culture
Language is a cue about who belongs in the culture
Language is a cue about who belongs in the culture
Language is a cue about who belongs in the culture
Language is a cue about who belongs in the culture
Tie back to the stereotypes of programmer.
Language is a cue about who belongs in the culture
This has been shown to lead to shifting criteria.
Reintroduce power of introductions – ties back to ponsorship is so important.
Communal vs agentic women, Communal vs. agentic men
Social skills predict hiring more than competence for agentic women.
For all other applicants, competence is more important than social skill.
(Phelan, Moss-Racusin, and Rudman, 2005)
Both women and men might fear that people won't like them if they are self-promoting, but women are more likely to let it stop them. In one study by Moss-Racusin, published last year in Psychology of Women Quarterly, 192 college students answered questions such as "What are some of your best qualities or strengths?" and "Overall, why should someone hire you as opposed to another candidate?" Then the participants imagined a group of people watching a video of their interview, and answered such questions as, "Would you worry that people thought you were too confident?" and "Would you worry about being called vain?” Moss-Racusin found that while women and men both worried about backlash, this fear inhibited women's but not men's abilities to promote themselves.
The first says – she works with me.
The second is powerful – establishes her credibility as a technical and business expert.
Clarify bias versus stereotypes. People aren’t as clear about how stereotypes relate to bias and how we act.