“She’s too quiet. She doesn’t have leadership presence.”
Nebulous comments, but can linger in the thoughts of decision-makers close by, and are particularly damaging during performance and talent reviews. Could this be one reason why women are passed over for promotions, or fall off the talent ranks completely?
I recently listened to a panel discuss on “How Women Mean Business ” about the lower percentages of women in senior roles, and questions surfaced on how leaders are selected.
Do we gravitate towards the overzealous cheerleader when deciding whom to choose? In so doing, we may easily overlook a quiet, emerging talent, because they’re quiet? Either an unconscious bias or a false assumption-loud is somehow better.
Two stories from Pam Slim’s blog illustrate the need to re-frame our thinking and re-adjust our lens when talent spotting.
A quiet, introverted management consultant at Boston Consulting Group, John Legend, was viewed as a spread sheet jockey that would never make it at the firm. He became an international powerhouse in the music industry, winning Six Grammy Awards.
A ‘recovering’ lawyer, Jane Park puts a new twist on beauty, innovating around pampering, providing an environmentally friendly place for nails and connecting with friends – viewed as the Starbucks of nail parlours, Julep.
Take a minute to think about your talent planning sessions and ask:
Who’s missing?
