The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership [Paperback]

Sally Helgesen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

Now in Currency paperback -- Sally Helgesen's  classic study of female leaders and how their  strategies represent a highly successful revision of male  leadership styles. Sixty thousand copies in print!  In her bestselling 1990 book, Sally Helgesen  discovered that men and women approach work in  fundamentally different ways. Many of these differences  hold distinct advantages for women, who excel at  running organizations that foster creativity,  cooperation, and intuitive decision-making power,  necessities for companies of the twenty-first century.  Helgesen's findings reveal that organizations run by  women do not take the form of the traditional  hierarchical pyranaid, but more closely resemble a  web, where leaders reach out, not down, to form an  interrelating matrix built around a central purpose.  The strategy of the web concentrates power at the  center by drawing others closer and by creating  communities where information sharing is essential.  She presents her findings through unique, closely  detailed accounts of four successful women  business leaders -- Frances Hesselbein of Girl Scouts  USA, Barbara Grogan of Western Industrial  Contractors, Nancy Badore of Ford Motor Company's Executive  Development Center, and Dorothy Brunson of Brunson  Communications. Helgesen observes their meetings,  listens to their phone calls and conferences, and  reads their correspondence. Her "diary  studies" document how women leaders make decisions,  schedule their days, gather and disperse  information, motivate others, delegate tasks, structure  their companies, hire, and fire. She chronicles how  their experiences as women -- wives, mothers,  friends, sisters, daughters -- contribute to their  leadership style.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Now in Currency paperback -- Sally Helgesen's classic study of female leaders and how their strategies represent a highly successful revision of male leadership styles. Sixty thousand copies in print! In her bestselling 1990 book, Sally Helgesen discovered that men and women approach work in fundamentally different ways. Many of these differences hold distinct advantages for women, who excel at running organizations that foster creativity, cooperation, and intuitive decision-making power, necessities for companies of the twenty-first century. Helgesen's findings reveal that organizations run by women do not take the form of the traditional hierarchical pyranaid, but more closely resemble a web, where leaders reach out, not down, to form an interrelating matrix built around a central purpose. The strategy of the web concentrates power at the center by drawing others closer and by creating communities where information sharing is essential. She presents her findings through unique, closely detailed accounts of four successful women business leaders -- Frances Hesselbein of Girl Scouts USA, Barbara Grogan of Western Industrial Contractors, Nancy Badore of Ford Motor Company's Executive Development Center, and Dorothy Brunson of Brunson Communications. Helgesen observes their meetings, listens to their phone calls and conferences, and reads their correspondence. Her "diary studies" document how women leaders make decisions, schedule their days, gather and disperse information, motivate others, delegate tasks, structure their companies, hire, and fire. She chronicles how their experiences as women -- wives, mothers, friends, sisters, daughters -- contribute to their leadership style.

From the Inside Flap

Now in Currency paperback -- Sally Helgesen's  classic study of female leaders and how their  strategies represent a highly successful revision of male  leadership styles. Sixty thousand copies in print!  In her bestselling 1990 book, Sally Helgesen  discovered that men and women approach work in  fundamentally different ways. Many of these differences  hold distinct advantages for women, who excel at  running organizations that foster creativity,  cooperation, and intuitive decision-making power,  necessities for companies of the twenty-first century.  Helgesen's findings reveal that organizations run by  women do not take the form of the traditional  hierarchical pyranaid, but more closely resemble a  web, where leaders reach out, not down, to form an  interrelating matrix built around a central purpose.  The strategy of the web concentrates power at the  center by drawing others closer and by creating  communities where information sharing is essential.  She presents her findings through unique, closely  detailed accounts of four successful women  business leaders -- Frances Hesselbein of Girl Scouts  USA, Barbara Grogan of Western Industrial  Contractors, Nancy Badore of Ford Motor Company's Executive  Development Center, and Dorothy Brunson of Brunson  Communications. Helgesen observes their meetings,  listens to their phone calls and conferences, and  reads their correspondence. Her "diary  studies" document how women leaders make decisions,  schedule their days, gather and disperse  information, motivate others, delegate tasks, structure  their companies, hire, and fire. She chronicles how  their experiences as women -- wives, mothers,  friends, sisters, daughters -- contribute to their  leadership style.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Currency (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385419112
• ISBN-13: 978-0385419116
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #237,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sally Helgesen is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and leadership development consultant. Her latest book, The Female Vision: Women's Real Power at Work, explores the strategic dimension of women's leadership. Her other books include The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership, hailed as "the classic work" on women's leadership style, translated into 12 languages and continually in print for twenty years, and The Web of Inclusion: A New Architecture for Building Great Organizations, cited in The Wall Street Journal as one of the best books on leadership of all time.
Sally delivers seminars, keynotes, and workshops for the world's leading corporations, associations, universities, and non-profits.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Strengths of Women Leaders, March 23, 2000

By 

SVS "At the Speed of Enlightenment" (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership (Paperback)

Sally Helgesen's profound book shows how women lead differently...via a "web" instead of a hierarchy. Women in the workplace have long been told that we can't compete effectively because of the games (meaning tea parties instead of competitive sports) we played as girls. But, guess what? Sally Helgesen shows that the world based on hierarchies is spinning out of control...and the games we girls played (which hinged on relationships)turn out to be exactly the right games, giving women the unusual strength our world needs to evolve in a powerful new direction.

The rules have changed and women already know them. Not only does this book boost all women's self-esteem, but it also charges us to realize our responsibility to the world in which we live: "...feminine principles are entering the public realm because we can no longer afford to restrict them to the domestic sphere, nor allow a public culture obsessed with Warrior values to control human destiny if we are to survive." [p.255]

How true.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time for a Second Look, June 17, 2006

By 

Susan R. Meyer "Life Architect" (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership (Paperback)

You may have read this book in 1990, when it first came out, as I did. It's worth another look now, if only for chapter 9 - Reconciling the Efficient and the Humane. In the 90's, some of us speculated that the future of leadership would come from the skills women have posessed for generations. As we look for ways to integrate the human element back into the workplace, as we read books on Emotional Intelligence and Resonant Leadership, it's time to acknowledge Helgesen's foresight. What did she tell us we needed back then? She started with an ambience that represented a different set of values. Next, listening, followed by collaborative negotiation. She foresaw what she terms the end of the warrior age.
Helgesen's interviews are as interesting today - and as fresh - as they were when the book was first published. We may have heard this message a few times by now, but I don't think it will ever get old.

5.0 out of 5 stars Discover a Classic still Powerfully Relevant to Women in Leadership, November 15, 2009

By 

Karen Buckley "wisdom connector" (Mill Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership (Paperback)

Too often, as women, we abandon, dismiss, or deny our feminine wisdom. We distract ourselves and lose sight of our own innate wise feminine approaches to leadership. It's put on the back shelf as we compete, produce, and succeed from our dynamic masculine assets. Then we are less effective, depleted and confused. We begin to doubt ourselves. Yet some part of us knows, and longs to intensify the sustaining flow and effectiveness of our innate feminine nature.

Sally Helgesen takes apart the self limiting beliefs that constrained women from the natural power of their leadership and, even more importantly, shows that women leaders, who lead from their feminine approaches make smarter decisions and build better businesses. They experience a greater sense of personal power so that they are spending their time on what matters the most to them. When we connect our wisdom, our leadership, and our feminine approaches we are the kind of leader the world needs today.

The world has change and organizations who want to continue their success need to change. Women in leadership bring a different approach to being a leader. Wise feminine leadership is an underutilized and critically needed resource for today's growing company. As Sally says on p. 225, "The ability to model and persuade is of particular importance in an organization where authority is not imposed from the top down in hierarchical fashion. In a web structure, where talent is nurtured and encouraged rather than commanded, and a variety of interconnections exist, influence and persuasion take the place of giving orders...Compassion, empathy, inspiration, and direction - all aspects of nurturance - are connective values...."

Will we lose the competitive advantage as we amplify our feminine approaches? Sally Helgesen makes a solid case - the answer is No.