Women of Vision: Understanding the Ways Women Lead Change

In the midst of numerous global uncertainties, leaders are expected to have the ability to articulate a compelling vision of a preferred future that energizes and engages followers. In fact, Kouzes and Posner (2009) have argued that “Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future—is the attribute that most distinguishes leaders from nonleaders” (p. 20). Given that context, it is notable that research by Ibarra and Obodaru (2009) that involved 360-degree evaluations of 2,816 leaders in the corporate sector concluded that male raters of executive performance viewed women as being less visionary than men. In contrast, women were rated by both male and female raters as being as effective or more effective than male executives on 9 of 10 other “critical components of leadership” (Ibarra (b) evidence of a strong orientation toward people throughout the process; (c) language barriers that often seemed to inhibit envisioning; and (d) the importance of the change aligning with the institutional mission and values.