A blueprint to build women chief executive officers globally

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21990
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019
• Author: M.S. Rao

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A blueprint to build women chief executive officers globally

M.S. Rao

MSR Leadership Consultants, Hyderabad, India

Correspondence

M.S. Rao, MSR Leadership Consultants, Quli

Qutub Shah Colony, Puppalaguda, Hyderabad

500089, India.

Email: msrlctrg@gmail.com

The purpose of this article is to offer a blueprint to build women chief executive officers

(CEOs) globally. It ou tlines essential qua lities for women CEOs. I t explains CEO acumen and

offers tools and tech niques for women to excel as CEOs. It draws a blu eprint for global orga-

nizations to build women CEOs. It differentiates between women and men leaders. It empha-

sizes women can make bet ter leaders than men. It i llustrates with inspi ring examples of

women leaders includ ing Melinda Gates, Mich elle Obama, Hillar y Clinton, Angela Merk el,

Indra Nooyi, Ursula Bu rns, Meg Whitman, and She ryl Sandberg. It implo res women to seize

the opportunities to break the glass ceiling to excel as CEOs. It enlightens the society cannot

grow when one sex is denie d with opportunities. It calls upon men to em pathize with women

and extend their hands with a big heart to groo m them as CEOs. It advocates gender equali ty

globally. It conclu des women leaders must e xpress their ambiti on in the early stage of their

careers and work hard co nsistently and relent lessly with a focus and vi sion to excel as CEOs

globally.

KEYWORDS

executive education, leadership development, organizational development, soft skills, talent

development, women leaders

1|INTRODUCTION

A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman.

But the search to find that voice can be remarkably

difficult. (Melinda Gates)

Globally, there are a few women who occupied the position of

chief executive officers (CEOs) while most women culminated their

careers in the middle-level management. In fact, very few women

reach the senior-level management. Does it indicate that women lack

ambition to excel as CEOs? Is there any glass ceiling that prevents

women from reaching the top positions? Are there any hidden rea-

sons? Let us explore it from multiple perspectives to address this

global challenge.

2|RESEARCH FINDINGS

The glass ceiling that once limited a woman's career

path has paved a new road towards business

ownership, where women can utilize their sharp busi-

ness acumen while building strong family ties. (Erica

Nicole)

According to the Forbes Insights study with Grant Thornton

(Women in senior management: setting the stage for growth, 2013),

more women are occupying leadership positions in the Asia Pacific

region and China. The research further shows women occupying the

leadership is very promising globally. However, much needs to be

done to prepare women leaders for the C-level positions. The latest

research findings on women CEOs globally shows only 6% of Fortune

500 CEOs are women, and most women CEOs were concentrated in

utilities, consumer goods (including retail), and financial services (par-

ticularly insurance) (Korn Ferry Institute, 2017). How do we fix the

problem? How do we improve the number?

There are certain gender issues that prevent women from reach-

ing top positions such as maternity, raising children, taking care of

spouse, and balancing with family to name a few. Although most men

talk of women empowerment it remains in the letter only, not in the

spirit. It is still unclear whether men feel insecure if women reach top

positions.

DOI: 10.1002/tie.21990

Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev. 2019;61:99–104. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tie © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 99