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When I started my career, I observedpeople in leadership roles and thought, “They’re so lucky. They have so muchcontrol.” So imagine my surprise when I took a course in business school onleadership and was told that as you get more senior, you are more dependent onother people. At the time, I thought my professors were wrong. They were right. I am dependent on mysales team…not the other way around. If they fall short, it is my mistake. As aleader, what I can accomplish is not just what I can do myself but whateveryone on my team does. Companies in every country operate in waysthat are right for their cultures. But I believe that there are someprinciples of leadership that are universal -- and one of those is that it isbetter to inspire than to direct. Yes, people will do what their bossestell them to do in most organizations. But great leaders do not just wantto secure compliance. They want to elicit genuine enthusiasm, completetrust, and real dedication. They don’t just win the minds of their teams,they win their hearts. If they believe in your organization’s mission andthey believe in you, they will not only do their daily tasks well, but theywill do them with true passion. No one won more hearts than my belovedhusband Dave Goldberg who passed away suddenly two months ago. Dave was a trulyinspiring leader. He was kind. He was generous. He was thoughtful. Heraised the level of performance of everyone around him. He did it as CEO ofSurveyMonkey, an amazing company that he helped build. He did it for me and forour children. A friend of ours named Bill Gurley, aleading venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, wrote a post where he urgedothers to “Be Like Dave.” Bill wrote, “Dave showed us all exactly what being agreat human being looks like… But it was never frustrating because Dave’sgreatness was not competitive or threatening, it was gentle, inspirational, andegoless. He was the quintessential standard for the notion of leading byexample.” Harvard Business School Professor FrancesFrei has said “leadership is about making others better as a result of yourpresence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.“ Like Dave, you cando this for others over the course of your career. Fourth, LEAN IN. As the Chinese proverb holds – “women holdup half the sky.” This is quoted all over the world and women have a specialrole in China’s history and present. When the world has gathered to discuss thestatus and advancement of women, we’ve done it here in Beijing. In 1995, theBeijing Declaration and Platform for Action – which called for women’s full andequal participation in life and decision-making – was adopted by 189governments. Last year, on the 20th anniversary of that historic declaration,leaders again gathered here to mobilize around what has become known as thepromise of Beijing: equality for women and men. Yet while we all acknowledge theimportance and strength of women, when we look at leadership roles in everycountry, they are overwhelmingly held by men. In almost every country in theworld – including the United States and China – less than 6% of the topcompanies are run by women. Women hold fewer leadership roles in everyindustry. This means that when it comes to making the decisions that affect allus, women’s voices are not heard equally. There are many reasons for the genderleadership gap – outright discrimination, greater responsibilities at home, alack of flexibility in the workplace, and importantly, our stereotypicalexpectations. While cultures differ all over the globe, our stereotypesof men and women are remarkably similar. Although the status of women ischanging and evolving in China and many parts of the world, traditionalexpectations and stereotypes linger. To this day, in the US, in China,and everywhere, men are expected to lead, be assertive, succeed. Womenare expected to share, be communal, acquiesce to others. We expect leadershipfrom boys and men. But when a little girl leads, we call her “bossy” inEnglish, or qiang shi in Chinese. Other social barriers also hold womenback. Women are often excluded from professional networks—like Guanxi--and bothformal and informal socializing that is critical for job advancement. This isalso true in the United States, where men often chose to mentor other meninstead of women. I believe that the world would be a betterplace if men ran half our homes and women ran half our institutions – and thegood news is that we can change the stereotypes and get to real equality. Wecan support women who lead in the workforce. We can find more balance in thehome by fathers helping mothers with housekeeping and childrearing; more equalmarriages are happier and more active fathers raise more successful children. We can walk up to someone who calls a little girl “bossy,” and say instead,“That little girl is not bossy. That little girl has executive leadershipskills.” （责任编辑：晨鸿） |
