Monday, April 07, 2008

Female Executives Outperform Males When Taking a New Job

The Boston Globe reports that a Harvard study suggests female
executives outperform males when taking a new job! Is that an
interesting finding or what. Makes me wonder what they have to say
about female executives outperforming male execs overall, or for that
matter females outperforming males? Hmm, that sure is food for
thought!

Here is an excerpt from this article --
"Second acts often fail. And in business, when ambitious executives
leap from one perch to another for money or glory, the maxim might as
well be: The bigger they come, the harder they fall
Yet there is one group of job-hopping business leaders that is more
likely to succeed. New research from Harvard Business School suggests
that high-ranking women develop "portable skills" that enable them to
better make a transition. In contrast to male stars, star women tend
to perform just as well at a new company as their original one.
What are these portable skills? One is a talent for building external
networks - of clients, associates, and other professionals outside
their organizations - that remain intact when they depart. Another is
a capacity to size up a company's management culture and values, and
determine whether they fit, before signing on.
"Women, because they are often marginalized and have to fight
institutional barriers, are much pickier," Harvard assistant professor
Boris Groysberg, who outlined his findings in last month's Harvard
Business Review, said in an interview. "They ask questions about
culture, they ask questions about flexibility. They seek objective
performance measures so they're not depending on politics."

Read the full article at--
http://www.Boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/03/30/shifting_stars/

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