Why Women Are Better Leaders Yet Can't Break Glass Ceiling

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201404/why-female-leaders-have-only-scratched-the-glass-ceiling-0

"For leaders, personality plays an even bigger role than for many other professions," according to professors Øyvind L. Martinsen and Lars Glasø at the BI Norwegian Business School.

Research has identified five key traits that, overall, provide a good picture of our personality. This is called the five factor model.

The five traits in the five factor model are: emotional stability, extraversion (outgoing), openness to new experiences, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The personality traits are measured in degrees, from high to low.

"International research studies show that the most skilled leaders achieve high scores for all five traits," according to Martinsen and Glasø.

High scores in the five personality traits give us the following five characteristics of very effective leaders:

1.Ability to withstand job-related pressure and stress (leaders have a high degree of emotional stability).
2.Ability to take initiative; be clear and communicative (leaders are outgoing, with a high degree of extraversion).
3.Ability to innovate, be curious and have an ambitious vision (effective leaders have a high degree of openness to new experiences).
4.Ability to support, accommodate and include employees (effective leaders display a high degree of sociability).
5.Ability to set goals, be thorough and follow up (effective leaders are generally very methodical).

The results of their study? Female leaders score higher than men in four of the five personality traits measured.