I just read an excellent blog post written by Helen Pitcher OBE and published by INSEAD Knowledge. In it, Ms. Pitcher examines the traits that are common among excellent chairs of Boards of Directors. She divides them into two categories: IQ & Hard Skills and EQ & Soft Skills.
She notes that "EQ & soft skills are more often associated with women than men."
She goes on to say, "The soft skills of facilitation, collaboration, listening, synthesising, defusing conflict and ensuring consensus are the hallmarks of a successful chair."
And, she concludes with "Having more women chairs will help rebuild the trust in our corporate environment and foster businesses that deliver performance mixed with social and environmental benefits. It may just be the key to a new era of sustainable long-term profit."
Having recently been elected to serve as Chair of the Board of Directors for Thrivent Federal Credit Union, I will take her words to heart.
You can read her entire excellent blog post here.
Beth A. Lewis
© Getting2Transformation 2019