Women Matter 2 - Female leadership, a competitive edge for the future

October 2008 - Georges Desvaux, Sandrine Devillard - McKinsey & Company

While the first Women Matter study demonstrated the link between the presence of women in corporate management teams and companies’ organizational and financial performance, this new report aims at understanding how exactly female leaders contribute to improve corporate performance, and whether their specific contribution is a key factor in meeting tomorrow’s business challenges.

Focusing on leadership practices in corporations, Women Matter 2 shows that the leadership behaviors more often applied by women reinforce a company’s organizational performance on several dimensions. Moreover, a survey involving over a thousand managers from a wide range of companies reveals that these leadership behaviors—in short supply in today’s corporations—will be critical to meet the expected challenges companies will face over the coming years. Once again advocating for more women in management positions, Women Matter 2 defines clear courses of action to develop gender and leadership diversity in business organizations. [...]