Since the business upheavals of the 1980s, when women began to fill more management positions, corporate leadership studies have documented that female leaders achieve better economic outcomes than male leaders in uncertain conditions, and organizations with female chief executives face fewer discrimination lawsuits.

This leadership pattern also has shown up in the world political arena during the COVID-19 Pandemic, when female leaders navigated better health outcomes for their citizens. Studies focusing on what women offer in the changing workplace concur on the differences in leadership styles of men and women.

The February 2024 study by organizational psychologists Alex Stajkovic and Kayla Stajkovic, called “Ethics of Care Leadership, Racial Inclusion, and Economic Health in the Cities,” explores the question, “Is there a female leadership advantage?” They note that as historic outsiders to industry, women have fresh eyes to see what is no longer working and to identify new solutions.

The Stajkovic study discusses the 1973 work of Mintzberg, who drew on interviews of five male executives who identified as “company men” with a top-down chain of command, monopoly of information, deep but narrow focus, skills developed to follow procedures, values of conformity to corporate norms, and focus on goals, competing, and winning.

Compare this to the 1990 discovery by author Helgesen and sociologist Rosener that female leaders do not perceive themselves as “company women” but as agents of transformation who share information, invite participation in decisions, build relationships, ensure that others feel included, and take a long-term focus, seeing themselves and their colleagues as humans with varied backgrounds who........

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