Who said that when entering the business, you have to lose your femininity in favor of behavior perceived as more masculine and authoritative? Why is it presumed that the position of president is occupied by a man? Do I therefore have to deprive myself of delicacy, colorfulness, style as a president? Should I change so that I am treated with respect, respected and trusted, my orders taken and carried out? After all, respect must be earned, not accepted with a position, and certainly not gender. Maybe it’s worth using the features we have to understand people and thus manage them better?

The most important thing is what kind of person I am. Does the fact that we are women affect what kind of managers we are, or does it affect our knowledge, experience and skills? Does it affect whether I manage the company well, does it matter what decisions I make, whether I am ready to take risks? Yeah. Unfortunately, in the first place, we are suggested by the appearance and inscribing women in the usual and, unfortunately, still perpetuated patterns. So a delicate and cheerful blonde does not fit the image of a boss making difficult business decisions? The weak sex is female and the strong sex is male. It’s a stereotype. And it is not worth suggesting it and evaluating anyone in this way.

Is there such a thing as a female management style? In my opinion, management has no gender. Because it matters only who is at the helm of the company. Who is the face of the company, how he treats employees, how he cares for them and indirectly their loved ones, how he behaves in crisis situations, how he copes with problems, difficulties, whether he manages to steer this ship during a storm, and not only when everything works fine. And gender doesn’t matter. What matters more is our personality and whether we are effective managers. Self-confidence, openness to people and efficient management of them, willingness to deepen one’s knowledge, the ability to think strategically – this creates the pattern of an ideal manager.
However, we still have too few women in top positions, still too few role models. Although, of course, the ones that are exceptional, ambitious and outstanding managers. However, I think that more and more women will reach the highest positions.

My advice: let’s just be ourselves, let’s act, let’s show how great we are and raise the next generations in the feeling that everyone, regardless of gender, age, skin color, origin, has a chance to develop and will be appreciated.

Beata Drzazga – entrepreneur, visionary, advisor in business and life.