Women Running for Office Have Chance to Shift the Dialogue
As the presidential debates kicked off in Miami at the end of June, I had some thoughts about an unprecedented opportunity that women running for office have in 2019. In the recent past, female candidates have played the gender card as a key campaign strategy. But based on the lack of change in gender equity and inclusion in our society and organizations—as well as the fact that this type of messaging hasn’t led to the election of a female president yet—it hasn’t worked out that well for them.
With the 2020 election on the horizon, there’s a chance today, with the nation and world watching, to begin asking ourselves and others different kinds of questions, and leading differently as well. When it comes to the debates and ongoing campaign dialogue, it’s clearly important to continue incorporating questions on issues that include women as part of the equation. Yet I propose that we need to go further than this now, expanding our language and the whole conversation beyond gender equity alone, to begin talking about changing our culture and society at a deeper, even more progressive level.
At SHAMBAUGH, we envision a new leadership model in Washington that is more inclusive versus polarized—a vision that taps into a diversity of thinking styles and problem-solving approaches on every level. We need presidential leadership that will not just include gender-related issues in a list of talking points, but will make inclusion a true priority. Candidates are needed who can leverage their natural abilities to promote inclusion and seamlessly work across the aisle to disrupt unproductive division and polarization.
I recently gave a keynote that emphasized if women rise, we all rise. It’s the “all” that I think candidates now need to focus on in this equation, and women can lead the way. While every candidate on the stage has the opportunity to disrupt outdated and non-progressive narratives, polices, and leadership models, women are in a unique position to adopt new messaging that will break through the diversity fatigue that many of us understandably feel, when old solutions continue to hit roadblocks.
The key point to understand is that our current culture is hard-wired through habit and tradition to view a masculine leadership style as the norm, and women and men alike have adapted to the old system, whether in our country’s companies or its capital. As a result, many women—even at the level of presidential candidates—either lack a comfort level with leading more authentically, or don’t have a sense of their natural ability to bring about real change. I believe that women presidential candidates will have greater success and influence if they can start leading with their authentic style and power. If we want to see something different in our society and our world, then it’s time to transform our assumptions on great leadership and be the model for change.
The Washington Post recently published an opinion piece that offered a set of questions for debate moderators to ask that related exclusively to gender equity and opportunities for women. At SHAMBAUGH, we’ve generated another set of questions that you can consider, and challenge others to reflect on, whether you’re a presidential candidate or a company leader. These questions expand the dialogue beyond gender alone to incorporate intentionality and spark conversation on a wider inclusion. They are designed to help everyone collectively drill down on a new, more inclusive focus and language, moving us away from messaging and approaches designed for the past:
- Are you more comfortable surrounded by people who share your cognitive style and/or background? If so, what are you doing to challenge your assumptions?
- What steps do you take to identify your own internal biases, rather than only being aware of the biases of others?
- Are you activating three levels of listening—your own inner voice, the voice of others, and your emotional intelligence so that you can gain awareness of what lies beneath what is being said or not said?
- Do you build wide-ranging, meaningful relationships—trying to understand how other people think and feel—or do you only cultivate insulated networks of likeminded individuals?
- How often do you open yourself up to a variety of viewpoints from people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and thinking styles to seek the opinions of those who challenge your usual solutions?
- Do you conduct “listening tours” with your teams or voter base to understand what women, people of color, LGBT individuals, and other underrepresented minorities are experiencing and what makes them feel included or excluded?
- What next steps are you willing to take in order to create an inclusive society or culture, in which all voices are heard and valued, and a wide range of differences are supported?
SHAMBAUGH partners with companies and executives to address the whole system of an organization, unlocking and leveraging the full potential of the entire company. To learn more about our trainings and customized programs in leadership development that help create inclusive, high-performance cultures, contact me at info@shambaughleadership.com.
Rebecca Shambaugh is a leadership expert on building inclusive and high performance cultures. She speaks at major conferences and to executives on how to disrupt traditional mindsets and create an inspiring vision and roadmap for driving greater levels of innovation and performance through a unified voice for leadership. Rebecca is the Founder of Women in Leadership and Learning, a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, and blogger for the Huffington Post. She is author of the best-selling books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor and Make Room for Her: Why Companies Need an Integrated Leadership Model to Achieve Extraordinary Results.
SHAMBAUGH’s Mission: We’re on a mission to develop high-performing and inclusive leaders who transform workplace cultures so everyone can thrive.
Find out more about us at: www.shambaughleadership.com
