Leadership knows no gender
Ahenkorah (2018) hinted that your viewpoint determines your point of view. If you are strong-minded to touch the finish line, you don’t stop running. And just so you know, there’s no finish line and there’s nothing like a final destination in leadership development. You can, however, choose to celebrate your successes, or milestones if you like, after a remarkable achievement, though.
Just as it is said in many shapes and forms, success is not a destination. As the glass cliff seeks to say that women in leadership do well in challenging times as leaders (Hughes et al 2015), the term glass ceiling in recent times in the 21st century leadership discourse refers to the unseen barriers that prevent the minorities, especially women, from progressing at the workplace.
The worst part is when the invisible barriers prevent ambitious people from getting certain jobs and roles at offices despite being well-qualified and deserving. In effect, women and the minorities must treat the glass ceiling as imaginary in order to smash it. The glass cliff would be meaningless unless the glass ceiling is confronted.
The term ‘glass ceiling’ is reserved for minorities and not necessarily, women per se. Glass ceiling is a phenomenon that affects the career curve, fundamental social status and possible lifetime earning potential. Women must take steps to know the things they need to arm themselves with to fight this elusive form of heightened perception. I have done some work in 2016 just to appreciate women in leadership and the glass ceiling at the workplace, and I confidently concluded that shifting any paradigm starts with the mind. Ahenkorah (2018) hinted that the mind is a powerful tool.
This whole wave of glass ceiling took off the ground in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, when many women ambitiously entered the workplace; and sadly, large numbers found themselves unable to advance within the corporate strata to the top. At that time, evolving movements believed that there was a Big Brother somewhere somehow preventing women from progressing at the workplace.
In the 1980’s the word glass ceiling was replaced with a not too pleasant word, ‘mommy track’. Within that same period, women within child-bearing ages were considered less-motivated and uncommitted to work. Sad, but obvious at that time. There was a momentous perception that women take extensive time off and subsequently leave work once they had children.
In fact, a woman cannot love her work more than the love she has for her child or children. This statement will surely be discussed later. A woman at work, with a child admitted at the hospital, for example, is virtually at the hospital and not at the workplace. As she prioritises her maternal duties, she’s compelled and interestingly influenced to shelve her career necessities, arbitrarily. This is just an example. The ‘mommy track’ is basically an interrupted, if not a delayed, career journey followed by women as a result of family commitments along the way.
Obviously, not so fascinating, and of course not to belabour the argument, the world has seen the need to prepare girls into confident women ready to shatter the glass ceiling if not smashing it entirely. It is not as though women do not know their potential. Of course, to better the point and be much pointier, and not too punchy, women must consciously demonstrate superiority and gravitas in leadership.
Leadership knows no gender. Leadership knows no colour. Leadership is just leadership. Women must focus on the bigger picture to smash the glass ceiling and the discussions around the glass cliff wouldn’t even be required. Most women give up too early on their journey, and some also get complacent along the way. Women must not throw their hands in the air when they find themselves in the woods.
Honestly, the discussions around the glass cliff wouldn’t be necessary if the dialogue around the glass ceiling is handled more appropriately to reflect what leadership is and what leadership is not. The revelations about the glass cliff within the dialogue on the glass ceiling set the tone for another discussion on the meaning of challenging times in the lives of organisations. To this end, women must build character for leadership success. When Rev. Jesse Jackson hinted that leadership wouldn’t just go along to get along, he meant that leaders must develop the character, values and ethics required to climb to the top.
This is Leadership!
