MBA gives women an opportunity to get into higher leadership roles

Margaret Thatcher once famously said, “If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.” Presently, there are roughly 22 female Presidents or Prime Ministers in the world, and about a dozen women executives at the helm of Fortune 500 companies. Getting to the top hasn’t been easy, especially for Women CEOs across the world. So what are the factors that would have led them to this great success? Let’s find out.

In recent news, the Indian School of Business reported that its MBA students received the highest ever number of job offers from corporate recruiters in 2019, and saw a 124% jump in their compensation compared with their pre-MBA salary. Companies hiring MBA students in 2019 include Amazon, Google, and Boston Consulting Group. Reports say that the hiring of women also increased, with Axis Bank and a clutch of other companies hiring women for leadership roles in large numbers.

We now see in several companies and countries, employers have started recruiting a lot of young women as they clearly outperform their male counterparts. It is said that corporate companies are increasingly looking forward to hiring women MBA’s because studies have proven that companies with gender diversity in the top management boost performance and productivity, thus leading the companies to have women in senior leadership roles and as board members.

Female CEOs such as Meg Whitman, previously CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co and now the CEO of Quibi also serves on the boards of Procter & Gamble and Dropbox, Virginia (Ginni) Rometty at International Business Machines Corp (IBM), and Indra Nooyi, ex CEO of PepsiCo Inc were featured in the S&P 500 top ten for highest earnings in 2018. Two out of three of these women are MBA qualified. Half of the women leading Fortune 500 companies have earned a degree in all.

Whitman obtained her MBA at Harvard Business School, while Nooyi first graduated with an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management – Calcutta and then pursued a Master’s in Public and Private Management at the Yale School of Management. An interesting commonality between all three women was their decision to stay within their organizations and climb the ranks – not one of them being poached.

A BI Norwegian Business School study of more than 2900 managers indicated that women may have better personalities for leadership. Five personality traits were assessed: extraversion, openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, agreeableness and emotional stability. Women scored higher than men in the first four out of five of these traits. A higher tendency to worry impacted the emotional stability score; nevertheless, the analysis suggested that women are more innovative, supportive, are clearer communicators, and are more likely to be recognized for their meticulousness. Neuroscientists have also reported that there are innate differences in the way men and women think.

If we look back a couple of decades ago, the representation of women in the workforce has been low in India. But the good news is that it’s not the same anymore, because not only people have realized the value of education for women but also they’ve realized the significance of having ‘working women’ in families. Probably that’s why the term ‘multi-tasking’ came along. Today more and more women enter the workforce, and more women have started climbing the corporate ladder, giving a tough fight to men.

The human resource management report that many employers recruiting for senior leadership roles now seek out candidates who have completed an MBA. Because its recognized as the gold-standard in leadership and business training, and good programs at reputable universities are even better regarded. When someone is contending for prospective competitive roles, an MBA listed on the CV acts like the clincher; proving to prospective employers that they’re serious about their career and, by extension, their organizations.

So what does MBA teach? That becomes so vital for a leadership role? Many often say that undertaking an MBA requires people to step outside their comfort zone and collaborate with others in the program, while the course itself will often include components on successful leadership communication. For Nancy Nirosha, studying an MBA while working in a tax team at a big corporate, contributed to her success in managing a team and building positive work relationships.“MBA gave me the ability to recognize strategic growth opportunities and in my ability to have influence over others to execute against strategies,” she says.

For students these days, it is easy to get stuck in a rut and ultimately can take a long time to step back and reflect on what one truly wants out of their career. But committing to an MBA can pull you out of this and give you the clarity to get ahead and do what’s best long term. Whether you are looking for a promotion in the same organization, seeking new opportunities in a completely different industry or aiming to pivot into an entrepreneurial venture, an MBA can help you achieve this. Today, the world is much more positive about gender diversity. Honestly, it’s only a matter of time before women occupied a lot more CEO/MD positions. When we see how organizations are evolving now, if we fast forward another 5-10 years, the pace of change will be much faster than what has happened in the past!

(A marketing initiative by Open Avenues)

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