Mind the Gap: Gender Differences in Global Leadership Competencies and Why It Matters

Global mindset is a collection of competencies that are critical for effective global leadership. We find a significant difference in the global mindset competencies that men and women bring to leadership roles: women score higher than men on intercultural empathy, diplomacy, passion for diversity, and global psychological capital overall, whereas men score higher than women on interpersonal impact, global business savvy, cosmopolitan outlook, and global intellectual capital overall. These differences highlight potentially important deficits in the gender-homogeneous senior leadership ranks of most global companies and signal the need for the inclusion and encouragement of both genders in senior leadership roles.