Gender Differences and Leadership

Does gender style adaptation detract from attributes increasingly required for successful leadership in future operations? Specifically, do women occupying leadership positions (military and civilian) adapt, exhibiting traditionally male leadership styles and attributes and downplay traits customarily considered more feminine, but potentially vital to creative thought and analysis in future operations? If so, what is the cost to future development of theory, strategy, and operations? This study analyzed gender differences in leadership as inferred from current research and literature on leadership derived from comparisons of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator testing, leadership surveys, and related research in the area of communication. The author gathered data from numerous sources to include military sources, current research using psychological abstracts, and interviewed authors including Otto Kroeger and Lt Col Mike McGee, USA, a recent Air War College guest speaker, who presented information pertinent to strategic leadership. Data from both the military and the civilian sector were gathered and analyzed as military data was thought to be skewed based upon characteristics of a male-dominated profession which primarily attracts individuals inclined to a specific leadership style.