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We clean up after ourselves. There isn't a leader in the world who hasn't led his or her followers into a proverbial ditch at least once (my greatest screwups are cataloged on Google, if you're interested). But as a rule, women spend more time fixing the problem than pointing fingers.
We open up the floor. Okay, not all of us—I've had some bad female bosses in my time—but women do a better job of encouraging discussion, and studies show that consulting more stakeholders produces better results. Take the iPad. When it debuted, was there a woman in America who didn't think, sanitary napkin? If Apple had consulted us, I'd be writing this column on an iTablet.
We know what it's like to be marginalized. In this country, we're still told that work is less valuable if it's done by us. Being treated differently for a trait we can't control helps make us compassionate.
We can control ourselves. Can you imagine a woman chasing the bellboy around a $3,000-a-night hotel suite in the nude? Please.
We smell better. A man who often appears on TV with me has breath so foul that I once asked to be paired with someone else. Not to generalize, but I've never had these issues with a woman.
Powerful Ideas
We open up the floor. Okay, not all of us—I've had some bad female bosses in my time—but women do a better job of encouraging discussion, and studies show that consulting more stakeholders produces better results. Take the iPad. When it debuted, was there a woman in America who didn't think, sanitary napkin? If Apple had consulted us, I'd be writing this column on an iTablet.
We know what it's like to be marginalized. In this country, we're still told that work is less valuable if it's done by us. Being treated differently for a trait we can't control helps make us compassionate.
We can control ourselves. Can you imagine a woman chasing the bellboy around a $3,000-a-night hotel suite in the nude? Please.
We smell better. A man who often appears on TV with me has breath so foul that I once asked to be paired with someone else. Not to generalize, but I've never had these issues with a woman.
Powerful Ideas
From the August 2011 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
