Women and Men, Work and Power

More than ever - and in more companies than ever - men and women are working together, swapping ideas, sharing power. It is no longer newsworthy when an accomplished woman is promoted to lead a business unit or to run a company full of hard-charging men. In fact, more people in the United States now work for women-owned businesses than for the 500 biggest public companies. So why is there still so much tension between men and women at work? Do men and women really lead in different ways? Do they view and use power differently? Must high-achieving women make different sacrifices than men? Fast Company asked 13 prominent women - leaders from a variety of companies, industries, and backgrounds - for their insights on these and other provocative questions.

Sharon Patrick
President And COO
Martha Stewart Living
New York, New York
Sharon@MarthaStewart.Com

It's dangerous to generalize, but there are differences between men and women in management style - not in skills but in style. We can't ignore a million years of history - at the office or in the living room. The hilarious Broadway show Defending the Caveman summed up the difference pretty well: Men hunt, women gather. That's why today, if a woman wants to watch her favorite television shows, it's often easier for her to buy a new TV than to battle a man for the remote control.

I believe that "gathering" is at the crux of how women view and use power differently from men. I've had lots of experience with business negotiations - an activity not unlike hunting, since it's fraught with conflict and casualties. Men have tended to demonstrate a "go for the kill" mentality. They try to get as much as possible through pressure, intimidation, and the sheer desire to defeat at any cost whoever is sitting across the table from them. Women have tended to prefer searching for common interests, solving problems, and collaborating to find win-win outcomes.

It's not easy to find the freedom to operate with a "gathering" style - even though there is plenty of research documenting that collaborative approaches offer the best chance of producing high-quality results. But in the real (read: male) world, collaboration is often viewed as a sign of weakness. So unless you're the boss, collaboration is risky. That's why, over the last few years, I've focused on helping to build entrepreneurial businesses in which I can be a leading participant. I want the freedom to work in ways that work.

Sharon Patrick led the team that acquired Martha Stewart Living Enterprises from Time Inc. She has an MBA from Harvard and was a partner in McKinsey & Co.'s New York office.

Linda Chavez-Thompson
Executive Vice-President
AFL-CIO
Washington, DC

In my 30 years in the labor movement, "pushy broad" is one of the nicer names that I've been called. And I wear it like a badge of honor. If I really believe in something and others don't, I don't just let it go - I'm tenacious. Sometimes I'm ornery. But I always find ways to get things done.

The substance of what I stand for hasn't changed. But sometimes my style has. Back in Texas, where I was based until a few years ago, I'd be in meetings where I'd cuss like a sailor. I didn't have a choice: How much you could take and dish out was the measure of others' respect for you. Remember, I was dealing with six-foot-tall, 250-pound Texans who smoked big cigars. I couldn't let them push me around. While a few of my union brothers didn't like me, they sure did respect me.

I have faced plenty of obstacles in my career - not just as a woman but also as a woman of color. But I have always played by my own rules. Back in the early 1970s, I became the assistant business manager for AFSCME Local 2399 in San Antonio. I thought I was so important: I had a title, I went to meetings. But my colleagues thought of me as a secretary. I'd be the only woman in a room of 20 men, and they'd say, "Linda, why don't you take the minutes." I absolutely refused. Instead I'd say, "I'd rather be president or secretary-treasurer." They were floored, but I stuck to my guns. And eventually I did become secretary-treasurer.

Those early experiences taught me another important lesson: Women who want to be leaders have to be up-front and honest about it - not only with themselves but also with the men they work with and the men they share their lives with.

I am the first woman of color - in fact, the first woman of any kind - in an executive position at the AFL-CIO, but I don't want to be the last. I want to be one of many. We might have a few more hurdles in our path, but we'll get there.

Linda Chavez-Thompson is the highest-ranking woman in the U.S. labor movement. She has been a union activist and leader for more than three decades.