Study: Women at the Wheel: Do Female Executives Drive Start-Up Success? (Dow Jones, 2012)
Finding: More women in executive positions means more successful start-ups.
InPower Insight: The evidence now spans large and small businesses alike – women in leadership are good for business!
Summary:
Good news for your venture-backed company: if you’ve got women in your senior positions, research says you could be more successful than other venture-backed companies that have only men in charge.
This study by Dow Jones looked at over 20,000 U.S. based venture capital-backed companies within the Dow Jones Venture Source database (between 1997 – 2011), 167,556 executives of those companies, of which 11,193 were women. The results showed that the median proportion of female executives is 7.1% in successful companies and 3.1% in unsuccessful companies. The findings suggest that “companies have a greater chance of either going public, operating profitably or being sold for more money than they’ve raised when they have females acting as founders, board members, C-level officers, vice presidents and/or directors.”
The research shows that while just 1.3% of companies have women founders, the same companies do tend to hire more women executives as the company grows. An estimated 6.5% of growing companies have a female CEO and 20% have at least one woman C-Level executive, most commonly in sales and marketing.
Women are found to be more conservative and capital-efficient – raising more money and selling when they get a good offer – than they’re male counterparts.
Career Coaching Tip: If you’re feeling like your feminine style isn’t appreciated in your largely male work environment, take heart from this research. Despite the fact that they’re outnumbered, female tech start up execs are making a big impact financially for their firms. Look at what you and other women are doing to help your organization and learn to honor and value it. Until you do, it will be hard for your male management to do so!
Guide to Women in Leadership
Organizations with women in their executive suites regularly out-perform others. Yet rising female executives (and their mentors) are frustrated at how hard it is to break through the glass ceiling. In this extensive guide, Executive Coach Dana Theus shares her tried and true strategies to help women excel into higher levels of leadership and achieve their executive potential.
