Thursday 13 November 2008

Alpha men

On November 11th , seventy four male top executives signed their names to a full page advertisement in a Dutch financial newspaper. The ad is a call for more women to be appointed to boardroom positions in Dutch businesses, specifically in the distressed financial institutions. This summons by men makes mention of the fact that women in both executive and non-executive positions contribute to the balanced view in boardrooms and have a positive influence on the culture and the management of organisations. The summons is intended to ensure that women are included in the new boards that will run the financial sector companies. The underlying reasoning is that the current crisis calls for "the best teams we have" and that these teams should be comprised of both men and women.
Throughout my career I have wondered what is driving the typical "alpha men", who are competing in the meeting rooms for power, money and influence. I have attended many hours of useless meetings where a group of men basically tried to prove that their prick is bigger than the other guys'. So I fully support the call for more women in top executive positions. I believe that mixed male/female boardrooms will produce much better decisions, and may have prevented the current economic meltdown. I like the Norwegian law which makes it compulsory for boards to have at least 40% female members.
Now the big question is: what about the gays? Most likely the tops are like the alpha men, and the bottoms are with the wiser females. Hehe

2 comments:

sgboy said...

if it is compulsory for boards to have at least 40% female members wouldn't it make them the token female? Appointed just because they are female to statisfy the law?

happyamsguy said...

Apparently the system works well in Norway. Note that 40% is almost half of the board, so it becomes difficult to ignore the female voices.