In the business world, it’s often thought that women have only been breaking through glass ceilings and taking true leadership roles in recent decades. But Connie Glaser, best-selling author and syndicated columnist who writes about women and leadership issues, points to a 2,400-year-old story to illustrate how women should comport themselves if they want to persevere and succeed in a male-dominated marketplace.
As detailed in her 2005 book What Queen Esther Knew: Business Strategies from a Biblical Sage, Glaser draws myriad lessons from the Old Testament story about an orphan girl chosen on the basis of her beauty to be a queen, who then used her intellect to persuade a king to spare her people.
“It’s a very dramatic and compelling story of women’s leadership and empowerment,” says Glaser, who is the keynote speaker at the Business Report’s sold-out luncheon Thursday to honor its 2011 Influential Women in Business winners. “What continues to strike me about this story is all these human characteristics of leadership: integrity, persuasiveness and courage under fire. These leadership traits have not changed.”
Of all the lessons modern women can draw from Queen Esther, Glaser says learning to communicate with confidence, assertiveness and credibility is perhaps the most important. One of the fatal flaws many women make in the boardroom, she says, is using disclaimers or qualifiers before laying out an idea.
Glaser cites as examples: “This might be a dumb idea, but …” and “Maybe this has already been tried, but …” She explains, “When women speak this way, it undermines their credibility and sends out the impression that they’re not sure of themselves. When Queen Esther confronts the king, she doesn’t say, ‘I may be out of line here, King, but …’ ”
Of course, appearance accounts for a large part of how peers are going to perceive women in business, Glaser says. If you want to be taken seriously, she says, leave the revealing clothes in the closet and go for something stylish yet tasteful.
“How you enter a room is also important,” she says. “I was at a meeting recently and a woman came in late. She had just dropped her kids off, and she starts talking about them and how sorry she is for being late, and then she sits down and takes out a mirror to look herself over. If you want to draw attention to yourself as a credible leader and businessperson, then you have to maintain an executive presence.”
Women who are prone to deflecting praise would be better served by gracefully accepting credit for their accomplishments when they’re singled out for kudos, Glaser says.
“It doesn’t have to be self-aggrandizing. It can just be a very sincere ‘Thank you,’ ” she says. “If you’ve worked hard and you’ve done a great job, when someone acknowledges it, then embrace it and take credit for it—or someone else will.”
Glaser is the author of five books on women, leadership and gender communication, and is also a syndicated columnist in business journals across the country. An Atlanta resident, she’s a frequent media guest on gender issues and also consults a number of Fortune 500 companies. Read more about the 2011 Influential Women in Business honorees here.
