The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership. Sally Helgeson. Doubleday, New York, N.Y., 1990.

Reviewed by Carolyn Pickel, University of California, Statewide IPM Program.

Do not be turned off by the title of this book because I found it misleading. The information in the book is useful to both females and males by contrasting styles of leadership from when corporate leaders were primarily males in the sixties and seventies until the eighties when women entered the public sector and achieved leadership positions. This book celebrates the difference between leadership approaches taken by men and their influence from military and participating in team sports to styles used by women as they emerged as leaders. Both males and females can learn from these studies contrasting these styles.

The introduction of the book set the stage by describing the situation women saw as they entered the work force or public sector in the seventies. These women that endeavored to enter leadership careers found that modern corporations were structured like the military. Women in the seventies had not been included in "team sports" and were told to study football plays so that they would be able to flourish in corporations. Women were also advised "how to be more like men." I had similar experiences when I started in UC Cooperative Extension in the late seventies. I was advised by my county director to dress like a man and to take voice lessons to lower my voice. I always felt that women's equality did not mean that we had to become a man to do a man's job and that we would be able to bring are uniqueness to getting the job done. The book stated that at the same time more and more women were entering the work force, the public arena was undergoing downsizing, allowing women to exert their influence and more impact on the public realm.

This book describes a study of four women leaders conducted in the eighties and contrasting it to a study published on How Men Lead by Mintzberg in 1973 using the same methodology identified as diary studies. Diary studies are conducted by spending the entire day for several weeks with the subject and recording minute-to-minute tasks then categorizing them. The Mintzberg study included five men that were key business leaders of their time.

The Mintzberg study found that these men spent 60% of their time on meetings and task requiring immediate attention. They had a "nagging suspicion that nothing was getting done." This sounds familiar to Cooperative Extension today. These men focused all their attention on completion of tasks and achievement of goals.

This book described the differences between women and men and stated that motherhood teaches management, negotiating skills and the ability to balance. Women focus on process and men focus on achievement and closure. Men were taught from team sports that the player does not question the coach. Women are more flexible, can complete diverse tasks and value cooperation and relationships.

The author defines the leadership structure used by men, military, and sport teams as Hierarchy. This system follows a chain of command; information is filtered, gathered and sorted as it goes to the top through appropriate channels. The female leadership attributes are describes as a Web structure with facilitated direct communication. Margaret Thatcher, which was viewed as following male leadership attributes, described herself as "never set specific goals but seize opportunities." Hesselbein the president of Girl Scouts, USA, said, "Language is the greatest motivating voice", which shows caring respect, appreciation and patience. She also avoided business jargon. She described her leadership skill as circular, fitting the web structure. As a leader she felt she should be in middle not the top. She held monthly meeting that were not reports of accomplishments but encouraging exposure to others ideas. She was described as "Leading with a voice not a vision."

Barbara Grogan, CEO, Western Industrial Contractures, believed in the "structure of spontaneity." She did not reword workaholic and employees needed to spend time with families. This is not rewarded in the heircharchial structure used by the men in the Mintzberg study.

Nancy Badore was charged with changing Ford Motor Co from the Hierarchal system to the web structure. She was described as "Breaking down barriers." Dorothy Brunson from Brunson Communication was described as a "The Leader as a Transmitter."

All of these female leaders felt that there should be a balance between your personal life and your career. The men leaders in the Mintzberg study spend 12 to 14 hours a day on their career and had little time to be involved with their families. Many of these men regretted this later in life.

The author of this book continues to hold training sessions on reorganization and restructuring which she attributes to females skills of listening. She holds these training sessions for the military. As we in the University of California Cooperative (UCCE) undergo a third major reorganization and downsizing I found this book to be timely. I see UCCE struggling with this idea of changing management style towards a web structure but not wanting to let go of the hierarchy management style describe in this book as "the end of the warrior age."