Putting more women at the helm of corporate boards


Research shows that women often outperform men in critical board-leader competencies. If only there were more female board chairs.

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Since 2010, we have witnessed a sharp rise in the number of female directors in many developed economies. Yet the number of female board chairs has remained very low. Even in Sweden, which leads the world in this aspect, a mere 15% of the largest public companies were chaired by women.
These low percentages are intriguing, for our earlier research shows that women often outperform men in such critical board-leader competencies as listening and questioning and personal attributes such as restraint and patience.
We decided to find out why female representation was so low and to identify some potential remedies. Our latest research indicat
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