Through a glass ceiling darkly

Bad news for female CEOs. Turns out whatever they do, they lose. Research looking at 20,000 news articles about 750 chief executives finds that women are in a “double bind”: they are either criticised for being too confident and too ambitious, or not being confident and ambitious enough.

The research, conducted by headhunters Russell Reynolds, with help of some AI wizardry, finds “ambition” is 73% more likely to be discussed negatively in relation to female leaders. They are 2.1 times more likely than male CEOs to be described as “too ambitious” and 2.1 times more likely to be described as lacking ambition.

Hetty Pye, a member of Russell Reynolds’ board and CEO advisory practice, says: “Behind closed doors women CEOs often tell us that they are held to different standards and experience more intense scrutiny than their peers.”

More tellingly, Pye adds: “Knowing how these double standards show up in public discourse allows all of us to spot them in the boardroom.”

The much bigger picture

Fresh from an intense discussion of AI in governance, Board Agenda is intrigued to come across the concept of “total governance”, as described by US academics Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci and Daniel Greenwood.

In an article for the Oxford Business Law Blog, Greenwood and Ricci note that through new tech, such as social media, mobile investing apps and the use of digital platforms to coordinate stakeholder activism, people can engage with companies in “multiple roles”.

“In ‘total governance’ individuals influence corporate governance through diverse and overlapping roles, just like in ‘total football’ tactics, where players fluidly change position instead of remaining in fixed roles,” they write.

And there is a further warning for non-executives as tech transforms corporate accountability.

“As digital natives inherit trillions in wealth and ascend to leadership positions, their facility with technology and willingness to leverage multiple stakeholder roles will reshape corporate behaviour.

“Companies that adapt to this digital reality—building robust engagement channels and responding authentically to digitally coordinated stakeholder concerns—will be better positioned for success.”

That thunder you hear is the nation’s non-executives rehearsing their TikTok dance routines. So to speak.

Engaging prospect?

Boards can get “overwhelmed”, according to a new paper from French business school INSEAD.

Business boffins Ron Soonieus and Sonia Tatar write that sustainability, AI and geopolitical tensions makes the “business environment more complex than ever”.

Their report finds that only a minority of board members fully understand how these three issues will affect their company’s value.

They recommend four actions: better horizon scanning and risk management, taking a long-term perspective and better engagement.

But business leaders may have to do something more difficult to address that fourth recommendation: “Amid growing polarisation, directors must actively engage across societal, cultural and geopolitical boundaries to bridge the divides that separate groups.

“This means promoting meaningful engagement with stakeholders—not shareholders and customers, but also activists, competitors and government officials.”

A little bit of politics, anyone?