HBR's Women at Work Collection

CHAPTER 13

“Feminine” Values Can Give Leaders an Edge

by John Gerzema

The 2013 Pew Center study, “Breadwinner Moms,” revealed that working mothers are the sole or primary provider in a record 40% of U.S. households. Only a few days before the report was released, hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor-Jones created a stir by remarking at a conference that women will never rival men as traders because babies are a “focus killer.”

Here we have the dynamics of a new economy colliding with the old establishment like tectonic plates. But as developed nations restructure from manufacturing to knowledge and services, my bet is on the moms—or more specifically, the women—and the men who can think like them. Survey data my colleague Michael D’Antonio and I ...