I know the typical answer is “Diversity & Inclusion”. I just want to share a real example to reflect that.
I am having regular coaching sessions with a few juniors in my team. In one of the conversations, I noticed male team members are in general more dominating in the conversations (as expected), and I am not saying it is not allowed or bad to drive. However, as a result, there is always some hesitation for females to share their views. Under this situation, a woman who is in the leadership team would balance the “energy” and make the conversations more encouraging for female colleagues to share their thoughts.
When the team members are asked what their strengths, you often hear ambitious / dare from male colleagues, and empathetic / approachable from female colleagues. We do need to be competitive and ambitious but at the same time, there is never enough empathy.
We need to hear views from both male and females.