Attributes and Attitudes of Successful Women - Essay Example

Running head: Attributes and Attitudes of Successful Women Personal values and attitudes towards women have generally improved through time. Women are empowered across the geographical divide and now they pose a formidable challenge to men especially in the business and corporate world. These areas strongly affect employment relations and a wide scope of management issues. Through time and under the influence of cultural change and diversity, women portray attitudes that are more responsive in the workforce than men are.

It is important for women all over the world to step out of the confines of home and the entanglements of domestic chores into the realm of entrepreneurship, business and leadership. Much to this is the fact that there are certain essentials that successful women have grasped as an impetus making them stand out in the crowd. This paper discusses the attributes and attitudes that women should possess in order to succeed in the corporate world. Introduction Successful women all over the world have removed the obstacles and possible hindrances toward the attainment of their goals and this has made them quite distinct.

In order to expound on how to break barriers and the challenging life styles, Derrington and Sharratt recommend that women should have various attitudes including being women of resolve –that is nothing but determination. Accordingly, women should be able to balance their personal and professional lives. In this regard, the women with a balance can not only multitask but they are also capable of deciding what is important or essential and then learn to ignore that which is not. They also agree that attaining the superintendency, personal relationships and lifestyle will have to be at stake.

Here, the ability to negotiate is very crucial. Finally, there should be the potential to cultivate support. Successful women will have to be team players – people who can use strategies to solicit the support of those near them. In this way, those others will see the need to help them with the work at home while they work elsewhere. These four attitudes are important to the would-be corporate women. Similarly, Allen looks at ten attributes that contribute to the success of powerful women.

She starts with lack of fear, which she calls fear of anything ranging from fear of failure to fear of lack of sufficient knowledge. She challenges women not to let fear thwart their efforts to rise to the top. According to her, successful women are also naturally empathic people who know how to wear the shoes of others and take time to listen to others while putting themselves in their situation even when their ego is highest. They should be relationship builders, intuitive women who should use this rare ability in handling clients and associates.

Women should not ignore this very important attribute for men terribly lack it. Further, they should have power to mentor, be competitive and decisive, successive negotiators, women capable of multi-tasking, goal setters and with ability to communicate effectively. As much as possible, some of these attributes of successful women only overlap with the attitudes that they should wear. Hadary gives an immense contribution on the characteristics of those women who have transformed the face of business and society, women who are moving into leadership responsibilities as being at the echelons of the business world.

These include being able to define success in their own terms without basing it on how others define it and what it means to them, women who are value-based and are consistent to good behavior, able to recognize the power and the strength they own by understanding how to utilize them to reap much in their endeavors. Others include trusting their instincts, recognizing the scarcity of the resources around them including themselves, ability to invest time and money on themselves and being women who build meaningful networks.

Conclusion Successful women, in summary, are women who know what they want and are wise enough to make strategic plans, which they follow especially when things get tough. They are also women who do not shudder when required to pay the price and are ready to pick up from where they are instead of focusing on lost opportunities and time. Successful women know how to be glad even when things are bad. While there are many traits that are common among successful women in general, I find these many attributes to be the most cardinal among women who are high achieving.

References Allen, S. (n.d): The Ten Attributes of Successful Women Business Leaders. Retrieved April 4, 2010, from http://www.evancarmichael.com/Women-Entrepreneurs/2856/The-Ten-Attributes-of-Successful-Women-Business-Leaders.html Hadary, S. (2003): Top Ten Characteristics of Successful Women Business Leaders Retrieved April 4, 2010, from http://www.womensleadershipexchange.com/index.php?pagename=resourceinfo&resourcekey=166 Sharratt, G. & Derrington, M. L. (2009): Four Attitudes of Successful Women.

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