Pathways to Career and Leadership Success: Part 2—Striking Gender Similarities Among $100k Professionals

Abstract

This study examined gender differences in personal, family, personality, work style, and leadership factors among a sample of highly successful business professionals. Self-report data was obtained from a survey of 56 women and 50 men, mostly from the United States, all of whom made $100,000 or more in annual personal income. Most of the respondents had senior-level positions, owned their own business, and were highly educated. Sixty percent were millionaires or multimillionaires. Contrary to past research indicating systemic gender differences that limit the success of females, this study found few gender differences overall. These women and men were similar on most of the measures tested, including parental and early-life experiences, core personality traits, work styles, leadership styles, formative career work assignments, career path life detours, and work-related failures. However, twice as many women than men reported experiencing prejudice or discrimination in their work histories. A majority of both genders acknowledged gender-specific obstacles to career success for women in general (i.e., childbearing, greater family care responsibilities, and sexism). Being a successful leader also was defined somewhat differently for women than for men. Thus, even though a high degree of similarity was found between women and men in most background and career path characteristics, traditional gender-role expectations and sexism issues still affected many of these women, and this was acknowledged by most of the men in the study as well. See companion article (Part 1) for comparisons of this sample with normative and matched samples on many of these demographic, personality, work style, and early-life experience factors.