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Leadership in the 21st century requires more of the attributes held by women. Thanks to the herculean efforts of two highly regarded researchers, John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio, we now know this to be a fact. The team interviewed 64,000 people in 13 countries, men and women alike. The results are undeniable. The female traits of collaboration, flexibility and nurturing are winning out in a world that is becoming increasingly more social, interdependent and transparent.

Why is this study in leadership called The Athena Doctrine? Athena is the Greek goddess whose strength as a warrior came from wisdom and fairness. These are two of the leadership attributes highly valued by people around the globe who participated in this extensive survey. The macho paradigm of the past — dominance, strength, assertiveness, and decisiveness — are giving way to the more open, creative, communal and flexible traits found more frequently among women.

In an era where the world is flat, according to author Thomas Friedman, communication may be with people next door or around the globe. The next great idea, company, movement or invention is as likely to come from Alexandria, Egypt as from Alexandria, Virginia. Communication skills have become so important in the world in which we live, and women excel in communicating and socializing ideas, and are more open to opinions and comfortable with the dialogue.

“Athena Doctrine” authors Gerzema and D’Antonio take pains to document their leadership survey findings, with many stories from around the globe that support them. Of course there are differences among nations, but the trends are extremely clear.

Corporate leaders would do well to take the findings of The Athena Doctrine to heart. In companies today, with social media in rapid rise and communication among employees a given, leaders have to inspire the rank and file and accept two-way communication as a skill they must possess. I believed when I led the USA Network and The Sci Fi Channel (now SyFy) to prominence at the end of the ’90s that good ideas, critiques of company processes and understanding what works and doesn’t work in the company could come from anyone at any level in the company. Maybe I was a bit ahead of my time, but now that I’ve read The Athena Doctrine, I realize that my leadership came more from my core beliefs, shared more by women than men. I was surprised by a comment made by my male COO that he thought I ran the company like a woman, and he was glad I did.

It was an open, collaborative yet decisive era that drove our networks to the top of the competition.

This leads to the conclusions presented in The Athena Doctrine. The best leaders have a combination of traits held by women and men. That a combination of strength, decisiveness and authority when combined with flexibility, collaboration, creativity and openness, are the leadership qualities the best leaders for the 21st century will embody.

I agree.

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Women living in rural areas of Africa and India are getting a boost into entrepreneurship by Coca Cola’s Mutar Kent teaming up with Inventor Dean Kamen to distribute clean water distillers.

At the Women in the World Conference. Mutar Kent, Coke CEO, committed to the distribution of the distiller, called Slingshot to African women in rural areas. The Slingshot can produce clean water from any fetid source for about one penny per gallon.

Women will become the small business entrepreneurs and operators who will be able to sell the water to villagers. The bonus is that the distiller also produces electricity that can be used to power cell phones and lights, another revenue stream for the budding entrepreneurs. This program is part of the commitment Coca Cola made to UN Women in 2011 when CEO Kent announced the 5 by 20 program. This program aims to lift into business 5 million women-run small businesses by 2020. To date, they have launched programs in 12 countries and have reached 300,000 women.

I was first introduced to the Slingshot at Singularity University, where Dean Kamen presented the distiller model he had been working on for almost 14 years. He presented the results of a pilot test run in Calcutta, India, that demonstrated the utility and simple operating system that could be implemented by people with no education or previous experience enabling them to become entrepreneurs. The simplicity of the distiller that can generate clean water from almost any refuse or combustible material really impressed me.

The Slingshot is one of more than 440 patents and devices invented by the prolific Kamen. As successful as he is at inventing medical and clean energy devices, one of his proudest initiatives is FIRST, the remarkable robot competition in which junior high and high school kids compete to build robots, all using the same basic box of supplied tools. In 2012, 350,000 kids competed.

This Slingshot distribution program is remarkable proof that corporations can drive innovation, contribute to the communities they serve and activate double bottom line results. Undoubtedly, CEO Kent sees this initiative in the best interest of his company for it is likely he is counting on these women to become distributors of other products from Coke in the future. I am a strong believer in sustainable social entrepreneurship, and this program is meant to be just that. It will be sustainable as it lifts new consumers from rural areas in Africa and India into budding consumers. It’s just great business.

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Believe it or not, this feeling wafts through the atmosphere at companies every day. How do you break the cycle of feeling “I’ve been left behind!”

There are many reasons why some people seem to get on the track to consistently being promoted, and some do not. There are steps you can take, though, that will give you a better opportunity to get that next promotion. Here are some to consider:

First, determine how you can work smarter, not just longer, than anyone else. Working smarter means using time wisely, knowing which activities will yield measureable results, which have a profile with your co-workers. In other words, how can you put your efforts where what you do will be recognized by peers and bosses as providing leadership and getting results.

Second, do you have both responsibility and authority to accomplish your assignments? What are the limits of each? If you are stuck in a job that has responsibility to get things done but no authority to make decisions on how to accomplish results, discuss with your boss or team leader how you can earn authority. What this takes is trust. Determine how you can earn that trust.

When I headed USA Network, I would often assemble a task force to address a specific challenge. People could volunteer to be on the task force as long as they had some insight into the challenge to be solved. Often the volunteers came from different levels within the company.

What I thought was interesting was who would take leadership for solving the challenge. It wasn’t often the most senior person, but rather the person who had the most interest in tackling the issue. It gave me new insight into the leadership traits of different people, something I kept in mind for future promotions.

Third, start to build your case for wanting to take on more authority. Discuss with your boss ways in which you can earn the leadership skills and authority to manage others. Make clear your interest in growing within the organization. Are there training courses the company makes available for you to grow your own skills. Earning a promotion is not a sometime activity, or a once a year conversation.

Fourth, learn to manage up. Getting promoted is not just a result of managing people reporting to you, It is a matter of how you manage people to whom you are reporting. You might ask, “How do I do that?” It is very much a skill that requires EQ as well as IQ. Being able to present solutions to your boss before they are asked for is one way to manage up. As you practice this skill, you will find other ways to provide value above the basic requirements of your job.

Earning a promotion is a continuous activity and should be viewed just like earning anything else, that college degree, even friendships. It’s a reward earned and deserved over time.

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It’s easy to understand why. Not all people with experience necessarily make good mentors. It takes a certain emotional intelligence (EQ) to be a valuable mentor. Conversely, all people seeking mentors do not often know what they hope to gain from a mentor.

Let’s start with what I would consider the most important factor in establishing a productive mentor/mentee connection. First, one has to establish a relationship. This should be someone you admire in your company or in your industry with whom you already have some communication and familiarity. If you don’t have that, it is important to look for ways to bridge the gap. You can do this by offering up your assistance on a project, a task force and industry wide initiative, or by participating in a common interest for example on a health issue, a hobby or a community event. There are numerous ways to get to know people and one has to use imagination in order to make those connections.

Once a relationship is established, think through what it is you are seeking from a mentor. Remember, people in a position to give you guidance are likely to be very busy people. Therefore, they will be making a decision as to whether or not they want to spend their time helping you. You will advance your request if you make clear what it is you are seeking advice about. Rather than being vague and general in making a request of someone, if you are clear about the advice you are seeking, you have a much better chance of getting a positive reply.

Once a mentor is secured, be very mindful of using your mentor’s time wisely. You might find that there are ways to exchange values, providing the mentor with information on something of interest to them. Creating this two-way street is the best way to develop a long-term relationship. It will provide the best opportunity to turn a mentor into a sponsor, someone who has an interest in seeing you advance your career.

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This is a message I have been preaching to women for well over a decade, especially to women entrepreneurs at Springboard Enterprises, a venture accelerator for women entrepreneurs in growth businesses.

Claiming our success for some reason seems to be difficult for women to do. Even the most accomplished among us, are somehow satisfied with handing out credit to everyone else, and just ignoring our own. One example I often cite when conducting our boot camp training sessions is that of a former Springboard Alum. This woman got up to give her first elevator pitch in the training session on her biomedical company explaining quite clearly what her device did, how she would market it and the size of her potential market and how she would generate revenue. She never mentioned her own qualifications. This was Mae Jemison!

Had Dr. Mae Jemison opened her presentation like this: “My name is Mae Jemison, I am a physician and an astronaut and the first black woman who traveled into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992,” she would have had everybody’s attention. She would have established immediate credibility. She would have “leaned in” instead of leaned back.

I hasten to say the Dr. Mae Jemison is a successful entrepreneur, and in 2012 DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), awarded her “100 Year Starship” program with a seed funding grant to support the planning of the next 100 years of interplanetary travel. It is a remarkable accomplishment for a woman to be chosen to head this global initiative among space scientists, astronauts, humanitarians, educators and global leaders. And this is just one of her long list of recognitions of her leadership.

People often ask, What is the most important thing women need to learn to effectively raise capital for their companies? Without question, we must learn to “Lean In” on our accomplishments, trust the confident sound of our own voices and engender confidence among the listeners and investors. While there are many other essential attributes to being a successful leader, ‘Leaning In” is an essential first step in establishing the leadership women in business and entrepreneur needs to project.

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We’ve all watched ABCs Shark Tank and had that awful feeling for someone who just got torn up by the “sharks.” Springboard Enterprises has decided that the model is correct, but the meanness isn’t. They believe entrepreneurs need support, constructive feedback and connections. Enter “The Dolphin Tank” – Springboard’s answer to the Shark Tank.  Read Article

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