Oprah Winfrey and Antonio Simoes represent the leadership styles of two different genres. While Winfrey highlights the feminist leadership traits, Simoes is an openly gay head of the HSBC's UK operations. Whether Winfrey's African nationality has supported or negated her efforts to go the top in a country of Whites is a matter of concern. Likewise, it is to be seen that how will Simoes be perceived as a leader when many among us are apprehensive of gay leadership.
It is for these reasons these two leaders have been selected for the discussion. There is a plethora of literature on gender and leadership, but little of it studies the intersection between race, sexual orientation, and leadership effectiveness. Discussing leadership with these viewpoints will impart a 'uniqueness' and comprehensiveness to the discussion of one of the much-coveted topic, the gendered management, and leadership.
All in all, Winfrey's style of leading is transformational. She is the leader who inspires and motivates others. She assiduously communicates her vision and high expectations to the followers while attracting their admiration and attention. Apparently, her leadership attributes are in sync with the identified feminist leadership traits. Scholars have discerned female leaders as emphasizing on interpersonal relations, collaborative, democratic, and transformational which stands in stark contrast to masculine leadership that is task-oriented, transactional, authoritarian, and controlling.
Learning from her tragic past, Oprah empathized with people and offered solutions to their problems by the way of her talk shows. Instead of wallowing in the mire of sensationalism, she felt 'one' with the followers so much that her personal diet plans have shaped the eating habits of millions.
Nevertheless, she has fallen prey to gender stereotypes and labyrinths, as scholars have mentioned. While she was co-anchoring the evening news in Baltimore, the director commented that her hair was too thick and forced her to go for a makeover. Eligible to be considered as a racist or sexist remark, it exposes the discrimination and hardships of women leaders. Authors, in this context, have aptly mentioned that sex-linked inclinations and attributes do pervade in the society and powerfully affect the gendered identities.
Oprah has shared many struggles related to size and color bias. Her experiences whiff off a gendered culture in which equalities sharpen and cast wider against women than men, or against Blacks than Whites. It can be well correlated that racist struggles, as experienced by Oprah, have been more frequent because of her being a woman, though there is not a sound literature suggesting that.
The route of Oprah to the top has been full of twists and turns; it has been a complex journey that required persistence and dogged efforts. Still, her success reveals that goals are attainable, and women of mettle do find their ways to fulfill their pursuits.
Oprah's case reveals some thought-provoking ideas. First of all, the case of pay discrimination has not been with her because she was a self-made CEO, running her own empire. Still, the subtle challenges have existed throughout. Her case is a befitting example of the intersection of race and gender and its impact on stereotyped notions. Hill Collins(1990) vindicated that Black women empower themselves by creating self-definitions and positive images about themselves to counter negative representations. It is further identified that Black and White women experience different career trajectories in the organizations and their perceptions to the barriers are notably poles apart. While white women are privileged because of their race, they are subordinate because of their gender. By contrast, Black women face both sexism and racism in their daily professional experiences.
Compared to the feminist leadership, literature on LGBT leadership attributes and perceptions is relatively minimal. Still, there are a few scholars who have shed light on the interaction of sexual orientation on leadership evaluations. Results of these studies have revealed that gay and lesbian leaders are perceived as less agentic and more communal than their counterparts.
Antonio Simoes reported in an interview that it was his homosexuality that pushed him to the top. Being a homosexual he had high emotional intelligence, empathy, and authenticity. These attributes, though, are the perceived traits of female leaders, not male leaders. In this sense, Antonio Simoes personality seems to be confirming to the Gender Inversion Theory that states that gay males are likely to behave as females.
Exploring the traits of gay leaders, the theory expounds that gay leaders are gentle, compassionate, and sensitive to others' needs. As leadership effectiveness is seen through the lenses of masculine traits, theories have vindicated that gay leaders will be perceived less effective than their heterosexual counterparts.
Nonetheless, Simoes negates being discriminated because of his sexual orientation while he was trying to make his way in London. The extensive interview reported how the male-dominated culture is changing to embrace diversity. He is either fortunate enough, or the world's view is changing towards diversity, still, it cannot be generalized that LGBT community has achieved the 'normalcy' in the society. Scholars have clearly highlighted the wage discrimination these employees have to face in America.
There is no literature available how effective Simoes has been in his leadership tenure so far; one thing is quite clear. He has out-and-out defied the negativities associated with sexual orientations and had openly spoken out when required, i.e., "my husband does this for me." He feels pride in being gay and remains comfortable while conveying this out to others. He is named one of the top LGBT leaders and is expected that his sexual orientation will do more positive in the years to come.
Theoretically speaking, both of these leaders do not confirm to meandering thoughts and voodoo perceptions that prevail regarding leadership. While studies stating the negative effects of race, and sexual orientation on leadership effectiveness, and likeability, these people of mettle are considered effective as well as likable. It was, probably, the reason the reason the Simoes was promoted to handle HSBC's UK operations as the head.
Old societal norms and leadership perceptions are gradually changing, and notions of diversity are gaining ground. Advantages of diversity are seeping into the consciousness of corporate, academicians, and scholars. The success of people of the different genre is a testimony to it. Though available literature does consider that leadership effectiveness is curtailed because of gender, race or homosexuality, the outcome varies case to case.
Winfrey is a Jezebel figure who has excelled in her pursuits and is a loved leader. Simoes has assumed the authority a couple of years back and has to go a long way to prove his zing. It is expected that he will be appreciated for his leadership role and pave the way further for diversity inclusive working ambiance.
References
Ashcraft, K. (22000) 'Empowering Professional Relationships: Organizational Communication Meets Feminist Practice', Management Communication Quarterly.
Bell, E.L.E. and Nkomo, S.M. (2006) Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Billing, Y. and Alvesson, M. (2000) 'Questioning and Notion of Female Leadership: A Critical Perspective on the Gender Labelling of Leadership', Gender, Work, and Orgamizations, pp. 144-157.
Bloom, D. (2001) HSBC Bank's Chief Says It was His Homosexuality That Got Him To the Top, 18 January, [Online], Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2915415/HSBC-bank-s-chief-Britain-says-sexuality-got-emotional-intelligence.html [18 February 2016].
Chandler, D. (2010) 'What Women Bring to the Exercise of Leadership', Journal of Strategic Leadership.
Eagly, A.H. and Carli, L.L. (2007) 'Leadership', Harvard Business Review, September.
Fletcher, B. and RW, H. (2000) 'Is Organizing Enough? Race, Gender, and Union', New Labor Forum, Spring/Summer, pp. 59-69.
Hill-Collins (1990) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, New York: Routledge.
Kite, M.E. and Deaux, K. (1987) 'Gender Belief Systems: Homosexuality and the Implicit Inversion Theory', Psychology of Women Quarterly.
Rudman, L.A. and Glick, P. (2001) 'Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes and Backlash Towards Agentic Women', Journal of Social Issues, pp. 743-62.
Schein, V.E. (2001) 'A Global Look at Psychological Barriers to Women's Progress in Management', Journal of Social Issues, pp. 675-688.
Schilt, K. (2006) 'Just One of the Guys?', Gender and Society, vol. 20, no. 4, August, pp. 465-90.
Winfrey, O. (2008) Oprah Winfrey, October, [Online], Available: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197558 [12 Feb 2016].
