The Glass Ceiling: Not just for women anymore!

Odds are if you're reading this blog, you're familiar with the term "glass ceiling".  Also, most readers would associate the glass ceiling with women in the workplace.  However, a recent article in Harvard Business Review, written by Andrew O'Connell says that the glass ceiling may have less to do with gender than historically thought. 

A team led by Mark C. Frame of Middile Tennessee State University analyzed data from more than 14,000 people (both men and women) and found that "the higher you go on the corporate ladder, the more you're among people who put a lot of stock in assertiveness and independance."  These qualities are called "agentic" qualities, opposed to "communal" qualities like caring about other's feelings. 

Basically, the nicer you are the less likely you are to be promoted, regardless of your gender.  While this may be somewhat of a relief to women in organizations who aspire to ascend the corporate ladder, this is disturbing in the sense that the study is saying that to be leaders, we need to focus more on ourselves and  less on our peers and followers.  Now that last sentence may be overblown as Frame's team goes on to say that "success and upward mobility in corporate environments may require more task focused behaviors."  Now that's not so bad, however, O'Connell goes on to add that the glass ceiling, "may block anyone who places great importance on selflessness or concern for others." 

So what's a sensitive caring guy supposed to do?  Well, essentially, they may need to play a role within the organization, bringing out the agentic qualities when needed.  This may lead to a large amount of stress however when acting outisde of your true personality.  For that reason, Frame says that communal managers would be best suited to have a network of friends or family to express their communal side outside of work. 

So, the moral of this story is that, to get ahead, you've got to put yourself first.  This seems to fly in the face of what we were taught as kids and to some extent in business school.  Also, if you can't naturally put yourself first...pretend you can.  While this does explain how a former boss of mine has climbed so high, it certainly doesn't speak well for the future of organizations as the markets shift into a dynamic that not just desires, but expects high levels of customer service. 

Wrapping up, good news for women because the glass ceiling may have been broken for you, but bad news for everyone if the only way to climb the corporate ladder is to not worry about how many faces you step on in the process.

-Adam Porth