I saw something this week that caught my eye: A Tweet linking to a Harvard Business Review post said a study in Italy found naming a woman as CEO improves profitability in family-owned firms.
Specifically, replacing a male CEO with a female CEO increases profitability. Also, the more women on the board of directors of a female-led company, the more profitable the company is likely to be.
We’ve seen how successful women can be at the helm of construction businesses. Our 2002 Contractor of the Year was Phyllis Adams, of Phylway Construction in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Two of our recent Contractor of the Year finalists were companies either co-run or solely run by women: Jane Page of North Carolina-based Page & Associates and Alisa Bennett of Florida-based Bennett Contracting.
One of the more interesting things about Bennett is that she brings 20-years worth of expertise in marketing to the contracting she and her husband own. You can read her 8 tips for marketing your construction business here.
Now, one study by a university in Italy isn’t going to make me recommend tossing all the guys in your company to the curb, but it certainly made me think about what different traits women and men offer in leadership roles.
With succession planning a major concern for many small- to mid-size contractors, throwing out traditional gender-defined roles is more important than ever.
Here are some of the benefits to having a woman in charge:
