#asymmetric-roles

#asymmetric-roles

In 2021, women held only 28% of professorships in higher education and research institutions, even though they comprised 48% of PhD students, according to data gathered from a sample of 900 EU and non-EU institutions.

Companies with a higher number of women in senior roles are significantly more likely to dismiss male perpetrators of abuse against female colleagues, according to recent analysis.

George Bernard Shaw once wrote that the biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. Leaders fall into that illusion more often than they realize. We talk. We present. We circulate decks. We assume alignment. Meanwhile, the room has quietly checked out.

Twenty years ago, as the top digital and innovation executive for Citi's credit card business, I led the team that spent months building what looked like a brilliant partnership. We'd found a startup with a disruptive payments platform-one that became the forerunner of what has become a new payment type used by millions of consumers today. The deal: strategic investment in exchange for access to the startup's codebase as a sandbox for innovation pilots. No more waiting in the legacy systems queue. Just rapid prototyping with leading-edge developers.

Too many founders get stuck in reactive mode, buried in meetings and fire drills. But if you're always reacting, you're not really leading. You must move from reactive operator to strategic leader, which requires a mindset shift. Understand that you're not the firefighter - you're the architect. Ask yourself: If you disappeared for two weeks, what would break? That's where your real work begins.

At first glance, that statistic might seem to confirm a familiar narrative about modern life. People are isolated. Communities have weakened. Technology has replaced relationships. But the data tells a more precise story. Most Americans want connection. Many are actively looking for it. What they are running into instead are systems that make connection hard to access and harder to sustain.

Imagine a world where everyone in your team feels valued, heard, and empowered to contribute. Imagine that world where people aren't afraid to challenge the status quo and great ideas emerge from unexpected places. Now imagine that world where toxic behaviors don't just go unchecked, they don't even have room to rise. Wouldn't that be a great world? What happens when leadership tolerates the wrong behaviors? What happens when decision-making is shaped by exclusion, fear, and insecurity?

No wonder it feels personal that this team rejects your efforts. It is personal; it's happening to you. But it's not about you. This team might have so much internal tension that they can't stand to be in a meeting together. Maybe they had a bad experience with your predecessor. They might think they know it all already and attending meetings is just wasting their time. Or it could really be as straightforward as what they've told you: Their working hours and training times are already used up.