IBA Showcase: The new female leadership of law firms: a game changer?

This showcase will consist in a conversation between some of those top female leaders, the IBA female leadership and a leadership expert from a INSEAD business school.

The dialogue will address the qualities that such leaders bring to the management table and what firms can do to keep the positive vibe from female leadership once they have moved on and have been succeeded by other, male colleagues?

Female Leadership Excellence in Law Firms: coincidence or here to stay?

Based on research involving 64.000 people in 13 countries, John Gerzema and Michael D'Antonio identified that there is a shift in the types of leadership traits that are associated with success, morality and happiness.

The old masculine traits of aggression control, conflict and command are rapidly losing ground to behaviour, that is considered more feminine, like: selflessness, empathy, collaboration, flexibility and patience. Both male and female respondents in all researched countries expressed that this is the type of leadership which they consider most suitable for the rapidly changing and unpredictable world we live in. The researchers named this type of leadership: “The Athena Doctrine” (see TEDX Talk).