Motivational speaker and former engineer Nicole Price recently gave a passionate, evidence-based presentation to Henderson Engineers and Henderson Building Solutions’ employees about gender diversity in leadership. She examined how society views certain leadership traits as more masculine or feminine and the impact that has on the people who fill these roles in industry.

“Based on social constructs, people tend to think about different leadership traits as masculine or feminine, but both men and women have the ability to demonstrate those traits,” Nicole explained. “And, as it relates to intellect, there’s no such thing as gender making you more or less qualified to be able to do a job.”

Price earned her chemical engineering degree from North Carolina A&T and spent several years as an engineer before transitioning into leadership roles and discovering her passion for research on the background of successful leaders. She has a master’s in adult education from Park University and is currently pursuing her doctorate in educational leadership and management from Capella University. She’s also the CEO of Lively Paradox, which aims to bring the educational approach of management to industry, and serves as a coach and senior facilitator for InsideOut Development, a professional services firm.

At the beginning of the session, Nicole asked each participant to think about their favorite leaders – alive or dead, personal or professional, real or fake – then write down the traits they admire most about them. She later asked attendees to look at what they wrote down and classify those traits as typically masculine or feminine. The overwhelming majority leaned feminine. The takeaway: while the traits we often look for in promoting to the leadership level tend to be more masculine such as decisiveness, the traits we value in leaders are more feminine such as collaboration.

Focusing on the value of diversity in leadership, specifically when it comes to gender, Price emphasized the importance of maintaining what makes you different in a leadership role. Assimilation for a woman in a leadership group, such as trying to act or think like men, discounts much of what she brings to the table.

“What’s most important is to hone whatever leadership traits come naturally to you, and don’t let anybody else take those away,” she emphasized.

This engaging presentation was sponsored by Henderson’s Empow[HER] program, which is our dedicated women’s network that provides networking and leadership opportunities, monthly Lean In circles, and professional development to encourage women to pursue opportunities in our industry.