When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, How We Can Learn from Them

“Women’s strengths are... simply not associated with great leadership,” posits Boorstin, CNBC’s senior media and tech correspondent, in her debut, a thorough if tepid overview of women’s progress in the workplace. To replace common leadership stereotypes (such as “the imperious salt-and-pepper patriarch” and “the move-fast-and-break-things tech bro”), Boorstin interviewed 120 women “and some men” and found new prototypes. The classic belief that business leaders are “authoritative, unquestioning male leaders” isn’t all true—women have their own qualities “that correlate with great leadership,” such as being considerate, empathetic, and vulnerable, and being more likely to consider “social and environmental goals.” Boorstin’s interviewees come from a diverse set of industries: “the CEO of three fertility companies” is a case study in how “women are more likely than men to be proactive when it comes to their [own] medical care,” while the head of a renewable energy business highlights that “men in their twenties and thirties report having much higher confidence in themselves than women of the same age do.” While the stories are upbeat and hopeful, the message that a “female” model of leadership can transform industries is an old one. In a crowded field, this one comes up short. (Oct.)