Is there power in "weakness"?

While listening to Professor Pok review the results of the Leadership Attributes Survey, I was reminded of an episode of the Dr. Oz Show that I saw recently. The subject of the show was "Unleash the Power of the Female Brain" and the guest was Dr. Daniel G. Amen who recently wrote a book with the same title. After conducting a study based on 46,000 female and male brain scans, he claims he has identified why women make better bosses and he shares what he feels can help women to use these attributes to make themselves leaders.

In the study Dr. Amen found that women have more activity than men in the prefrontal cortex, which controls planning, judgment, empathy and self-control. The scans led him to identify women's 5 main "strengths" as empathy, intuition, collaboration, self-control and appropriate worry. He sees these traits as strengths that are found in a good leader because they lead to better decision-making, less impulsivity and the ability to create group cohesion. I found this very interesting because these were some of the traits that were attributed to females in Professor Pok's survey that were also negatively correlated with leadership. It made me think of the relationship between societal perceptions of gender and leadership, biological factors that contribute to "feminine" traits and the question that keeps coming up in class about why there aren't many women leaders in our society.

Can it be that what society views as "weak" or "feminine" is actually what can give women the power that they seem to be lacking? If so, how do we use these traits to change the way society views women and to develop more women leaders and CEOs?

Dr. Amen suggests that the key is in balancing these 5 trait strengths. For example, being more collaborative can be very helpful when leading a team, however you also have to learn when to say no. His scans also showed more activity in the limbic part of the brain which contributes to empathy, but this can lead to women feeling like they have to take care of everyone else before themselves. There is also increased activity in the area responsible for intuition, but that "women's intuition" has to be checked against facts rather than feelings. These are all areas that I know I, and probably most women, can identify with. Maybe that's what's holding us back?

I often get told that I'm a leader and that I need to hurry up and finish school so that I can become an administrator. My response is always, "Thank you, but I don't want to be an administrator." Although I know I am capable and do have great leadership qualities, I honestly don't want to deal with all of the bureaucracy and all of the personal issues that come up when you're managing people. However, Professor Pok's  survey results, Dr. Amen's study and what we are learning in class have made me rethink my goals. I now see that it is possible that society is shaping my way of thinking by conditioning me to think that I'm better off taking care of my family, friends and co-workers so that I don't use my strengths to be a leader and shape more forward-thinking minds. I'm starting to think that pushing myself and other females to take on more leadership roles will be what ultimately makes that necessary shift in societal perception. If more of us take on leadership roles that we are obviously capable of, than society will finally start to view our "weaknesses" as strengths.

What do you think?