OVER THE LAST THREE DECADES scholars have generated a plethora of organizational studies, laboratory experiments, public-opinion polls, and even mega-analyses trying to determine whether or not women and men “lead differently.” Because men have dominated most public domains for centuries, it is understandable that citizens worldwide have a tendency to view “exercising leadership” as something inherently male, as something men can and should do. Elites and followers likewise conflate the ways in which men behave with what really “works” when it comes to serving as a leader.

Most broad empirical studies regarding leadership stem from the business administration and organizational psychology domains, given the ability of those scholars to draw on the large populations needed to ensure a “representative” sample—even if women are only minimally present at higher managerial levels. According to various mega-studies, most of the empirically tested gender differences turn out to be quite small, or not even statistically significant. As Alice H. Eagly and Mary C. Johannesen-Schmidt stress, however, “small differences, when repeated over individuals and occasions, can produce large consequences.” Ironically, participants are more inclined to assign stereotypical gender traits and role expectations to male and female leaders in experimental or laboratory settings than do raters or subordinates in real-world, organization-specific studies. Sex differences tend to disappear when men and women occupy the same positions and are charged with managing concrete tasks, allowing researchers to control for differences that usually stem from the societal context, institutional imperatives, or special situational factors.

We need not dwell for long on the stereotypical traits and behaviors attributed to women and men across regional and national boundaries, assessed by way of various “inventories” and “scales.” We are all familiar with the characterizations of women as accommodating, community-minded, cooperative, demure, emotional, gentle, helpful, kind, nurturing, participatory, quiet, relationship-oriented, risk-averse, sensitive, subordinate, supportive, sympathetic, and warm—although none of these traits seemed to apply to the (first) Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, for instance.