Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and often considered to be the world’s most successful investor, has at times been referred to as a feminist capitalist. Throughout his life, Buffett has weighed the variable of women in leadership in his investment decisions and often
chooses to back companies that have women at the helm. Buffett spoke at Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women Summit in 2009 and told the audience:

“Think about 200 years ago, same intellects, same energy. And now in a very short period, in terms of the human experience, the world’s been transformed. Not because we’re smarter, not because we’re working harder, but because of potential. And that game is far, far from over. It’s a whole lot better when we get the other half in the game.”

Just how much we could accomplish if we leveraged 100 percent of available talent?

A recently published research study entitled Career Playbook Women in Leadership by Korn Ferry has found that women generally score higher than men in all dimensions of leadership style and in most of the skills and competencies deemed necessary for senior leadership success, such as employee engagement, customer satisfaction and building talent.

“What women are missing are the experiences that their male counterparts seek out during mid-level and business unit level roles,” said J. Evelyn Orr, senior director of the Korn Ferry Institute and editor of Korn Ferry’s research on women in leadership. “Women need to seek out and say ‘yes’ to experiences that stretch their skills and organizations need to provide women with opportunities to accept those challenges earlier in their careers.”

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