the female ceo reputation premium

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The Female CEOReputation Premium?Differences & Similarities

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The benefit of promoting greater gender diversity

in the C-Suite is generally acknowledged by both

men and women. According to a report from

Catalyst, companies with higher female

representation in top management deliver 34%

greater returns to shareholders than those with

lesser representation. Gender diversity is thus

good for women, good for companies and good

for business.

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All well and good. But how female

leadership impacts CEO and corporate

reputation still remains largely

unexplored, so Weber Shandwick

decided to traverse this terrain by mining

global research we recently completed

about CEO reputation overall. What do

female CEOs bring to a company’s

reputation that is different from their male

counterparts, and how do these

differences affect how a company is

perceived? This is the focus of our new

report, The Female CEO Reputation

Premium? Differences & Similarities.

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What we did

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How we did itThe Female CEO Reputation Premium is a

supplement to The CEO Reputation Premium:

Gaining Advantage in the Engagement Era.

Conducted with KRC Research, it was released in

March 2015 and is based on more than 1,750

executives in large-sized companies ($US 500

million +) in 19 markets around the world.

The large sample size of our study allowed us to

segment our sample into two groups – those

executives with a male CEO and those with a

female CEO. The insights we share and

conclusions we draw are based on a comparison

of these two groups of respondents.

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What we learned

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7Source: The CEO Reputation Premium: Gaining Advantage in the Engagement Era, Weber Shandwick & KRC Research, 2015

First, a refresher: CEO reputation matters

% of company’s reputation attributed to CEO’s reputation

45%% of company’s market value attributed to CEO’s reputation

44%

% expect CEO reputation to matter more in next few years50%

% say CEO reputation retains employees

70%% say that CEO reputation attracts new employees77%

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6 insights revealed

Corporate and CEO Reputations are Gender-Blind

Gender-Based CEO Leadership Qualities? Not So Much

Female vs. Male CEO Visibility is More Than Media-Hype

The Number of Female CEOs is Vastly Overestimated

The CEO Pipeline has a Gender Bender

How to Attract More Women CEO-Aspirers: Make Reputation Count!

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Corporate and CEO reputations are gender-blind

Company reputation very strong (% agree)

38%36%

CEO reputation

very strong(% agree)

35%33%

% of company market value attributed to CEO reputation

43%47%

Apparently once women sit in the chief executive chair, they’ve proved themselves and their gender is no longer an issue. Like their male counterparts, all that now counts is business performance.

– LESLIE GAINES-ROSS, CHIEF REPUTATION STRATEGIST, WEBER SHANDWICK

Executives with female CEOsExecutives with male CEOs

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“

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Gender-based CEO leadership qualities? Not so much2

Which words or phrases best describe your CEO?

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Male CEOs Female CEOs

43% 52%

Male CEOs Female CEOs

33% 39%

Male CEOs Female CEOs

15% 20%

Female CEOs are more likely to proactively engage external audiences.

Female vs. male CEO visibility is more than media-hype

“comfortable talking to the news media”

“participating in social media”

Indicates significant difference

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more willing to talk with the news media

than he/she was a few years ago.”

CEO IS DESCRIBED AS

BY EXECUTIVES

“MY CEO IS

(% EXECUTIVES AGREE)

CEO IS DESCRIBED AS

BY EXECUTIVES

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12% of global businesses have either a female CEO or Managing Director

Global senior executives estimate that 23% of large companies

have a female CEO

The number of female CEOs is vastly overestimated

23%

5%

4%

12%

Perception

Reality

5% of CEOs running U.S. Fortune 1000 companies are women

Women run 4% of FTSE 100 companies

(The Grant Thornton International Business Report survey)

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Female executives are significantly less likely than male executives to be interested in becoming CEO one day.

5 The CEO pipeline has a gender bender

Would you personally ever want to be the top leader of a large company? (Global executives)

Yes No Maybe

32% 30%37%

23%33%

43%

Indicates significant difference between genders

Female executives

Male executives

Percentages may not add up to 100% because of decimal rounding

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33%

16% 19% 22% 25%15%

95

38%

18%23% 27%

22%14%

84

Consumer Healthcare Finance Technology Science/Engineering

Travel/Tourism

INDUSTRY*

31%

50%

19%

95

47%40%

12%

8495

46%38%

16%

84

42%49%

10%

Who wants to be a CEO?

Millennials GenXers Boomers

GENERATION CEO GENDER COMPANY OWNERSHIP

Public Private OtherMale Female

Indicates significant difference between genders

Female executives who want to be CEO

Male executives who want to be CEO

95%

5%

84%

16%

Percentages may not add to 100% because of decimal rounding

*Respondents were allowed to select more than one industry

Women who aspire to CEO are more likely than male aspirers to be Millennial, have a woman CEO and to be employed in privately-held companies.

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NORTH AMERICA

9%

EUROPE

22%

ASIAPACIFIC

27%

BRAZIL 34%*

Who wants to be a CEO?

CEO aspirations among women vary widely by geographic region.

*Small sample size

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6 How to attract more women CEO-aspirers: make reputation count!

Good reputations matter more to women.

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Indicates significant difference

Male executives Female Executives

54% 64%

CEO’s reputation influences decision to remain at the company

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Female Executives with a Male CEO

Female Executives with a Female CEO

63% 70%

CEO’s reputation influences decision to remain at the company

CEO reputation matters even more to women when the CEO is a woman

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How to be a CEO who women executives want to work for

Has a clear vision for the company (69%) Has a clear vision for the company (67%)

Decisive (59%) Has a global business outlook (61%)

Is honest and ethical (56%)

Has a global business outlook (56%)

Is focused on customers (55%)

Is a good communicator internally (55%)

Is a good communicator externally (55%)

Is a good communicator internally (53%)

Is honest and ethical (53%)

Inspires and motivates others (51%)

Is focused on customers (51%) Cares that the company is a good place to work (52%)

Top-ranked characteristics of highly regarded CEOs

Indicates characteristic unique to male executives Indicates characteristic unique to female executives

According to male executives According to female executives

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For more information about The Female CEO Reputation Premium? Differences & Similarities, contact: Micho SpringChair, Global Corporate PracticeWeber Shandwickmspring@webershandwick.com

Carol BallockEVP, Executive Equity & Engagement LeadWeber Shandwickcballock@webershandwick.com

#ceoreputation19

Leslie Gaines-RossChief Reputation StrategistWeber Shandwicklgaines-ross@webershandwick.com