S&P Global's new CEO research a must-read for women CFOs

Women CEOs are leading through language

S&P Global has recently published a research report on women CEOs and their leadership styles during the COVID-19 pandemic1. The study analyzed earning call transcripts of both men and women CEOs and found that women CEOs more frequently use terms associated with positive communication. Mapping language with various components of leadership styles, the study observed that women CEOs more often articulate concepts of diversity, empathy, adaptability, and transformation.

The report also highlights that women CEOs, since the outbreak of the pandemic, steadily increased their use of words corresponding to leadership styles built around diversity, empathy, adaptability, and transformation. The study found that diversity replaced accountability as the most important trait of women CEOs’ leadership styles by 2022. A transformational style emerged as the fourth most prevalent one, which tends to inspire beyond expectations in emphasizing a vision that goes beyond self-interest.

The report also notes that women are still significantly underrepresented as CEOs globally, but slightly increased their share to 5.4% in 2022, compared with 5% in 20211. The real estate and health care sectors continue to lead with larger percentages of women CEOs.

The report’s findings could have implications for women CFOs. Women CFOs could learn from the leadership styles of women CEOs and adopt similar styles to become more effective leaders. The study’s findings suggest that women CFOs could benefit from incorporating concepts of diversity, empathy, adaptability, and transformation into their leadership styles. Women CFOs could also learn from the transformational style of leadership that emerged as the fourth most prevalent one among women CEOs.

Women CFOs could learn from the study’s findings and incorporate similar leadership styles to become more effective leaders.

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