ABSTRACT
The traditional distinctions made between men and women in terms of their styles of leadership have focused on the degree to which each gender tends to be mainly task-oriented versus people-oriented and whether their style of leading is autocratic or democratic in nature. Assessment of leadership qualities can take numerous forms. This chapter presents the scripts used by 'agentic' and 'communal' applicants when each was asked to describe the sort of managerial style they had to illustrate how the stylistic manipulations were achieved. Clearly, when making appointments to corporate boards it is essential that new recruits bring a significant volume of relevant human capital. In modern corporate life, there is important capital to be gained from the display of feminine and masculine attributes. Getting the balance right between the two orientations seems increasingly to be the key to creating the right impression with corporate colleagues and therefore with getting on in the corporate world.
