Diversity in leadership stops at the top: Here's how to change that

For years, the debate around women in leadership has focused on representation: How many women sit on boards? How many reach executive positions? But new research from Master International shows that the challenge goes far beyond numbers. It’s increasingly about leaders’ personality traits—and how a lack of diversity in leadership styles can hinder innovation, well-being, and economic growth.

Women in Management: The Numbers Speak for Themselves

Globally, women hold only:

• 23.3% of board seats
• 8.4% of board chair positions
• 6% of CEO roles (Deloitte, 2024). 

Even when women reach top leadership positions, data shows that many have personality profiles that resemble those of men more than those of other women. In other words: women who succeed at the executive level often share personality traits with their male colleagues. Why does the data suggest this is the case? We’ll explore that question later in the article. But first, let’s take a closer look at how OPTO data—the foundation of the study—illustrates the shift in personality traits between men and women from employee level to executive level.

The Difference Between Employees and Managers

Analyses of OPTO data show that leaders consistently score higher than employees on four key personality traits – the so-called leadership aspects:

• Assertiveness
• Drive
• Confidence
• Ingenuity

These traits are closely linked to decisiveness, goal orientation, and the ability to influence others. The higher the leadership level, the higher the typical scores on these traits.

In contrast, the differences between employees and leaders are much smaller when it comes to the complementary aspects—altruism, stability, sincerity, and trust—which are more related to collaboration, empathy, and long-term relationships.

The Difference Between Men and Women

A clear pattern emerges in the gender differences:

• Men generally score higher on the leadership aspects – especially assertiveness, confidence, and ingenuity.
• Women score higher on the complementary aspects – particularly altruism, sincerity, and trust.
• Drive is the exception among the leadership aspects, where women, on average, score higher than men.
• Stability is the opposite exception among the complementary aspects, where men score higher than women (Kilde: Sustmann Allen & Klargaard, 2025).

How Gender Differences Evolve Across Leadership Levels

As we follow the progression from employee to manager and further to top manager, the differences in personality profiles gradually diminish.

Managerial Aspects

• Men generally score higher than women in assertiveness, confidence, and ingenuity, but the gap narrows at the highest leadership levels.
• Women tend to score higher than men in drive among employees and middle managers, but this difference is almost entirely leveled out at the top executive level.

Complementary Aspects

• Women’s generally higher scores in altruism, sincerity, and trust gradually decrease, and the differences nearly disappear at the top management level.
• Men’s higher scores in stability remain largely unchanged throughout the hierarchy, meaning that men consistently score significantly higher than women on stability across all leadership levels.

Overall, this means that personality profiles at the top become more similar—primarily because women’s scores on leadership aspects approach those of men, rather than men developing the more relational strengths found in the complementary aspects.

Why Do Women in Top Management Often Resemble Men?

The data itself does not explain why the situation is as it is. However, research offers some possible explanations:

Structural Bias in Hiring and Promotion Practices

Selection committees, which are often made up of leaders with traditional, masculine profiles, tend to favor candidates with similar traits. As a result, women who possess these “masculine” characteristics—such as high assertiveness and confidence—are overrepresented at the executive level, while women (and men) with more “feminine” or relational traits are filtered out early in the selection process.

Double Bind and Behavioural Adjustment

Female leaders often face conflicting expectations: to be both caring and authoritative. To navigate this double bind, many women downplay their feminine strengths—such as empathy and trust—and instead draw on traits typically seen as masculine, in order to avoid criticism and be perceived as credible leaders.

Alignment Through the Diminishing of Complementary Traits

OPTO data shows that the differences between men’s and women’s scores on key traits—such as trust and sincerity—almost disappear at the top management level. This convergence occurs primarily because women’s complementary traits weaken as they are promoted, rather than because men’s complementary traits develop. This indicates a culture where relational strengths are not prioritized at the highest levels.

(Source: Sustmann & Klargaard, 2025)

What Happens When Top Management Lacks Diversity

This development leads to reduced diversity in personality traits among top executives. As a result, organizations lose some of the strengths women typically contribute—such as empathy, sincerity, and trust—while more result-oriented traits dominate.

From a versatile leadership perspective, this highlights the need to actively cultivate not only core leadership aspects, but especially complementary traits in all leaders. Otherwise, organizations risk ending up with executives who are action-oriented but lack the empathetic and collaborative dimension that is essential for resilience, innovation, and employee engagement.

What is Versatile Leadership?

Versatile leadership emphasizes a leader’s ability to navigate between core leadership aspects and their complementary traits. Research also refers to this concept as androgynous leadership. It’s about combining personality traits traditionally labeled as masculine—such as assertiveness, confidence, and drive—with traits often seen as feminine—such as altruism, trust, and empathy.

This balance equips leaders to:

• Make quick and clear decisions
• Foster engagement and collaboration within teams
• Handle crises with both resilience and human understanding

Organizations that succeed in building diversity in both gender and personality traits tend to perform better across key metrics such as financial results, innovation, and employee satisfaction.

How Organizations Foster More Versatile Leadership

To strengthen both diversity and effectiveness in leadership, research highlights three key approaches:

1. Implement structural policies for balanced representation in leadership.

2. Redefine personality traits as gender-neutral. Traits such as empathy, confidence, drive, and collaboration should be recognized as human qualities—not categorized as masculine or feminine.

3. Promote versatile leadership in leadership development. Evaluate leaders based on both performance-oriented and relational competencies—not solely on traditional, masculine criteria.

Conclusion: Diversity in Leadership is a Competitive Advantage

It’s not just about gender equality. When organizations exclusively reward a narrow leadership profile, they miss out on the potential of versatile leadership. By developing leaders who can be both strategic and empathetic, decisive and trustworthy, companies can strengthen their ability to:

• create innovation,
• retain motivated employees,
• deliver strong results – also in a complex and ever-changing world.

In short: The winning companies of the future are those that take leadership diversity seriously and cultivate balanced leadership profiles – regardless of gender.

References:

1. Deloitte (2024) Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective. Eighth Edition. Deloitte Insights.

2. Sustmann Allen, L., & Klargaard, S. K. (2025). The power of true versatile leadership: What we miss out on in a society with lack of versatile leadership.

 

The Power of True Versatile Leadership

Download the study from Master International and learn more about:

• Key insights from OPTO data and methodology
• Versatile leadership: What is it?
• Gender patterns in leadership profiles
• Androgynous leadership: A necessity and a challenge
• Avoiding simplifying traits into gender stereotypes
• Actionable steps toward the power of true versatile leadership

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