If you hire a male superstar stock analyst from a competitor his performance often drops — along with the market value of your company, says Harvard Business School professor Boris Groysberg.
But hire a female star analyst and your investment is much more likely to be rewarded, Groysberg writes in a new article in Harvard Business Review.
What is most interesting about this finding is why it’s true, and the lessons extend far beyond stock analysts. Groysberg provides two reasons; men take note.
- Portable relationships. Female analysts build relationships that are portable — that is, they rely on relationships with clients and contacts outside their own company. Men, by contrast, concentrate on relationships within the company. When men leave their employer for “greener pastures” their support group, a key reason for their success, stays behind.
- Smarter employer evaluation. Women are better at evaluating potential future employers then men. Says Groysberg: “They evaluated their options more cautiously and analyzed a wider range of factors than men did before deciding to uproot themselves from a company where they were already successful.”
Although the study focused on the careers of Wall Street analysts, the lessons are broadly applicable, Groysberg says.
The challenges these women face are similar to those in other knowledge-based industries, such as management consulting, health care, public relations, advertising, and the law. Some of the female stars’ actions were designed to help them advance within their firms, and only incidentally increased their portability; others were deliberately adopted to ensure that they would be able to succeed elsewhere. Either way, the strategies of star women can help both men and women enhance their ability to shine in any setting.
The article offers specific tips on career network building and employer selection that both men and women can benefit by reading.
