Enlist Women as Informal Leaders for Cultural Change

Leaders of cultural change initiatives have long recognized the tremendous value of enlisting respected members of the organization as informal cultural change leaders. Identifying these influential, informal cultural leaders who wield the potential key to unlocking successful cultural changes is often a difficult task, however. Based on findings from a large survey of the American workforce, and established empirical patterns in socio-linguistics, we propose that female employees should be enlisted as key informal leaders of cultural change. This suggestion builds on three findings: 1) women show a greater awareness to cultural issues within organizations than men do, 2) women are less satisfied with their employer’s culture than men are, suggesting motivation to change the culture of their organizations, and 3) women often initiate and drive linguistic change, which likely offers unique advantages in promoting cultural change.