The chief executives of private and public sector organizations are often in the news:
online, blogs, Twitter, television. Sometimes, they attract media interest because their organization has been innovative and successful. When an organization has contributed to an accident, failure, or disaster, the media will report that, too. Find two chief executives who are in the news when you study this chapter. If possible, identify one male and one female chief executive. Search the internet for accounts – written and video –
and note what they say about their personalities and other attributes. Can you identify examples of male–female stereotyping in those reports? How do the media reports link the personalities and attributes of those chief executives to the successes and failures that stimulated interest in them in the first place? From the evidence in this chapter, what feedback can you give to the media reporters on the accuracy and validity of their assessments of those two leaders?