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The women leadership gap, a male perspective - Drops of Wisdom

Writer's picture: Nova Women in BusinessNova Women in Business

Updated: Dec 14, 2021

Although much has been done in recent years to increase the quota of women in leadership positions, the achievement of a 50/50 quota of women and men remains a long way off. Currently Women represent:

  • 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs

  • 7% of top executives in the Fortune 100 companies

  • 10% of top management positions in S&P 1500 companies

These proportions can be applied to virtually any company in any other country. To gain a deeper insight into the problems and possible solutions to this issue, our idea was to present a male perspective as a change of pace.

Leonis Petschmann agreed to give an interview on his standpoint in the debate on increasing the number of women in leadership positions.

How does he as a male perceives the change to more female managers? What can men learn from women in the workplace? What can we, whether male or female, contribute to a faster achievement of a 50/50 quota in leadership positions?

Leonis will provide us with interesting insights into the topic.


Leonis is Managing Partner and Co-founder of the established consultancy Vindelici Advisors, a strategic advisory firm founded in 2019. The focus of the consultancy relies on the sustainable, economic, and technological advancement of the customers. Special emphasis is placed on values like being responsible, delivering expertise and acting ethically. Besides to his person, Leonis owns a degree in Mechanical Engineering, as well as in Business Administration and is the father of a three-year-old son.

Leonis considers himself a feminist. He tries to do everything in his power in a professional sense to balance the gap between the proportion of males and females in various positions. In his opinion, however, one must be careful not to address this topic only because it is currently in vogue. At the end of the day, actions count more than words and his goal is to take a clear stand on gender equality in management positions in his company.

For him, there was no real "aha" moment to publicly advocate for this issue. Rather, at the time of Vindelici's founding, but also in his professional life before that, women had shown him the most efficient ways of working which impressed him. Women don't have to exhibit harsh narcissistic leadership styles to succeed, nor should they bend to long-held opinions about male leadership styles. Leonis sees the more empathetic and people-oriented nature of women as a major advantage. In leadership positions today, it is no longer about gender-specific character traits but rather about embodying a partner and mentor for one's employees.

Leonis thinks that the problem of gender equality must be approached from two sides. On the one hand, mentoring programs and organizations for women’s empowerment are important. On the other hand, however, the problem should also be tackled on the male side. A man who works half-time to take care of his family should be as normal as a woman who focuses on her career. To achieve equality in professional life, men and women must also be equally involved in family life. His fatherhood showed him that you can't plan a family completely and that you can always find reasons to decide against it. Nevertheless, your career should not stop you from founding a family, you will grow from the experience along the way.

Leonis`s goal for his consultancy is to become a strategy boutique for medium-sized family businesses. Their intention is to change the way consulting is done and to build the structures of a consultancy better than existing consultancies. Currently all leadership positions at Vindelici are held by men, which makes Leonis very displeased, and he knows that this must and will change in the future. Finding young, qualified female staff is not a problem for Leonis, but there is still the effect on the labor market that the higher the positions become, the fewer qualified female workers there are. It will take time to educate the young female workforce and prepare them for executive positions. Leonis thinks that in five years it will be possible to assess the effects of their efforts, but it is not yet possible.


Leonis has laid a foundation for positions occupied equally by men and women with Vindelici's ethnic framework. How their concept will work out becomes clear in a few years' time. We wish Vindelici all the best on their way and thank Leonis for the very nice conversation.


Written by Patricia Müller, Ana Luísa Silva, Alisa Carina Spengler, Carolin Vosdellen

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