Success or failure at a business relies on inspiring leadership. Styles vary, with some successful leaders structuring their companies top down so they alone call the shots. Other leaders seek feedback and run operations through consensus.

According to the common stereotype, women encourage team decision-making while men invoke hierarchical operations.

"Intuitively, that makes sense but it's not true," said University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business associate professor Nancy Langton.

Langton tracked 229 Lower Mainland businesses that had an average of 20 employees, including 141 run by men and 88 run by women. She found that when it comes to business leadership styles, size of business means more than gender.

Men and women who ran small businesses sought collaboration from other staff, she said. Larger organizations, which tend to be run by men, had more hierarchical structures.

"We had many questions about how the business owner motivated staff, how they led and teamwork. We really couldn't find the gender difference," Langton said. "That was both interesting and perturbing in a way because everybody talked about these gender differences as though they actually existed."

About the only gender difference Langton found was that more women than men said it was hard to be taken seriously when they sought financing or new clients.

IWIB finalists agree that women find it tougher to gain respect than men do when conducting business. Solutions to change that obstacle include improving communication and risking making unpopular decisions.

"It's tough as a woman leader to realize that in leadership you have to make the right decision at the right time. It's not a popularity contest," said Sport BC CEO and IWIB finalist Sandra Steven-son. "Part of what women want is to be liked, and that doesn't necessarily lead to making the right decisions at the right time."

Stevenson said male athletes initially did not take her seriously when she coached sports teams. That encouraged her to work harder so she could do an extraordinarily good job.

"It's definitely harder for women to succeed in leadership positions than men," said Amara International Investment Corp. CEO Eva Lee Kwok.

She believes the key to successful female leadership lies in communication.

Women communicate in a less direct, more nurturing way than men do, Kwok said. Women should recognize this and sometimes alter their communication style depending on whom they are speaking with, she said.

Effective communication requires being very articulate, not necessarily more direct, she said

Simon Fraser University School of Communication assistant professor Gary McCarron said non-verbal communication comprises a huge part of how all people get messages across.

"There is no question that women tend to have a more facilitative mode of address, that they want to facilitate interactions more than men," explained McCarron, who has taught interpersonal communication courses. "Studies have shown that women are more polite."

He added that other studies show women exude non-verbal cues to indicate weakness more than men do. For example, women more frequently raise their tone of voice at the end of statements, he said.

That conveys uncertainty and the sense that they are asking if their answer is OK with the listener, McCarron explained.

Similar weakness can be conveyed by slight giggles or smiles during serious banter, he said.

McCarron said times are changing and "women's business clothing has come to emulate men's clothing in the workplace, which is to say more tailored and less accessorized."

But he noted that a Catch-22 situation can exist where women who mimic conventional male communication and dress may be seen less as assertive and instead as aggressive.

"The power rests with the people who choose to interpret their behaviour," he said.

Critics can put anyone in a no-win situation. If someone arrives early, they can be said to be anxious. If the person is late, they're aggressive and if they're on time, they're obsessive, McCarron said. When these situations arise, the best strategy is to first be aware that it is happening second, to talk about it, he said.

Women who want to learn more about women in business leadership can attend an all-day March 18 seminar on the topic sponsored by the UBC Sauder School of Business's Business Families Centre.