On the whole female CEO’s are more a harbinger of doom for a company than a signal of growth. Typically they’ve been given “special” treatment all the way up on their career and so when they finally arrive at the top they really can’t cut it. There have been a few that have made good CEO’s (Meg Whitman of Ebay come to mind) but for the most part it seems they really don’t have very good management sense and tend to end up being the final nail in the coffin for many businesses.
I worked for a man who had several businesses and managed one of those businesses for a summer during college. He brought in a gal to work for me, then at the end of the summer asked how she would do if she were to be my replacement.
Expecting that his interest was to protect his company, I gave him an honest appraisal; she was very driven and worked hard, but had trouble getting along with people (in a service industry). If she were to become a manager, I could see the position going to her head and that she may treat the other employees poorly.
I traveled back to my old position at another of his companies, then was fired a couple of days later without notice. It turns out that the gal was a personal friend of the owner, his wife, and the current company president and my appraisal made them angry.
I can’t say I wasn’t pleased when I heard she had a full mutiny of 14 employees less than a month after she took over as manager. They ended up replacing her within 6 weeks, since their business depended 100% on customer service (food & lodging).
It’s unfortunate that experience taught me that honesty is not always the best policy...if you value your job.