During a school swimming class, an East German girl with pale blonde hair stood at the edge of the high diving board, staring down at the pool below for 45 minutes. Just before the class bell rang, she finally jumped. Angela Merkel was determined to overcome her fears, no matter how long it took.
The young Hamburg native has since gone on to overcome many challenges, first as a PhD research chemist in the former East Germany, and later as a politician motivated to serve by the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today the woman known simply as "Mutti" (Mother) by her compatriots is one of the most powerful leaders in the world and is campaigning for a fourth term as Chancellor of Germany.
Early in her political career, according to a 2015 Vanity Fair profile, Ms Merkel was considered weak and somewhat slow; as an inquisitive scientist, she was accustomed to taking as much time as she needed and asking a number of questions to understand the breadth and depth of a problem so she could make informed decisions -- from bailing out an ailing German bank to defusing the euro crisis or dealing with heavyweight politicians such as Vladimir Putin -- in a calm and collected manner. Her governing style has come to inspire trust in an increasingly uncertain world. Quick or deliberately slow, the end always justifies the means.
It is unfair to say whether one leader's governing style is better than that of another, since much depends on the circumstances and environment in which that person operates. Yet, the chancellor's cautious style of management -- even though Ms Merkel reportedly abhors playing the gender card -- sheds light on how women leaders deal with risk.
Many surveys, including "Women in Business" released last month by the consultancy Grant Thornton, indicate that men and women perceive and respond to risks differently. In general, men tend to be more open to risk taking, and are likely to take more risks under stress, while women are more risk-averse and less likely to take risky decisions under stressful conditions.
Men, according to academic research quoted in the Grant Thornton survey, tend to consider whether taking a risk will facilitate strategic growth, whereas women focus more on the wider environment and the impact on people. Thus, women may perceive and be taking risks in areas that aren't as visible.
"Men tend to put themselves forward for new things even when they are not really qualified. Women tend to wait until they can tick every box," the report quotes Nicole Vanderbilt, a vice-president of International Etsy, a Brooklyn-based e-commerce company, as saying.
Although women are perceived as more risk-averse, boardrooms with higher female representation are no more or less risk-taking than male-dominated boards, according to a 2016 study, "Women on Board: Does Boardroom Gender Diversity Affect Firm Risk?" in the Journal of Corporate Finance. It based its conclusions on a survey of corporate boardrooms and analysis of decisions in US firms from 1996 to 2010.
In any case, gender equality in workplaces, and in particular at senior levels, is higher on the agenda of corporations and investors alike these days. Interest was stoked in part by a report in 2015 showing that female CEOs in the Fortune 1000 delivered three times the returns in comparison to male-dominated enterprises in the S&P 500 stock index. Last year, Bloomberg introduced the Bloomberg Financial Service Gender Equality Index (BSFGEI) to examine data transparency and workplace equality in corporations, bringing a new level of clarity and awareness to social and governance information.
"Evidence demonstrates that gender-equality policies and practices can affect a company's financial performance, productivity and ability to retain top talent," Angela Sun, head of strategy and corporate development at Bloomberg, said when the index was launched last year.
No matter how different men and women are, the world, businesses and institutions need a good balance of both in order to foster good teamwork, with diversity, 20-20 vision and different views to arrive at well-founded decisions.
"Companies or local administrations or governing bodies with women in senior management will be able to make decisions that respond to various sectors and various needs," says Maytinee Bhongsvej, secretary-general of the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women in Thailand.
"Women leaders will pay attention to 'not-so-big' issues such as the environment and well being, while men leaders will focus on certain things such as roads, water pumps or hard infrastructure.
"A boardroom or management team without women participating in operations and decision-making is likely to overlook some issues and that will lead to social injustice."