Ms. COO

It’s not news that chief operating officers (COOs) are required to wear many hats. At private equity firms, they are often responsible for back-office functions overall, including anything from finance and controls to human resources and IT. But here’s something you may not have known: wearing all these hats is a better look for women, according to panelists at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen conference in December.

Indeed, panelist Pam Murphy at tech company Infor noted that a COO’s need for focus and multi-tasking comes more naturally to the fairer gender. “I’ve worked with many brilliant men over years, and many of them had said, ‘Look, I’ve got almost ADD in terms of wanting to jump from one thing to another,” she said, according to Fortune. “Whereas, with women, I think there’s a clarity of execution.”

And according to recent pfm reporting, that theory might just be true. Throughout 2015, many of the new COOs appointed at big firms like CD&R or Terra Firma have been women. Granted, the industry has a long way to go in terms of leveling the gender divide in C-Suite roles, but GPs, take note: the COO position might be a good place to start.