Last week I wrote an article that went viral about why feminine attributes are good for business. This week we take a look at how the role of the masculine man is changing. And yes, this is a business topic, albeit an unusual one.
As the founder of The Women’s Code and with a corporate program that addresses The Bitch and Bully-Free Workplace, I fully understand that awareness of what each side brings to the table is the key to personal and professional success.
A company’s goal is ultimately to grow its bottom line by providing a service or product that is perceived as valuable and/or necessary. Women make most buying decisions and largely control a family’s finances. Don’t you think that listening to the women on your team could help you understand what motivates those decisions?
And we can’t ignore the statistics that prove larger numbers of women on corporate boards can boost financial performance by 62 percent! I just wrote an Insights Paper that you can download below if you are interested in seeing the eye-opening numbers.
Therefore, understanding the beneficial business qualities that masculine and feminine each contribute is essential to support and grow your company’s bottom line. This is something all businessmen should use to their advantage.
Masculine and feminine are the two energies that rule everything. Naturally then, all teams need to include both sides. But don’t forget that meaningful collaboration between men and women is only possible when each of us understands when we respect and appreciate what the masculine or feminine brings to the table.
One example I tell my private coaching clients is based on my love of systems. I value systems so much that sometimes it is a mystery to me how people can’t be happy when the systems work (that’s my masculine side coming out). Today I know it’s always about the people first. I had to learn to step into feminine mode and ask the question, “Are the systems supporting the people?” Without buy-in from employees, a business can’t function and it experiences much inner turmoil.
For masculine men and women, it is important to step back from decision making, performance improvement, and shareholder obligations so you can ask yourself questions along the lines of the feminine. Do my business processes support my people? Do I as a leader support my people? Does this business serve the people? That will bring us more buy-in and greater loyalties.
The traditional style of the competitive alpha male in business is out. I see many of these trying to hold on for dear life to the way business used to be done—in exclusive membership clubs or on the golf course. If this is you, you are a dying breed.
Leadership is not effective simply because you gave the order or because it’s how it’s always been done, or because you want to win, leadership works when your team believes in you and what you stand for. The old fashioned privileged thinking is no longer sustainable and the good ol’ boys network is being dismantled. You are well advised to take notice especially if you are planning on hiring Millennials.
It means your decisions have to be strong and build on collaborative team principles not one man competition. There are too many of us (women) who recognize that desperate power pattern and are very turned off by it.
Like it or not, this is the decade of the empowered woman. We are coming in huge numbers and we’ve got our sights set on the top. Get the workplace ready to support our needs and we will give it everything we’ve got. This is not a scare tactic; the new masculine man understands the feminine is desperately needed. He expects it, he embraces it and makes room for it to flourish. We need each other, but a new balance is required.
The statistics behind my story may shock you: get the all-new Insights Paper Revealed: How Acting Like a Girl is Good for Business: 7 Profit Secrets of Gender-Diverse Corporations by Beate Chelette
Beate Chelette is a respected speaker, career coach, consummate entrepreneur, Author of Happy Woman Happy World, and founder of The Women’s Code, a unique guide to leadership, and personal and career success that offers a new code of conduct for today’s business, private and digital world. Determined to build a community of women helping each other, after selling one of her companies, BeateWorks, to Bill Gates for millions of dollars, Beate created The Women’s Code to share with women everywhere her strategies for success and leadership. Through her corporate initiative “Why Acting Like a Girl Is Good For Business” she helps companies with gender diversification training, and to develop and retain women.