Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers.
The old boys club is a term used often in the workplace, suggesting a hierarchy exists that is predominantly male-centric and controlled by older men. Unfortunately, this is more prevalent than we give credit to and exists in all organizations, even those steered predominantly by women at the helm.
Organizations were, up until only the past century, almost entirely operated by men, and while there have been changes and women are well entrenched in the workplace and are increasingly leading organizations, the male persona dominates.
Another cliché often heard is ‘that it would be acceptable if it were a man who did it.’ While there may be truth in that statement, it is evident that the workplace is a male persona. The accepted norms are those of a male. Being competitive, wanting to win at all costs, being bigger, and growing faster, are all characteristics that men embrace. Women are often told to be more competitive or hungry, strive for more, and seek additional power. In doing so, we lose the caring, nurturing, empathic attributes necessary for growth. Putting a male perspective, we lose creativity and sensibility and would most definitely lose any perspective of being human and centric.
The most significant political, community, and business leaders we have seen in our generation are mostly those individuals who were able to rely on a balance of their masculine and feminine attributes. Those who were able to demonstrate sensitivity, awareness, and compassion with a drive for excellence and improvement. Organizations where individuals do not collaborate well, withhold vulnerabilities or seek help, and view failure as a weakness rather than a strength promote strong male attributes.
Similarly, if applied with a feminine sensibility, the decisions made may be vastly different from that fostered with masculine awareness. For example, a response to a pandemic would have focused on safety first, and the likelihood of war would be minimal and non-existent since what mother would choose to hurt innocent children.
The prosperity of our civilization is dependent on attaining the balance, not only for growth but for survival. Therefore, we need to ensure that the standards of excellence we set to achieve or use as the model of perfection embrace the feminine elements as much as the inherent masculine ones. This shows in core values, the traits we aspire to and evaluate employees against as strong performers, and the qualities and characteristics we promote in our culture.
It is not about one being better than the other; instead, both are essential, and the worst case would be to expect women to behave as men and begin to emulate all those characteristics.
