The Gender Agenda

Who will we choose to be?

Greetings from an autumn-infused New York City! 

I managed to take a detour on my walk from a conference in Times Square to our PwC office on Madison Avenue the other day and can report that the trees in Central Park are awash in breathtaking hues of orange, yellow, and red, the air crisp and surprisingly fresh for the city that never sleeps.  What a fortunate time to be visiting my US Office of Diversity colleagues.  The PwC US Firm was honoured last week and this week with two different awards.  For the sixth year in a row, they clinched a spot on The Top 10 Best Company for Working Mothers list.  This was also the 15th year that PwC US has been listed in the Top 100, earning them a place on Working Mother’s “100 Best” Hall of fame list.

DiversityInc also recognized the US Firm as number 5 in their Top 50 Companies for Diversity list (DiversityInc has also recognized PricewaterhouseCoopers as the Number One Company for Global Diversity in both 2008 and 2009).

This week I watched our Global Chairman, Dennis Nally, accept the DiversityInc award for the Top Company for Working Families.  In his remarks to the audience, he noted that:

“retaining talented women is a business imperative that will outlast the financial crisis…bad times don’t last, but good people do.” 

Earlier in the evening, I spoke with Dennis about his personal vision for our global diversity agenda during his tenure as Chairman, and I look forward to sharing some outcomes of that conversation in future blog posts.  This latter award ceremony took place in tandem with DiversityInc’s How Leadership Expresses Diversity Commitment event, in which we had the privilege of hearing not only Dennis, but a number of leading CEOs, government officials and academics discuss the topic.  What amazed me about these speakers was how they shared their passion for diversity in such personal ways – the authenticity in their words was palpable.  One CEO talked about how he had to make a difficult decision for the company that detracted from his church’s views because “it was the right thing to do.”  Another described how, when facing a pivotal question about which Employee Resource Groups to create, he asked his children for their input (and encouraged his executive team to do the same) to ensure he was creating a company that would be not just acceptable, but inspiring to future generations of workers.  I found it encouraging that when put to the test these leaders made tough personal choices and demonstrated a willingness to be open to new ideas and ways of thinking to create a more inclusive workplace. 

On a personal note, I experienced three firsts at this conference: I heard speeches from Diego Sanchez, the first transgender person to work on Capitol Hill, and Judith E. Heumann, a polio survivor and disability-rights activist who is the director of the D.C. Department of Disability.  The stories of both individuals reminded me of how important it is to put ourselves in each others’ shoes, and in fact another speaker, Dr. Ella Bell of Dartmouth University, summed up the importance of this principle to business as she pointed out that only when we bring our WHOLE selves to our work can we “walk into our brilliance.”  She encouraged all of us to “think bigger and more creatively” about diversity and to connect our leadership styles with our personal stories, or what she called, “Myography” (I’d love to hear from you about how your personal stories inspire your own work.)  The final “first” for me was the realization that I myself was one of the “leaders” in the room.  Multiple speakers throughout the event reminded me that you don’t have to have a fancy title on your business card to be a leader.  After all, aren’t we all leaders of some sort?  Leaders of people, teams, projects, families, and other groups?  Aren’t we all, every day, behaving in ways that may be emulated by the people we’re interacting with, whether they be our colleagues, our friends, or our families?

Dr. Cornel West of Princeton University delivered one of the most stirring speeches I’ve heard in a long time (he’s one of those people who can employ words in a way that makes your hair stand up on end).  After making the case for the connection between diversity and quality in the corporate world (and indeed, in the world in general – “diversity is good for business,” he said, “and it’s good for the soul”), Dr. West posed a question to all of the leaders in the room: 

“In the middle of womb and tomb, who will we choose to be?”

He went on to remind us that so many people have become preoccupied by the Glass ceiling, that they forget about “people in the basement and on the seventh floor” – in other words he feels America is still not tapping into the incredible talent of its diverse population.  Dr. West warned against arrogance, urging leaders to be “unsettled, uncomfortable and unnerved” in order to grow (indeed, living in Europe for the past four years has taught me that the times when I feel most out of my comfort zone are the times that I stretch most as a human being and a business professional). 

“Diversity as a business imperative,” said Dr. West, “is not rhetoric; it’s indispensible for business flourishing here and around the world.”  He urged the audience to “lift your voices AND your ears” – a sentiment which underlined the theme of an earlier session on Emotional Intelligence in which we learned the importance of the art of listening when leading teams.  He encouraged us to have role models; not celebrities or people in the spotlight, but people that touch our lives regularly, people who we can actually see and hear – in person – on a regular basis (“Oprah is not a role model,” he explained – which did produce a sigh from me, as I’m a rather devoted reader of her magazine, which regularly features inspiring women entrepreneurs from around the globe).  The expression of diversity is about “being myself…in a respectful way,” he said.  He pointed out that if our goal is innovation, we can’t have one corporate model which everyone must imitate, but rather we must create an environment in which employees can “find their voices, not just their echoes.”  This, I think, is a concept that has become critical to businesses as it relates to products and services, but also to sustainability.  When asked about how he feels about the disillusionment of the young generation in light of the financial crisis and the obstacles that still remain, Dr. West replied:  “I am a prisoner of hope.”  That’s a sentiment that I’ll definitely embrace as we move forward with our own diversity agenda, and one that resonated with me after my conversation with Dennis and diversity practitioners I’ve met this week.

I’m leaving the US shortly to fly back to Belgium, but will return with many thought-provoking ideas and input for our global journey from diversity leaders at large companies and from my US colleagues.   Speaking of which, if you’re a fan of the television show Mad Men, I encourage you to check out Jennifer Allyn’s Forbes’ article called, “Why Gen Y Women Need to Tune In”.  I also highly recommend her recent piece, “Reclaiming Mommy Tracks” which addresses the question: What if all women returning from maternity leave were given several transition options instead of having to negotiate ad hoc arrangements?  Finally, if you have (literally) a few minutes, do check out the excellent “10 Minutes on Managing Diversity”, which is a very short, very powerful, and very practical read on diversity and competitive business advantage.

à bientôt,

Dale

“Men love war and women love warriors”…and other dead clichés

“Men love war and women love warriors,” quoted Gassan Salamé, Professor of International Relations at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in France at last week’s Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society.  Needless to say, this got QUITE a reaction from the audience; of course the reading of the quote was intentionally provocative – Salamé was illustrating how such clichés have lost their meaning.  In fact, much of this year’s Forum focused on the need to completely rethink our most basic societal institutions: government, healthcare, schools, and – of course – business in order not only to thrive, but to survive.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has been has been a corporate partner of the Forum since its inception in 2005.  This “Davos for Women” was astonishing for a first-timer like myself.  I found it fitting that the Forum takes place in Deauville, a seaside town in the Normandy region of France.  Apart from being my personal favourite place in Europe, Normandy is a rather poignant location for a women’s business conference.  In 1944, hundreds of thousands of men landed on its beaches, a feat that would eventually help end World War II.  An ancillary effect of this was that back in the allies’ homelands, MILLIONS of women went to work outside the home for the first time ever to support the war effort and fill vacant jobs.  In America alone, “Rosie the Riveter” increased the number of working women to about 20 million.

And here I was in Normandy, seeing the legacy of that string of events…six decades later.

To give you an idea of the scope of the conference, I have to share how it FELT.  Imagine being in the midst of one thousand (mostly) female leaders of every age and race, from 70 countries.  Imagine women dressed in suits, head scarves, and boldly coloured African robes.  Imagine hearing women’s voices – French and English (spoken in a melodic range of accents).  Imagine the pervasive sillage (an apt French word, roughly meaning “the scent trail left by perfume”).  Imagine being in the enormous Centre International de Deauville, where typical French elegance suffused every last detail, from the omnipresent purple logo, to the young women staffing the event, in matching black tailored dresses, pressed ribbons circling their waists.  Being surrounded by this many diverse women at a business event was inspiring…and comfortable.

Around the corner from the plenary room, participants could peruse the “Discovery Hall.”  Among the places to visit in this area: the Cartier’s Women’s Initiative Awards corner; the Capgemini Brainstorming Corner (containing a huge mural with key phrases and drawings summarizing each session as they happened); Elle magazine’s “Women for Education” wall; L’Oréal’s Writer’s Corner, featuring an exhibit on “The Origins of Beauty.”  My colleagues from PwC’s Paris office were hosting our own “Sustainability Club,” calculating and offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions of participants’ travel to finance an electricity and heat biomass project in Karnataka, India.  As my colleagues described their daily work in PwC’s Sustainability practice, I was struck by how the competencies of business have changed so dramatically, even during my ten years in the work force. 

More than anything, the conference woke me up to new information and ideas that inspired me, and I’d like to share some of those with you.

THE JAPANESE BULLET TRAIN IS MODELLED ON THE “DESIGN” OF THE KINGFISHER BIRD

What does this have to do with business?  Well, a lot, it turns out. Janine Benyus, President of the Biomimicry Institute in the U.S. explained that scientists are now working with architects and businesses to construct environment-friendly products and office buildings.  Benyus stressed that we are living in a time when “all of our certainties have crumbled,” and spoke of the “quieting of human arrogance” (what a beautiful and resonant phrase for 2009).  She urged us to look outside our species for the solutions to our social, environmental and business problems, citing how organisms have used CO2 as a building block, rather than a poison; how ocean creatures transform salt-water into fresh water.  In other words, she urged us to look to the natural world for innovation.  Benyus countered the business-as-usual assumption that short-term profit is paramount, explaining that the definition of success in the natural world is about ensuring life 10,000 years from now.  She also exploded the myth that the natural world is a purely competitive place, describing two coral reefs that had been devastated by a tsunami – the one that regenerated itself was an ecosystem that thrived on cooperation, which led to its resilience (when I shared this with my husband, he told me that economists have also looked at ecosystems to understand financial markets and how they might work better.  Who knew?  Not me!)  Indeed, business can learn innovation from the natural world.

PwC Partner Sonja Barendregt-Roojers spoke at a roundtable panel on Business Innovation, expressing the need to reward innovation and create an environment where staff feels comfortable bringing creative ideas to the table.  Another panellist pointed out that certain companies allow 30% of their employees’ time to be dedicated purely to brainstorming activities – getting outside the office, away from daily monotonous tasks – to simply reflect.  I asked myself whether I bring that kind of creative energy to my own work; do you?

CASH ISN’T KING…ANYMORE.

The Millennial generation values their contribution to society as much as (often more than) their paychecks.  Anne Lauvergeon, Chair of AREVA, France pointed out that young employees and recruits want to see the “human project” at the centre of things…including business; they want to be useful in a broad sense.  To engage future leaders, businesses must adapt.  While recognizing the economic crisis as critical, she pointed out that it’s only one of many crises we’re facing today.  She asked us to consider the climate change crisis.  The demographic crisis.  The food and water crisis.  The energy crisis.  The healthcare crisis.  The poverty crisis.  The education crisis. 

You could’ve heard a pin drop as we all took a proverbial step back to reflect on the profundity of this statement.  After all, what will business be without educated people?  Without healthy people?  Without…people, full stop?

Lauvergeon noted that the world has changed dramatically, but that institutions have not.  I can’t help but mention that she cited life-expectancy as an example – raising her eyebrow as she noted that “the average marriage lasted ten years; now it lasts fifty years.”  Humour aside, I couldn’t help but think how accurately this describes the business world – an inflexible and in many ways arcane institution largely built by men, for men, assuming a wife at home to handle the domestic work.  We all know that this in no way reflects the reality of our lives today, with families often comprised of single parents or dual-earners.  Lauvergeon urged us to go back to the basics, revolutionizing our institutions and jettisoning the idea that short-term profits are paramount.  “Women are not better,” she said, “but they have a better sense for long-term things.” 

WHY DO SO MANY MEN STILL NOT GET IT?

If evidence shows that companies with diversity in top management are around 30% more profitable, why do we still only have a handful of women in management? 

According to one speaker, the reason is that even male leaders intellectually understand the business case, they haven’t internalized it (a friend of mine often says “it’s a long way from head to heart”).  The argument goes that because top male leaders continue to surround themselves with people that look, act, and think like them, they’ve never actually experienced the power of diversity in action, even while knowing that diverse teams outperform homogonous ones.  What's encouraging, according to the panellists, is that leaders (both men and women) often become staunch supporters of diversity when they see the "magic" of it on teams.

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE

The way forward is cooperation – collective movement fostered by personal action and sharing success stories.  Eleanor Roosevelt began holding press conferences where only female journalists were allowed, thus forcing newspapers to hire women reporters.  We may not all have the executive authority of Roosevelt, but as Karen Kornbluh, U.S. Ambassador to the OECD reminded us, we all have a personal responsibility to make ourselves into agents of change.  “When we turn on our laptop,” she said, “we’re as powerful as anybody.”  Personally, I do see my female friends and colleagues making use of new tools – such as social media and educational podcasts – to help themselves and others, to network and share information faster than ever before.  I try to do my part by telling anyone and everyone who will listen to me about the business case for diversity; I also share the REAL numbers regarding women leaders around the world in business, politics and other positions of power (I find that very few individuals know that although women make up half the world's workforce, we make up only a tiny percentage of leadership – people assume that’s a thing of the past; many also aren't aware of the significant business advantages that diversity brings to the table).  I ask my friends about their own experiences with diversity in their professions as doctors, lawyers, teachers, and journalists (and I’d love to hear from you about the big and little things you do, or are doing around empowering and educating women and men to use diversity as a change agent.)
 
“Leadership is not a position,” said Ndidi Nwuneli, Founder and Director of LEAP Africa, “leadership is an action.”  She also shared a beautiful and pertinent African proverb: “Go fast, go alone; go far, go with others.”

In her opening remarks, Forum founder Aude Zieseniss de Thuin stated that it is our personal responsibility to create change; that the financial crisis brings a new opportunity to build a “new deal” between generations and countries to create a “more balanced and respectful world.”  She said that women will be the “pillars” of such renewal. 

Over the course of the conference many speakers were asked what women (or said differently, a “feminine leadership style”) bring to the table.  The answers varied: Results.  A long-term view.  Diversity of thought.  Less selfishness.  A pragmatic approach to business.  More persistence.  More courage.  Better cooperation.  Long-term planning.

These seem to me the very attributes that will address the issues – financial and other – that were at the heart of this conference. 

My Dutch colleague turned to me after a one of the sessions and said, “Isn’t it great to get inspired once in a while?”

Yes.  Yes, it is indeed great to get inspired once in a while. 

à bientôt,

Dale

 

Bonjour from Brussels

Bonjour from Brussels!

I’m thrilled to be writing you my first blog entry, having been passed the proverbial torch from my friend and former colleague, Cleo Thompson.  Cleo’s passion for diversity took our global effort from its inception in 2006 to what it is today – a dynamic, prolific, and award winning initiative (take a stroll around the website to see what the Gender Advisory Council has accomplished with Cleo at the helm).  Thanks to Cleo’s commitment to my development (she was my coach!) I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to a number of GAC projects over the years (she’s also been instrumental in growing my reading list significantly – and YES, I have seen the bookcase in her home, and YES, it is Something to Behold.)

Having told people about my new role as Global Gender Advisory Council Programme Office Leader, their reactions can be summed up in the following ways:

“Wow!  Your title is almost as long as your company name!”

and

“Wow!  What an amazing role!  How did you get it?”

The truth is, I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how I got here (for more on my background, you can check out my bio – to make a long story short, I was born in Scotland, raised mostly in the U.S., and live in Europe).  With hindsight, I think the single most important element in my career trajectory was the first PwC Partner I worked for in Washington, D.C.  At the time I wouldn’t have called Jim my “mentor” but in retrospect that’s exactly what he was.  From him I learned practical skills that I realized recently have become firmly embedded in the way I work.

From my day one with the firm, he taught me to run his office like a small business; I learned time management, efficiency, relationship-building, professionalism, and (most important!) resourcefulness.  He taught me that details not only matter, but are in fact what separate the Very Good from the Best.  In other words, he taught me what client service really means.  He also showed me the importance of courage and risk-taking; at a time when the internet was still relatively new (I can see Millennials fainting off their chairs left and right), we drove our business on-line via an innovative communication tool.  This exercise also taught me how to achieve credibility and consensus with stakeholders, as well as how to put together a strong fact-based business case (something that’s central to our diversity efforts).

I learned relationship-building skills through role modelling; Jim demonstrated trust by inviting me to sit on conference calls and meetings with Partners, client executives, and in some cases, Congressmen – at first as an observer and eventually, when I gained enough experience, as an active contributor.  I believe this trust grew my confidence as I gradually learned to interact and articulate myself in a professional environment.  Jim palpably demonstrated transparency in our projects and communications which is something that’s served me well in my own career.  He staffed me on high profile projects that gave me exposure to senior PwC Partners.  This visibility and the resulting networking were key factors in me clinching a secondment to Europe in 2005. 

Finally, Jim definitely taught me the Art of Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously – we laughed a lot on our team.  A lot.  I’ve always found that the times when I’m having the most fun at work coincide with my most productive and creative spells (and with my HR background, I know that this bears out in research – having fun is good for business).

I guess you could say I was lucky in working for a boss very early in my career who accelerated my growth as a professional; but in my experience, even if we’re not working on the “ideal” project or in the “ideal” environment, there are always little things we can be doing to get closer to where we want to be.  We can actively seek out mentors, aligning ourselves with experienced colleagues who have the specific skills and competencies that we admire and aspire to; we can volunteer for interesting or high-profile assignments.  As a famous football (the American kind) coach once said “inches make champions.”

And speaking of “champions,” I’m pleased to tell you that Dennis Nally will be personally championing diversity at PwC during his tenure as Chairman of our global network.  As a result of Dennis’s engagement, some compelling new things are coming down the pipeline – stay tuned as I’ll be sharing those developments with you here in future posts.  We also have a few exciting diversity events coming up this month and I’ve been in conversations with a series of businesswomen who’ve given me great ideas for topics (coming soon to the blog: France, Foreigners, and Four-letter words…)

à bientôt,
(that’s roughly French for ‘until next time’)

Dale

Oh and –

P.S. – thanks, Jim!

From here to maternity

Hello again; I hope that, wherever you are, you’ve had a great summer/winter, delete as appropriate.  Here in London, I’ve spotted some thought provoking messaging out there at the moment about being a mother and the impact it can have on your career.  Were I planning or hoping to have a baby in the near future, I think I’d be pretty dismayed to have read the following over the last few weeks.

• Women are being urged to test their fertility at the age of 30 –
• But those who do become pregnant and take maternity leave face bullying; a situation blamed, as is so much at the moment, on the recession;
• The Fawcett Society’s most recent report (available as a free download) carries the title “Not Having It All” - and the more chilling sub-title “How motherhood reduces women’s pay and employment prospects” and tells us that, in a nutshell, pregnancy and motherhood makes women vulnerable to discrimination, pay disparities and an enhanced risk of unemployment.
• So it’s hardly surprising that the always-on-the-case Glass Hammer website has picked up on this and run an interesting and highly relevant story on professional women choosing to remain childless. As the article points out: “Based on what we know, why would successful women continue choosing to have children if the detriments to their career are so unavoidable and widespread?” 

With my global hat on, I can’t help thinking that if the situation is this bad in the UK and the USA, two countries which do at least have some level of protective legislation in place, then what must it be like elsewhere?  The Fawcett Society is calling for new policy responses to reduce the impact of motherhood on a woman’s earnings. Four priority areas emerge from their report and, whilst the recommendations are primarily aimed at governments, I also think that organisations could make substantive interventions around at least two of these four points – what do you think?

1. Provide mothers with the support they need to return to jobs at their previous skills levels
2. Enforce and extend the law to protect pregnant women and women on maternity leave
3. Create substantially more part-time work in higher paid occupations
4. Tackle the low pay that exists in sectors primarily employing women.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times and the man who shared the phrase “Lehman Sisters” with the world via his “Mistresses of the universe” op-ed column earlier this year has a new co-authored book entitled ““Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” out in a few weeks’ time, in which he states that:

“The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution.”

By the mere fact of your reading this blog entry, you are likely to agree with his words; let’s hope that the increasing pressure of voices like Mr Kristof’s starts to create some momentum for women everywhere, be they our corporate sisters in New York and London or our sisters working to change their live via micro-credit in Pakistan.

This is my last Gender Agenda entry, as I am, after eight years with PwC and three with the Gender Advisory Council, moving on at the end of my secondment to the GAC.  I am not quite sure as yet what my future holds, other than that I know that I will continue to work in some kind of global gender diversity related capacity; once you’ve found your passion, it’s hard to let go!  I have very much appreciated the last three years with the Council and I hope that my successor will enjoy the people and the challenges as much as I have.  You’ll be meeting her on a future blog entry and I know she’s looking forward to continuing sharing, via the Gender Agenda, the details of PwC’s award winning and ground breaking work to support our women.

Thanks for being a great audience and for sharing the journey with me –

Cleo

Survival in uncertain times

Hello again. As mentioned last week, here is a guest entry from Pauline Crawford of Gender Dynamics, in which she asks us to consider that men and women bring different qualities to provide the answer - but do we know the question?  Do we need to re-shape the playing field?

“In today’s economic crisis, is it possible that the answer can be right in front of our eyes? While we are now faced with a serious financial situation, political misdemeanors and banking chaos, there is much talk about ensuring that we engage the ‘right’ people at the top to sort out a different future scenario.  Women can bring the change to the boardroom that is needed - but are both sides ready and willing to change together?

If we are to co-create the future together, men and women have an opportunity now to start the conversation about business again, rather than keep trying to fit people into the old playing field and try making it level.  It’s time to actually dig it up and design a new one.  This blueprint needs to acknowledge the life factors that affect both genders in business, and to not throw out all the old elements.  However, it must take a serious look at the player’s natural abilities, acquired technical skills, professional contributions and life requirements.  Men and women bring different perspectives in terms of personal and professional contributions to the business mix; they also require different things naturally.  Half of the workforce is female and yet the business blueprint and the majority of rules and regulations are still decided by ‘male’ influence. There is still inequality in pay, a gender gap and limited opportunities within the corporate world for women to rise to the top.  There are still too few women in the boardroom even though there is a renewed desire for more women to move into the top positions and the evidence is growing that a mixed top team creates the most innovative and sustainable output. Women opt out, get blocked, or go off to run their own business.

For many years I have seriously wondered why there are so many barriers to women at the top - and have concluded from my study, life observations and gathering of evidence, that the mystery lies not in the attributes of women but in the ‘playing field’ of business being unchanged for over two centuries.  If we lay out a new business blueprint that encompasses economic, societal and life requirements, and the natural differentials that we observe in men and women, we might embrace more accurately the lifestyle necessities as well as the business imperatives that men and women have.  

For women this would take account of their career as well as regarding their family desires and possible dependant relatives in a new way. For men, a new view might release them from their conditioned position as the breadwinner and enable them to co-parent where desired.

If we take away the problems that have besieged women on the way to the top and allowed a playing field that draws on natural strengths of the ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, I believe we can grow ‘green shoots’ for new business fast.  The new blueprint includes masculine and feminine characteristics to be fulfilled in appropriate balance, and all roles and functions aligned efficiently.

We need to qualify gender differentials at a deeper level.  This is not just about men and women; it’s about masculine and feminine elements in us all, it’s about our biology, neurology, emotional patterns, experiences, stereotypes and perceptions; it’s about our sexuality, our culture and our personalities. 

It has long been known that men, biologically, have a laterally organised brain, more focused on task, logic and thinking processes as natural business strengths; but some men do bring their intuitive ‘emotional feminine’ energy to work as their best natural strength. It is commonly understood that women are more relationship-focused, and with their bilateral, more networked brain bring a natural multi-tasking ability to the boardroom. Women tend to be nurturing, emotional and intuitive at heart, yet many women have a natural robust ‘masculine’ sense of business and bring that to the table. The confusion has occurred where women have changed their whole behaviour to match their ‘masculine’ brain and gone into business as a ‘man’, or when a man feels he cannot utilise his intuitive nature in conflict with an expectation of male business behaviour.

Creating the new blueprint ‘together’ means bringing both parties into one conversation - not one into the other. Like two computers, a PC and a MAC®, men and women speak the same language from a different hard drive, and are built differently.   As we work and study the joys of masculine (M) and feminine (F) traits in business and in human nature - in both men and in women – we discover that the overall picture of gender dynamics is a more complex matrix than the usual male -female view.  We can indeed observe and define six 'dynamics' in physicality (mapping body-types) and mind functions (profiling natural mind set and motivations). Exploring gender dynamics, at this deeper level within each gender, can both explain and open up communications and relationships in mixed teams that leverages more than the sum of the parts. Once understood, a wise leader can know what each man and woman brings to their ‘playing field’ and hone the best team to win.

If business potential comes from honing new resources aligned to market needs, we have all we need – it’s the configuration that needs attention.  With a return to our natural strengths, and by taking a willing step forward together, men and women can bring an inspired scenario of the future into view. 

Creating the future together needs to start with a new blueprint and a new inspiration.

President Obama is a fine example of a balanced masculine man who has a truly inspiring ‘feminine’ sense of emotion and who values relationships and mutuality in all he does. When he calls for mutual trust, people of all gender types listen.  We too can combine these masculine and feminine attributes in business by valuing our gender dynamics as a fundamental principle of survival and eventual new growth.  We have all we need born within us, let’s take a good look!”

Pauline’s personal story: I am a masculine-minded woman and I have mis-understood my gender dynamic myself over the years.  I enjoy having a logical mathematical mind set, use rational thinking more than emotional response; however I also have the multi-tasking and natural relationship skills that many women have innately, and I now have a growing sense of intuition. The latter has been something I have developed over the last five years as I recognised I was not being true to my 'female' core nature. In the past I would have easily played the ‘male’ part in business and ignored my feminine emotional strengths. Now I can fulfill the balance required.