For decades, perhaps centuries now, business has long been a masculine environment, and within that masculine environment a culture of machismo has dominated.
And by macho energy I mean an over-the-top drive on results without a second thought of the teams’ wellbeing, a brash environment that lacks empathy and promotes devotion to the workplace, often disregarding a male’s desire to honour their family and be present. Sometimes there can be an invisible pressure to adopt these characteristics, and this can be quite draining, leaving you feeling like you aren’t cut out for business.
In contrast, the feminine way of leadership is more nurturing, we monitor our teams, creating a symbiotic relationship of what you need from them and asking in return what they need from you.
As women, I think we can be guilty of leaning into our masculine energy too much, thinking we must prove that we are tough and buying into hustle culture while abandoning the strength in our feminine traits. If we embrace our feminine energy, as leaders, we are demonstrating empathy and creativity, if we nurture our teams, we create a sustainable, successful and happy workforce.
When you choose to favour those soft skills, you look for intrinsic motivation, a sense of pride or a job well done. Whereas the aggressive side of a business can tend to focus on extrinsic motivation, a pay rise, a promise of promotion giving you extra work all in the name of progression.
The future of business lies in finding a balance between the pros of both masculine and feminine energy and embracing them. As more companies move to four-day weeks, offering well-being benefits and encouraging a healthy work-life balance, the old hat way of business is thankfully on its way out.
It’s important at this point to be clear that masculine energy has its place, however, one does not rule the other. I think of masculine and feminine energy like yin and yang: A drop of the feminine in the masculine, and a drop of the masculine in the feminine. A divine balance that will drive businesses forward, and those companies with well-being at the heart of their team are leading the revolution.
