It seems
that in the 80's and 90's, many of the leadership
books directed at women spoke about women having a
"natural" tendency towards leadership. In
fact, I was interviewed in a book published in
1991,
"Star Teams Key Players" by Michelle
Jackman, which states that women are natural
leaders because of their innate ability to work in
teams. Even though I had been identified
as a "key player" in the book,
I have never
fully bought in to the idea that these "natural" talents
are what get us ahead.
To the contrary, I
found that women who succeeded in corporate
life had completely put aside their "natural"
feminine attributes in order to succeed, especially
their hearts. Even more than their
male counterparts.
When you are in the
minority, it doesn't help to be considered
different. It takes a lot more courage and effort
to stick out, especially when there is no proven
track record that "different" will be rewarded.
Business has been a place where the heart and
its many expressions were discouraged.
Therefore, many women became "little" men, or
as I like to call it "she-men".
A "she-man"is a
woman who has completely disconnected herself from her
feminine attributes in the workplace, because she
believes it has no purpose or value in
business. While I do believe this is
particularly relevant for women, I have seem men suffer
from this...leaving their heart-driven creativity,
compassion and sensitivity at the door.
Unfortunately, I believe
that as women, we are often guilty of negatively
judging these natural, feminine skills and as a
result, we check them at the corporate
door. I know that I, and many other
women I worked with had these judgments. The
truth is that we need to embrace both feminine and
masculine aspects in ourselves and in business in order
to be fully successful. You can't just
engage the head and forget the heart!
I came from a
generation that believed the heart had no place in
business. This was true for both men and
women. I now understand how flawed this
belief is. Today, companies and businesses are
looking for long-term sustainable results and innovative
solutions. They can't achieve this without engaged
people.
Engagement is an
emotional issue, not an intellectual one.
You can go to work with your head, but it isn't until
your heart is engaged, that you can bring about superior
and sustainable results. You can't get passion,
creativity and innovation without your heart being
engaged.
Effective leadership requires an
engaged heart.
I often say
that business is personal, but don't take it
personally. While we do need to bring a
humane aspect to work by bringing our hearts, we also
need to keep our heads engaged and understand the
business aspects are not personal. This is the
magical dance we must do between the management demands
of the business and the leadership demands of the
people around us. The problem is that
business has been overly skewed to the management side
of the equation and in order to accomplish sustainable
results, businesses need some heart! And
it starts with everyone of us, women and men
alike!
While women have
made great strides in leadership and in
business, we still have a long way to go. In
fact, according to Catalyst, the leading
nonprofit corporate membership research and advisory
organization that tracks the advancement of women
in business, indicate we may have lost some
traction vs. last year. Their 2007 study
reports the following:
"Ms. Lopez's unique concept, using skills learned
through parenting in the workplace, proposes a new
perspective to an old argument: Do emotions and personal
connections belong in the world of business? The author
addresses both sides of the debate. "I came from a
generation of both men and women who learned that hearts
did not have a place in business. Showing any emotion
was a sign of weakness; there was no place for it in the
board room." The counterpoint, "Business is extremely up
front and personal. People do business with people they
like. People relate to and want to help other people
they enjoy. People build trust with others who don't let
them down. Business is very personal," offers a more
modern and timely view on the discussion. With global
competition at levels never before seen, offering more
of yourself in a business relationship might be the very
thing that sets you apart from others in your field."
