I’m a woman and I have something to say.
I’m not ashamed of that fact. I’m also not ashamed to have emotions, insight, intuition and concern for relationships and people.
Often in work settings we can feel like these are liabilities instead of the incredible gifts they actually are.
I’m watching the series, Alex Rider right now. There was a scene where a female agent was speaking to her male boss. She was trying to convince him to help the Alex, the young agent. He asked her point blank, “Do you like this boy?” She admitted she did, to which he replied, “You’re not objective.” And then quickly dismissed her concerns.
I have seen–and felt this–often in leadership settings! As if, our concern for humans and emotion disqualifies our opinions.
This is just SO wrong. The idea that the only voices that should be listened to in a business setting should be logical, unemotional and unattached does not serve organizations well.
I saw a chart on the transformation of leadership over the past century. 80 years ago, Winston Churchill was the idea leader, a “Great Man.” One whose vision and charisma saved the world. (I agree, he was a great leader in his own right.)
However today, actually since 9/11 interestingly enough, this has changed. People now value leaders who display transparency and authenticity, leaders they can personally trust. Sounds like most women leaders I know!
This. This is the paradigm organizations need to lean into, we need to lean into. Authentic leadership acknowledges and accepts the need for both masculine and feminine strengths in leadership.
Gone are the days where women have to keep their emotional reasoning to themselves! We can begin to value intuition, insight, “gut” feelings, hunches and yes, emotions for the gifts and contibution they actually are!
So be encouraged, you don’t have to shelve your emotional side, or ignore your feminine intuition in leadership settings. In fact, these are gifts God has given you to lead your team, tribe and movement well!