Feminine Versus Masculine Energies in Business
Are We Missing Feminine Identity in Business?
By Nilima Bhat and Raj Sisodia
Authors Nilima Bhat and Raj Sisodia discuss how feminine energy in business is largely ignored and held in contempt, but could result in a more balanced and integrated organization in Shakti Leadership: Embracing Feminine and Masculine Power in Business (Berrett-Koehler, 2016). The following excerpt about feminine and masculine energies in business has been excerpted from Chapter 1: ”Seeking Shakti.”
The Feminine Principle
Shakti is seen as inherently feminine and is personified in the yogic tradition in various goddesses. As the source of all things, Shakti is personified and referred to as “the Divine Mother,” who worshippers and yoga practitioners experience as a being and with whom they enter into dialogue and a conscious relationship.
All over the world, societies, cultures, religions, philosophies, art forms, and literature make reference to and draw upon feminine energy personified in the Mother Goddess. Much of physical existence is given a feminine identity, such as when we refer to Mother Nature or Mother Earth. Yet for virtually all of recorded history, the feminine has been controlled and subjugated by the masculine, which deep down secretly fears the Mother’s unfathomable depth and creative power.
The essential sustaining qualities of the feminine principle are present in our personal lives as the nurturing love and support shared with loved ones. However, it is largely absent from our professional lives. “Business as usual” has overvalued traditionally masculine qualities, while denying and undervaluing feminine capacities. The prevailing business culture is hypermasculine and holds most feminine qualities in contempt. To become balanced and integrated, organizations of all kinds need to value and cultivate feminine energies and qualities within their cultures — on the part of both men and women.
Shakti Leaders Speak: On Feminine Energy
Casey Sheahan, former CEO of Patagonia, recalls:
At Patagonia, the workforce is 55 percent female and 45 percent male. The energy within all organizations falls into two basic places. The first is what I call male ambitious energy, the second, which I think is ultimately a more powerful force, is female creative energy. The first energy is a frictional energy, while the second is a more conscious energy that is inspired by passion and higher purpose. You know when you’re in that place because the mind is intelligent and clear; it knows what the problem to be solved is and it can see its way toward solutions that work for all the stakeholders who might be affected. The other side, male/masculine ambitious energy, is characterized by greed, power, self-centricity, ego, fear, insecurity, and anger. . . . This frictional energy is what caused the problems in the global economic crisis. You saw it play out on Wall Street in the last twenty years and in many of the failed corporations that were actually cheating their shareholders and the government. They were businesses that had no underlying purpose other than to bring in money. The drive of that energy is all about the individuals: their image, their status. These individuals lack connection and vision, and are incomplete as human beings. They lack something inside that prevents them from being complete, and their companies from being complete. Such businesses and organizations frequently engage in wrong actions instead of right actions.
Stepping Into Feminine Power
What we see in society today reflects the omnipresent impact of a hypermasculine culture. Author and cultural theorist Jean Kilbourne has been observing and documenting the pervasive and perverse impact the culture of exploitation and objectification has had on both men and women. She observes:
Some young women act more macho and crude in order to be more powerful. That has a lot to do with this culture’s definition of power, and that power is defined as being one-up — power over somebody else rather than power being one’s own ability to be effective and to make change. If that’s the definition of power that girls get — and it is — and if that’s what they see being rewarded, it’s not surprising that they try that on themselves. Feminine values get lip service but very little respect; in fact there’s a lot of contempt for them. So that’s a very powerful message that girls are getting, about how they can be powerful. The only definition right now in this culture is to be more like a man.
Miss Representation, a film by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, depicts how media portrayals and the objectification of women rob women of political power, making them less likely to want to be political leaders. It also makes it difficult for the women who do try. Jean Kilbourne comments, “A female political candidate has to project femininity — because otherwise she is savaged — and she also has to project strength. And if you’ve got a situation where strength is seen as unfeminine, it puts her in an impossible double bind. If she’s strong, she’s not feminine; if she’s feminine, she’s weak. Girls see this all around them.”
How can women reclaim their power after being so harshly objectified for so long? Jean Kilbourne does see some cause for optimism: “I think more and more people are beginning to see that these stereotypes and definitions of power aren’t getting us anywhere; in fact, they’re causing a lot of harm. What it’s going to take is a critical mass of people who say we’ve got to change this, because it is doing serious harm to us and to our children.”
The fact is that women already have a great deal of power in the world, but they don’t always recognize it. If they can step into the power they already have, they can bring about rapid and wide-ranging global change.
Twenty years ago, there was only one female CEO running a Fortune 500 company; there are now twenty-two. While it is still a very low percentage, the trajectory is encouraging. There used to be only a small handful of women in the US Senate at any one time; now there are twenty. The progress is steady, but still far too slow. Miss Representation points out that if these changes continue at their current rate it will take something like five hundred years to finally achieve equality in Congress! Something must happen to bring about change more quickly. As Jean Kilbourne puts it, “There’s all this power out there, but it hasn’t been grasped or been utilized.”
Blending Positive Feminine and Masculine Capacities
Within each of us, there is a feminine element that is both distinct from and entwined with a masculine element. There is a purpose for this: to generate the creative tension within and from which evolution can move toward its own fulfillment. We need to leverage this internal diversity in a way that allows each individual to find a unique balance of expression freely for themselves.
Traditionally feminine capacities that are gifts of tapping into Shakti include qualities such as surrender, receptivity, adaptability, intuition, creativity, beauty, flow, sensuality, nurturing, affection, sharing, gentleness, patience, vulnerability, empathy, inclusion, openness, variety/flavor, trust, and harmony. But when taken too far, feminine qualities can manifest in undesirable ways, such as smothering, being seen as overly sentimental, needy, dependent, exploited, unfocused, irrational, weak, and manipulative. These are considered hyperfeminine or immature feminine qualities.
Likewise, positive masculine capacities include freedom, direction, logic, reason, focus, integrity, structure, stability, passion, independence, discipline, confidence, awareness, discernment, authenticity, strength, clarity, assertiveness, order, and convergence.11 Hyper- or immature masculine qualities manifest as aggressive, cruel, mechanical, arrogant, insensitive, violent, power-hungry, and spiritually empty.
Of course, to categorize certain characteristics as traditionally masculine or feminine is not to say any of them are innate to men or women. Sally Kempton points to the danger of pigeonholing men and women based on gender:
I have a bit of a problem with the idea that the feminine is naturally nurturing and emotional and the masculine is naturally competitive and aggressive. I actually think that both genders are nurturing in their own way and aggressive in their own way. I would say that, in an individual, Shakti is really much more about finding your personal source of the vibrant fountain of power, which is moving through your unique configuration — which applies to men and women.
Even as women rightfully fight for equal rights, opportunity, and status, it does not take away from the need to maintain this primary polarity in a healthy balance.
Shakti Leaders Speak: On Masculine and Feminine Qualities
Former president of Southwest Airlines Colleen Barrett recalls:
I’ve learned most of my lessons the hard way, because I’ve made mistakes. When you make them and you realize it, you’re fine as long as you don’t make the same mistake twice. I’ve learned the value of discipline; that’s a masculine trait. I’ve also learned that even if you have to make tough decisions based on what is best for your organization as a whole, you can still keep your friendships. For example, you can terminate someone because it was the right thing to do for the company, but you can still keep your friendship with that person as long as you handle it in a positive way. I think lots of people struggle with that, male or female. Of course, your heart aches. If you ever feel good about terminating somebody, then there’s something wrong with you as a leader to begin with. But I have kept close friendships with many, many people that I had to let go for one reason or another.
Author and educator Judy Sorum Brown notes that “leadership is . . . holding both sides and valuing both.” John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio’s research for the book The Athena Doctrine also supports the idea that individuals recognize the value of both types of traits. Eighty-one percent of survey respondents agreed that “(whether) man or woman, you need both masculine and feminine traits to thrive in today’s world.” Gerzema and D’Antonio note that individuals who “include feminine strategies in their decision making are twice as optimistic about their future.”
A truly conscious leader is able to call on positive masculine and feminine qualities regardless of what gender they are. They know when it is beneficial to use more masculine or feminine energy, and are sensitive to the negative aspects of each. But most leaders disown their innate feminine capacities, which are devalued, and always choose more masculine capacities because these are what are seemingly rewarded.
This excerpt was published with permission from Shakti Leadership: Embracing Feminine and Masculine Power in Business by Nilima Bhat and Raj Sisodia (Berrett-Koehler, 2016).
Read the next excerpt in this series: How to Apply the Heroic Journey to Business
Check out the full series from Shakti Leadership: Embracing Feminine and Masculine Power in Business
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
