Feminine Power Is Not All About Women (… But it is really important for your business)
In a recent interview for the BBC’s 100 Women Series, Billie Eilish spoke about how many female artists are dominating the charts. She was pushed by the interviewer on the significance of this and spoke about how encouraging it is to see so many women doing well as performers in the music industry.
I don’t disagree with Billie. The success of female artists is definitely a good thing but just like in this podcast, I’m concerned that the progress doesn’t run as deeply as it needs to…
Chatting with Mary Portas, Jude Kelly comments that she’s not convinced that any equality gaps have been reduced, simply that the quality of living has improved across the board.
This means that marginalised groups might well have experienced an improvement but it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s been any reduction in the differences between how different groups of people are perceived and treated.
It’s a hard pill to swallow.
Check out all of Jude’s Kelly interview to find out more… Overall she takes a positive outlook on the progress of gender equality and she makes some interesting points along the way.
Listen To Jude Kelly’s Interview ~ Beautiful Misfits Podcast
Why Feminine Power Is Not All About Women
Like most people, I care pretty deeply about us working together to overcome inequality but my view on this subject is not exclusive to our sex or gender.
For a number of years, I’ve been working with the principles of masculine and feminine energy. These are the energies that live inside each of us and support the expression of our life.
When these two energies are in balance, they create harmony, balance, expression and focus. When these two are energies are out of balance, things aren’t so great.
‘You can’t make a rose grow faster by pulling it’
This is one of my favourite sayings and it just so happens that it’s also a really useful analogy to describe how important both masculine and feminine energy are.
Masculine energy is direct, protective and action based.
Masculine energy is the energy we access when we actively create the best environment for the roses to grow; making sure that the soil is fertile, planting the seeds in a sunny spot and pruning regularly are all examples of the expression of masculine energy.
But once we’ve created the best environment for the roses to grow, we take a step back and let the roses breathe. We let them grow, we give them time to open up and bloom and that’s a process that cannot be forced.
Feminine energy is open, nurturing and spacious.
(SIDE NOTE: Don’t be fooled into thinking that everything about feminine energy is soft, gentle or beautiful. Just like the thorns on a rose, feminine energy can equally be dark, strong and fierce.)
Off Balance
For too long now masculine energy has dominated, especially in business. We are so action oriented, we’ve even falsely come to believe that we are in control. These are some of the negative expressions of masculine energy, when it is too dominant and not balanced by feminine power.
Simply put, we’ve been pulling on the roses to try and make them grow and forgetting the importance of feminine energy in the expression of our lives.
Flying In Circles…
I really like one of the things that Jude Kelly said on the Beautiful Misfits podcast:
The dominance of masculine energy is like a bird that has been flying with one wing. When the other wing (feminine power) rises up and both wings work in harmony together (masculine action + feminine expression) that’s when we can go places.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
Continuing to work on the real and harmful ways that different people are treated is really important and understanding the true significance of feminine power is key to that process.
Here are some of the ways you can start embracing feminine power:
HEALTH WARNING: These game-changing concepts are directly contradictory to most traditional business ideas
1. Acknowledge the benefits of intuition, insights and integrated wisdom
These are all based in feminine energy and are just as valuable as measurements, metrics and hard data.
2. Some ideas (and almost all people!) need space to breathe
Faster isn’t always better. We lose the sense of authentic expression when we force change or growth. Masculine energy wants decision, action and speed. Feminine energy wants expression, expansion of perspective and time. Both are equally important.
3. Connection within business is possibly the most underrated tool
Dominant masculine energy has led us to a place where we treat human beings almost like robots. We constantly expect more without giving time or credit to all of the very natural and wonderful quirks and flaws that make us human. Creating spaces for all of your people to connect with themselves, each other and the world beyond the bubble of your business is important.
Don’t forget that rising feminine power needs to work in harmony with masculine energy. Nothing will grow in your garden without a balance of masculine energy working with any feminine power that you integrate so don’t eradicate all of your boundaries, goals or metrics.
And Finally…
Both masculine and feminine energy live within each of us. There is no part of this concept that relates to our gender. We are all designed to express the masculine sense of building and achieving as well as the feminine sense of feeling, creating and appreciating.
In this gorgeous cover of Sam Smith’s ‘Stay With Me’, Pink sings the lyrics that so poignantly express the need of a man to be with someone to ease his loneliness.
Masculine energy has also been alone for too long. We need to find the balance of both masculine and feminine within ourselves, our processes, routines and habits.
Come on feminine power… Stay with me!
This is Stay With Me in the Live Lounge by Pink
Coming up this year, I’ll be hosting a series of Brave Conversations for leaders of all backgrounds to come together and find the middle ground amidst the polarity of our experiences.
If you’d like to hear more about the Brave Conversations series, sign up to receive info about it here.
