My new book is now available for purchase – https://www.amazon.com.au/Visionary-Male-Leaders
Plus learn more – and complete the free leadership diagnostic test – at https://jacobaldridge.com/feminine/
Four years ago I spoke at a conference attended almost exclusively by women … and I (a 6’2″ man in a tailored suit) spoke to them about how to embrace feminine energy in business.
In the audience questions afterwards, one of the attendees grabbed the microphone:
“When you were introduced I almost stopped listening. I thought ‘What could this man possibly tell me about femininity?’ Now I can’t imagine anyone better to talk on the subject.”
I think my key statement that helped ease the tension was when I acknowledged that I was taking a conference slot away from a woman – and I accepted that (in what was a balanced schedule anyway) because I realised we will only see change when the men in power are ready to change, so as a man with power I have a responsibility to advocate for that change.
Now that keynote presentation is a chapter in a new book: Visionary Male Leaders – On Identifying and Integrating your Feminine and Masculine Leadership Traits.
By Men, For Men, About Women?
A book written exclusively by men and mostly written for other male leaders could either be a load of misogynistic hogwash … or it could be visionary.
By asking a group of 15 international business leaders to focus on embracing feminine energy we hope to:
- bring perspective to this powerful force,
- validate for many women what they already know, and
- (most importantly) break through to the men who want to ignore this reality.
Maybe it’s sad that some men will only listen to other men. I can’t change that reality … I can just use my responsibility as a man with power to advocate for that change.
Man / Woman / Masculine / Feminine
While my chapter “Yes But How: 6 Feminine Energy Systems Every Enterprise Can Implement” explains this, and you can learn more in my short video below, it’s a critical misconception that needs clarifying every time I talk or write on this subject.
Masculine Energy does not equal Man or Male
Feminine Energy does not equal Woman or Female
We are all a combination of both Masculine and Feminine Energy. Most of us have a natural preference for one or the other – I am heavily driven by my Masculine (linear, future-oriented) energy. But I realised the hard way that this style ignores the vast number of people, most of whom are women, that are primarily driven by their Feminine (nurturing, present-oriented) energy.
Until your business learns to embrace the feminine energy as well, you won’t be able to support and serve those team members and clients who prefer that approach.
So if you’ve ever wondered why men stick around in your business while women leave? Or why your great ideas for the future never eventuate in the present? Then you need to understand the contextual layer that sits behind it – Masculine AND Feminine Energy in business.
And the best place to learn about it: My new book, which you can buy here.
Trust me. I’m a man.
[…] while we are leaning into that disruption, the reality is that the book is not about gender. The controversy stems from misunderstanding, from people misinterpreting “Masculine” to mean […]
Jacob I am Just thriller to find about your book, my business Coach introduced me to this topic because I was running a business about listening your intuition into organizations and people, specially women in corporate that are also very disconnected from their femininity. I developed a tool to gain understanding about in which energy area you day by day and with advice to balance it. I will really will like to talk with you and find out collab! I am a millennial passion about corporate since the beginning of my career, I am venezuelan and I was transferred to Brazil with a multinational and now I am in the most masculine energy city in US, New York working in finance in a very masculine area and all day I just wonder how can I impact into leaders and influence to have a more kind ans balance environment so women don’t go! Diversity and inclusion will completely fail if we don’t teach leaders about a femenine and masculine energy.