Recently I heard two different leaders commit two different small actions BIG RESULTS. Let me explain.

Two senior executives, Eric and Matt, are leading a three year initiative called Innovation through Diversity. I’ve been working with them to craft the plan for this change and as a subject matter expert who “pushes the boundaries of [their] thinking.”

Eric and Matt convened the virtual meetings to invite critical players onto the team that champions, guides, directs and executes plans to achieve the Innovation through Diversity vision. We didn’t want to pressure the eight participants into saying “Yes” on the spot, so we asked them to email their responses to me, within two weeks. Attendees were from New England, California, England, France, Germany, Japan and China. Two meetings would accommodate the range of time zones. Eric led one and Matt led the other. The content and slide sets were identical.

Why You Are Here

As Eric led the first session, he interrupted his formal presentation to address why each participant had been chosen. His statements were personal, specific, and inspiring, in that quiet sort of way. “Craig, you’ve hired the most diverse team in the U.S. The rest of us need to know why and how you do this.” When the call ended, Craig’s email popped onto my screen immediately, “I’m in.”

Why I Am Here

Matt led the second session. He too, interrupted the formal presentation, for a different reason. Matt talked about “the most profound conversation I’ve ever had with my fourteen year old daughter,” who was attending school in Europe. She told her Dad how much she and her views had changed as a result of having classmates from 40 different countries. She compared this experience to the lackluster sameness in her neighborhood school back in the states. We heard the delight, pride and respect in Matt’s voice and understood his commitment to diversity was real and personal.

When Matt’s call ended, every person emailed “I’m in” within the hour.

Tips for Leading Change (or anything else)

Reach out.

Touch people.

Tell them why they matter.

Make it personal.

Tell your story.

And Why it matters to you.

Small Actions Big Results

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Leadership: Small Actions Big Results is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

Talented

Competitive.

Plays to Win.

Smart as a Whip.

Big Thinker.

Business Acumen.

Relationship Builder.

Has Integrity.

Cares.

CEO successor.

No Anchor.

What?

No anchor. Is not clear for what purpose he is leading.

Yes, there is a company vision and values too.

He helped create them.

But he is not clear about the purpose for which he leads.

So,

He floats,

and when the wave arrives,

He cannot decide whether to let it pass,

or dive beneath

or ride its surf.

Tell him, “You have no anchor.

You must find your purpose.”

Without it he is afloat at sea

Competing on behalf of nothing

Competing on behalf of everything

Competing just to compete.

No. I can’t do that. I can’t tell him.

Tell him.

You Must.

I do.

He says, “I know.”

It will be a long process.

You will have to dig deep.

What do you want to do

With these gifts on loan to you?

Five minutes.

Found,

just below the surface.

“Ignite innovation – Solve problems to improve people’s lives.”

The energy problem.

Anchored now.

CEO

of his own ship.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Leading on Purpose is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

The story you are about to read is based on real events. The two main characters have asked not to be identified, but everything else is reported as it occurred.

Paul is a well-known professional in his field and a former college football star who turned down an invitation to try out for the Denver Broncos. Nathan, Paul’s nephew, is 23 years old. They are each over six feet tall, big-chested and broad shouldered. They both work out – a lot. This is important to the rest of the story.

Mouthing Off About Diversity

Paul and Nathan were among a small number of guests in our home after the twosome had attended a New England Patriot’s football game earlier in the day. During dinner they talked about events that took place in the stands. More importantly they shared their reactions and decisions about what to do. Nathan set the stage.

Bob Kraft

“This idiot, who was part of a big group sitting behind us, was running his mouth before the game even started. Then Kraft [Patriot's owner] comes out for the pre-game announcement and he wishes the crowd ‘Happy Holidays.’ That’s when the mouth-runner yelled, “Hey Kraft, you f–ing Jew bastard, why don’t you say, Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah?”

Paul and Nathan each described their internal reactions to mouth runner’s comment, along with their rapid assessment of the situation. Separately and simultaneously, they came to the same conclusion.

Do Nothing

“The guy was dissing everything. Nothing we said or did was gonna change his attitude. If we said anything there’s a good chance it would turn a fight, and we would be thrown out of the game, maybe even arrested.” Nathan spoke from a recent experience in which he was attacked while attempting to calmly reason with some loud mouth trouble-makers on campus. Nathan threw a punch, obviously a good one, in self-defense, was arrested, and later faced the possibility of criminal charges along with a one year suspension from college.

Nathan argued that he bought the tickets from a friend’s father and season ticket holder. A fight emanating from those seats might have resulted in causing the father to forfeit the tickets for the season or for good. Paul went on to describe the thoughts, feelings, and reactions pulsing through his body following the Jew bastard comment. “This is the stuff that really gets to me. I can feel the blood pumping through my body, my heart racing, my muscles tightening. All I can think about is how if I say something, he’s gonna come back with some wise-ass crack and then I’ll want to shove my fist down his throat and beat his head against the bleachers until … which is why it’s always best for me not to respond”

It was not a quiet dinner conversation. The shouting belied the distress and internal conflict Paul and Nathan were each having with themselves.

What Would Rosa Park’s Do?

As a woman, I don’t usually have to think through such consequences. I speak up freely for and about diversity, but I never considered that doing so might be safer for me than it is for some, most, or all men. This gives me pause.

During the pause I thing about leaders of the civil rights movement intentionally choosing Rosa Parks, a woman, to stay seated, refusing the expectation and then the demand that she move to the back of the bus. Civil rights and diversity, would have taken a very different turn had movement’s leaders chosen an able-bodies man instead.

I am still taking pause to consider that as a woman I have not yet fully understood nor appreciated the power of these un-named dynamics and gender differences. But it does seem that women have greater freedom to be effective vehicles for change, and for diversity, in ways that men cannot.

While pausing I’d love to hear and be informed by your views.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Put Up or Shut Up for Diversity – What Would Rosa Parks Do? is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

Elephant Violence

Violence and bizarre aggressive behaviors among young male elephants has increased dramatically over the course of a few decades.

A team of researchers, trauma experts and neuropsychologists among them, studied the causes and found a way to resolve the elephant violence. Their findings can help us understand why we need mature men leading boys to manhood and to guide for those coming into renewed manhood following the overthrow of repressive regimes. The lessons require connecting three dots.

1.  The social development systems of male elephants.

2.  The abuse of women in oppressive regimes.

Pictured below is Mona Eltahawy, journalist, in Egypt, following her arrest, physical and sexual abuse by Egyptian soldiers.

3.  Boy Gangs – A poor substitute for real men leading boys to manhood

Facts: The increased violence by male elephants included killing members of their own species, raping and killing rhinoceroses, and attacking humans. Intraspecies killings rose from 6% of all elephant deaths to 90% in one of the most affected areas of South Africa. The increased violence began after throngs of young males witnessed the killing of adult males. These fatherless elephants were subsequently raised by young single elephant mothers.

In Elephant Breakdown, Gay Bradshaw and her fellow researchers declared that elephant populations were suffering from chronic species-wide post traumatic stress syndrome resulting from decades of poaching and culling elephant herds. Other effects included disruptions to elephant culture and societal relations, among them the traditions by which young elephants had been raised in the wild, and by which established elephant herds were governed. Bradshaw and her fellow researchers believe this led to a collapse of elephant culture and was at the root the increased violence by, among and between elephants.

Disrupted Development

Normal development of the male elephant’s brain and culturally normative behavior relies on a second phase of socialization (beyond and after mother-nurturing) in which adult males play a critical role.

Repeat: In which adult males play a critical role.

This period and a second stage of brain reorganization also occurs in human adolescents. During this phase neural connections rearrange themselves en masse.

The Elephant Solution

When older males were re-introduced to the male herds (read gangs) the rogue adolescent males stopped engaging in hyper-aggressive behaviors and abnormally early musth cycles (periods of heightened sexual activity and hormonal shifts).

Repeat: Hyperaggressive and early periods of sexual activity (rape) both ceased.

Supervision? Role-modeling? Some believe it also had to do with the biochemical odor of adult male hormones calming the hormones of the adolescent males.

Violence and Abuse of Women in Oppressive Regimes

Moving on to dot number two:

“The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women.”  President Barack Obama

Women throughout the world are subject to violence and sexual abuse, but it seems the abuse and dehumanization is greater in oppressive regimes. Like the elephants, men (and women) in these cultures observe the culling, dehumanization and poaching of the herd, and more specifically of the healthy adult males.

In November 2011, Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian born U.S. based journalist was attacked, arrested and sexually abused by the military regime temporarily ruling the country following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s oppressive Egyptian regime.

What happens when

• Fathers and would-be guides of adolescent boys are victims of oppression?
• Young boys witness the oppression, arrest, brutalization and killing of their fathers?
• Young men are then raised without male mentors during the human equivalent of musth?

Are the young men, like the elephants, more prone to violence against weaker members, women among them?

Elephant Society – Male Development

Elephants are social creatures. Young elephants are raised within an extended network of doting female caregivers that includes the birth mother, grandmothers, aunts and friends. These relations are maintained over a span of some 70 years. Young elephants stay within 15 feet of their mothers for almost all of their first eight years of life, after which young females are socialized into the matriarchal network, while young males go off for a time into an all-male social group before coming back into the fold as mature adults.

When an elephant dies, there are intense mourning and burial rituals, including vigils over the body, careful burials, caressing the bones with their trunks, If harm comes to a member of an elephant group, all the other elephants are aware of it. Elephants have an elaborate communication system. To pass along news about imminent threats or the death of a community member, they use patterns of subsonic vibrations that are felt as far as several miles away by sensors in the padding of their feet.

When these systems and rituals are disrupted, strange things happen – such as increased violence and aggressive behaviors by adolescent males who have witnessed their fathers being murdered and now have to grow up without the second and important phase of develop which takes place in all male social groups.

Men Leading Boys to Manhood

The solution among the elephants involved bringing adult males into the herd. The violence and aggressive behavior ceased.

Might this be a solution to curbing the increased violence by gangs and young men who grow up in oppressive regimes?

These boys, not-yet-men, often witness the jailing, abuse, disappearance or murder of their fathers. Social fabrics and familial networks are torn. As a result, young men are not guided through the critical second phase of development by mature evolved male social groups. (Humans, like the elephants, undergo considerable brain reorganization and growth during adolescence.)

I leave you with these questions:

What if:

• We sent adult male groups into countries that have overthrown oppressive regimes? Soldiers of civilization, so to speak.
• Adult male social networks infused at risk neighborhoods by way of Churches, YMCAs, schools, and the like?
• The Big Brother Association went global?
• You stood up to become a mentor?

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Elephant Lessons: Real Men Leading Boys to Manhood is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

Numerous articles are written about the narcissistic leader and the abundance thereof.1 Coincidence? Accident?  Neither, rather an unintended and inevitable consequence of unrealistic fantasies concerning who and what the leader will be for us.These fantasies stem, in part, from unresolved childhood disappointment, that our parents were neither perfectly suited to meet our needs nor omnipotent.

We demand a great deal from our leaders (and our parents). We hold them under a constant spotlight. We readily criticize and rarely praise them. We, those who are not leading, are full of advice about how they ought to be and what they ought to do differently. We expect them to solve complex problems in ways that create no pain for us.

We seek in our leaders the magical non-existent near-perfect omnipotent father upon whom we can depend. Furthermore we want a leader who enables us to avoid the challenges and choices we must face in growing up. Because neither the leader, nor our parents, can do this – nor should they – we are continuously angry, disappointed or both. Until we resolve that this life, our life, is full of challenges, dangers, and choices that make us feel vulnerable and imperfect, we ask…

“Please be perfect for me,” and by doing so, we invite the leader who thinks he is so.

Enter the Narcissistic Leader

Who but the narcissistic leader would be seduced by such a fantasy? And how many are humble yet bold enough not to be seduced and agree to lead us? Think Lincoln, Obama, Ghandi, Mandela. Unfortunately, more of the former than the latter answer the call.

How Grows the Narcissistic Leader?

We all employ narcissistic defenses at times. What differentiates the narcissistic personality is a matter of degree, regularity and failure to grow beyond this stage. He is a one act play. Regardless of what is called for, he responds narcissistically.

What is the narcissistic defense? Imagine a  child age 4 – 6. See and hear him yelling “Mommy, Daddy, look at me. Look at me,” as he stands at the top of the slide, rides his bike or performs some other feat. At this phase children see themselves as the center of the universe and their parents as all powerful figures who are there solely to cater to the child’s needs. It must be so, because life without parents who can protect and fill us with confidence is too overwhelming and dangerous for a young defenseless child.

If this stage is not satisfactorily addressed or resolved, the child can develop a solid wall of defense against a world that could at any moment deliver a cruel blow to his sense of self (self esteem) and his sense of safety. As an adult, the child for whom these issues are not resolved, may continue the narcissistic defense such that he fluctuates between two views of himself, the one wholly inadequate and the other highly over-valued. The latter defends against the former.

The Narcissistic Leader in Action

Observing the narcissist leader as he recovers from a slight to his self-esteem is like watching a magician, abracadabra and all.

The scene is well-represented in Cast Away, when Chuck, played by Tom Hanks, succeeds in lighting a fire. Notice how he places Wilson Volleyball, the stand-in for adoring parent, in a perfect position to play audience for all that Chuck, center of the universe, is about to achieve. Watch how Chuck continues to check and make sure Wilson is watching.

Be mindful that Chuck recently suffered narcissistic injuries when the whole world (the ultimate parent) abandoned him to fend for himself. Then adding insult to injury he fails his first attempt to light a fire and meet his most basic need. Perhaps he will not make it. This realization that I too will end, is the ultimate narcissistic injury.

I recall a brief encounter with a CEO and one of the most blatantly narcissistic leaders I’ve ever met. My manager (his direct report) and I were meeting when Tom entered the room – uninvited. Every hair perfectly in place, donning a custom made Italian suit, he announced (with no realization or apology for the interruption) “It’s my birthday. Guess how old I am?” (Recall, “Mommy, look at me. Look at me.) Clearly we were to guess a year well-below reality. Following the requisite admiration for his good looks, he exited the room.

How to Stop Choosing the Narcissistic Leader

We continue to seek the perfect parent in others, until we accept that our parents failed us at times, and that it had to be that way.  The narcissist leader, who believes himself to be near perfect, is and our selected, albeit unconscious, answer.

How do we stop choosing him?

Accept that our parents failed us, and that is the way it must be.

Accept that the world is perfectly imperfect, as are we and those who lead us.

Accept the challenges of adult life.

Accept our own imperfection and vulnerability.

Accept there is no wizard of Oz but merely a journey on which we must find the answers to our own questions and quests.

Then, we can accept that the leader is there to shine a light, to bring us together, but not to do the work that each of us must do on our own and through our collective efforts.

Finally, we might even ask the leader what he needs from us to lead well.

Maccoby, M.(2000). Narcissistic Leaders, The Incredible Pros, The Inevitable Cons.  Best of Harvard Business Review, 2000. Accessed at http://showsupport.typepad.com/odyssey/files/ccc-081208-macoby.pdf

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

The Narcissistic Leader: How and Why We Choose Them is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

In Search of NOWLeaders…NOW

Labor Day.

A time to brush off the lethargy brought on by the heat of summer.

A time to start new things, to expand and shift perspectives, to explore new places.

That’s what this post is about.

We are looking for leadership in places and by people we may not have considered before.

We call them NOWLeaders.

Who is We? You may ask…

Dale Lawrence, Gwyn Teatro and I, Anne Perschel, form the core team with Tanya Odom, Global Diversity expert at Future Work Institute; Eric Peterson, Strategic Human Resources Management, Diversity and Inclusion Manager;  Marion Chapsal of France at Geronimo Consulting; and Joe Gerstandt, Diversity expert, as our advisory team.

Why? You may ask…

Well, we believe that the variety of lists representing the epitome of leadership, while impressive, is missing a whole population of talented leaders and leadership thinkers. We want to find them. We want to build a rich, diverse portfolio of them. And, we want to shine a spotlight on them.

Why shine a light on them? You may ask…

This 21^st Century asks something different of us than what was called for in the Industrial age. The pace of change is dizzying. The world, through technology, gets smaller and smaller while at the same time more complex. We have messy problems to solve that don’t lend themselves to the same kind of thinking we’ve employed in the past. To be successful in any endeavor, we must find ways to cut through traditional bureaucracies and structures while optimizing our collective and diverse brainpower. The day of the singular leader-hero has passed. As such, there is a need to shift and expand our perspectives about who and what makes for effective leadership in this new age. These new leaders, NOWLeaders, work in accordance with a different set of paradigms from those that got us to and through the industrial age.

We must grow our capacity for great leadership and our understanding of what it takes to engage more brains and hearts in doing great work and accomplishing great things…together. We may even redefine the meaning of “accomplishing great things.” To do all this we need ALL the talent at the table.

In short, we need and seek NowLeaders.

NOWLeaders

What is a NOWLeader? You may ask…

NOWLeaders are highly accomplished global citizens. They achieve results through and alongside people, rather than from above, around, over or in spite of them.They gather multiple perspectives to deal with complex problems. At the same time, they are not afraid to make tough decisions and they do so with consideration about the effect on individuals and communities. They know and feel an obligation that extends well beyond corporate profits.

NOWLeaders are business leaders.They are thought leaders.They are military leaders. They lead non-profit organizations, educational institutions, small organizations and large ones.

NOWLeaders navigate the rapids of this past paced century. They lead change. They are diverse in thought, experience, culture, nationality and ethnicity. They are women. They are men. They are young…and old.  They are everywhere.

And NOW we ask Will you help us find them?

Yes? Terrific. We hoped you would.

Here’s what you can do.

Begin by nominating someone who you believe exhibits the attributes of a NOWLeader and demonstrates the skills associated with the development of inclusive, collaborative organizations, someone who is highly accomplished yet prefers to share recognition and reward with others.

How do I nominate someone? You may ask…

Well, you go directly to Now-leadership.com, where you will find all the information and instruction you need to nominate your NOWLeader, including a list of the attributes NOWLeaders demonstrate. Please join us in being the change we, and you, seek to create…and thank you for doing so.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Leadership that is the Change We Seek to Create is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

Steve Jobs’, the physical being has completed his work here, but his spirit, the iconic Steve Jobs, The Steve, The Apple Man in the black turtle neck, is ours forever.

Icon

What makes The Steve such an iconic figure?

He walked the hero’s journey.

He represents the success we all hope to achieve, not by virtue of his fame, his wealth, his company, but because of the journey. Along the way he claimed him Self. Only when he did that was he free to do something that mattered to others.

Hero and heroine archetypes often feature a child who has lost or been lost by his/her parent(s). Consider Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Pippi Longstockings, Telemachus, Moses… The list goes on.

Steve Jobs was born to a single mother. She “lost” Steve to the adoptive family who “found” him. His challenge would be to find himself. We are all faced with this challenge, whether we have physically lost our parents – or not.

The hero’s work is to grow up and become an adult. His journey involves discovering his own identity separate, and separating, from parental ties and expectations. The child-would-be-hero aligns with these expectations – until he doesn’t.

Steve Jobs’ biological mother designated one condition for his adoptive family. Send him to a good college. Steve’s adoptive parents were not wealthy. They were working class heroes who worked hard to fulfill this promise. The implied expectation was that Steve would graduate. And he aligned with these expectation – until he didn’t. Breaking the tie was hard especially as Steve’s first mentor was his Dad. Steve dropped out of college, nevertheless, but continued to attend classes. This time he studied what he loved – calligraphy.

This seed grew into Apple’s initial market differentiater – a variety of fonts from which users could choose. Computers became a design tool; a tool for design. They become a design. They become a work of art and they made art work. They represent beauty in simplicity with a sense of flair. They became Sexy. They became user friendly and users befriended them. All because a man, once a boy, took the heroes journey. Along the way he met with failure. He learned. He got up and tried again. Better. Stronger. He became more of him Self.

The hero’s task is to discover his true Self and to live life as that person. Steve Jobs did it well. He represents the hope that the rest of us will do likewise, and that we too might make a contribution that matters.

His body is gone. His contribution lives on in our hands. It is up to us now, that’s you and me, to continue the heros journey, each in our own way.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Why We Love to Love Steve Jobs is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

A CEO Stands Up

Starbuck’s CEO Howard Schultz cancelled a speaking engagement that would have given him and Starbucks a lot of visibility – over 1000 in the live audience and 150,000 more across 40 nations, by way of live video broadcast.

Starbucks CEO - Howard Schultz

For What?

According to change.org, Willow Creek Church in Chicago, host of the Leadership Conference, has a “long anti-gay history” and has “practiced dangerous conversion therapy to ‘cure’ people of their sexual orientation.” (ToledoBlade.com)

What Would We Do?

Would I pass on such an opportunity based on a clash of values? Would I take a stand? Would you?

What if company CEOs had refused to make parts for gas chambers?

What if I only did business with companies that have women in executive leadership roles and on their boards?

Your Turn

What if ________________ .

What if ________________ .

What if ________________ .

Please add your “What ifs” to the comment section.

What’s Our Excuse?

Schultz and Starbucks are big enough already. They don’t need this or any other stage to be successful.

If I had what Schultz has I’d stand up too.

I’m just a little fish trying to stay alive in the pond.

One little person like me can’t make a difference.

The Bottom Line on What Leaders Do

Much is written about what leaders do and what attributes they display.

But let’s be clear – Leaders lead. They draw a line about what’s in and what’s out.

They take a stand – popular or not.

That is both the top and the bottom line on leading.

If you don’t do this YOU ARE NOT LEADING.

You may have followers. You may have an organization at your disposal. You may even have a stage upon which to speak.

BUT YOU ARE NOT A LEADER IF YOU DO NOT TAKE A STAND.

Don’t mis-take being popular for being a Leader.

Don’t mis-take the fact that people are listening for the fact that you are leading.

Don’t mis-take compromising your values for leading.

Don’t mis-take sitting when called to stand for leading.

Who’s Leading?

Nelson Mandela – who needs no introduction.

Martin Luther King – who also needs no introduction and is still leading posthumously.

Nancy Wake – saved 100s during the holocaust and became one of the Gestapo’s Most Wanted.

Howard Schultz – Starbuck’s CEO

Your Turn

Please add you stand up leaders with a word or two about how they stand up to lead.

P.S. You can read Willow Creek’s response to Schultz’s cancellation here.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Leaders Stand When It’s Easier to Sit is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

The wave has hit shore. What wave? The one we’ve been waiting for; the one we’ve been telling you about. We hope you listened and are NOW in the ready.

This month we are thrilled to share the announcement that Christine Lagarde has been chosen to head of the International Monetary Fund. She is

1. The first woman in this role
2. Elected by consensus rather than by a vote
3. Succeeding (and she will succeed) a predecessor whose fall from grace occurred after he was accused of sexual assault

We are thinking 1,2, and 3 are related: a woman, consensus, and a clear statement that sexual misconduct in simply unacceptable.

While this is not the only sign it is a clear sign that the wave has hit shore.

NOW let’s ride it together, men and women, both hands, all hands, because all are needed. We have much work to do.

Riding the Wave

From Aljazeera

Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, has been named as the first-ever female chief of the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF said she was elected by consensus, rather than a vote.

Read more

Did you know she represented France as a synchronized swimmer?

Follow Christine Lagarde on Twitter

WHY WOMEN?

Last month’s edition featured men who are champions for women leaders answering the question “Why Women?” We committed to bringing you their answers as long as they keep sending them in.

From Wally Bock

Here’s what Wally Bock has to say on the subject.

I want to help us get “every brain in the game” in business and the world, in leadership, but everywhere else as well. My awareness and effort are driven by two personal issues. My mother faced huge barriers to business success that weren’t there for the men she worked alongside. And I have daughters, who face fewer, lower barriers than my mother, but still barriers that aren’t there for the men they work alongside.

Thanks Wally

From Curt Rice

I started thinking about gender equality in the context of universities as work places, which are pretty rough place to spend one’s time. As a young female researcher once said in a talk I heard, “I always wanted to discover things, I just didn’t realize I had to be a prize-fighter to be able to do it.”

Thinking about work places led me to think more about leadership. What is good leadership? What kind of leadership is possible at a university? What would it mean to make a university into a good workplace? What kind of implications would this have for women?

As VP of Research I’m now in a position to influence thinking on leadership and the work environment. I’m pushing for new kinds of arguments. Social justice is important, role models are important, genuine equal opportunity is important. But there’s more. What happens to research teams when they show gender balance? Do they function better? Perform better? Do they get better results? Is there “waste” in science that doesn’t take account of gender questions? Could it be reduced? How? I want to connect social (gender) equality with scientific quality. That’s the angle that really drives me. And I’m convinced that there are good arguments. So I  make them!

Thanks Curt for adding your touch of brilliance to NOW for NOW.

WOMEN IN ACADEMIA

More from Curt

The Promotion Project

Curt Rice is Vice President for Research & Development at the University of Tromsø, Norway, the world’s northern most university. He shares his views about the why and how of more women in academia. (You will also find an article on this topic from Lauren McLanahan, a recently tenured university professor, in 3Plus International e-gazine, July edition. It hits the press July 15, 2011.)

From Mary Churchill

I Need a Wife

So do I Mary.

Mary, a woman in Academia, suggests perhaps it is not The End of Men as that horrid Atlantic Monthly sensationalist headline read, but the end of the hero as individualistic star and onto collaborative shared heroism of many minds immersed in deep thinking together.

Read more

WOMEN in LEADERSHIP and ONE MORE THING ABOUT LEADING

From Allard de Jong – 10 Ways for Women to Be Strategic

10 Ways for Women to Be Strategic

Jane Perdue and I so-met Allard when he asked to publish our research – Women and Power – on his web-site. After so-meeting him, we answered his question with a resounding “YES.” In this guest post at Get Your Leadership Big On, Allard, a coach to senior women in Fortune 500 companies, identifies three types of women leaders and offers “A guide to survival in the wacky new world of work.”

Read more

From Gwyn Teatro

Leaders Go…

Gwyn has a way about her and in her unique way she reminds us that for all the highfalutin talk about leadership we often forget one of the most important and straightforward actions, Leaders Go….

Read more

TWO BIG SHIFTS

From Ellen Weber at Brain Leaders and Learners

Ellen is also a woman in Academia who teaches in an MBA program. In this post she challenges traditional and typically unsuccessful approaches to diversity training. Ellen uses her knowledge of neuroscience to describe an approach that works better.

Read more

For proof, you might want to click below read a post I wrote some time ago that illustrates Ellen’s point. It describes a time and a series of events in which my own prejudice smacked me in the face. It is a smack for which I am truly and forever grateful.

If Fish Could See Water

From Anne Perschel – Paradigm Shift and the Paradox of Power

While Ellen describes a shift in how we think about diversity, I’m talking about a shift in how we define business success. UNBRIDLED GROWTH and the endless pursuit of BIGGER has to and will end, whether it is done voluntarily or by force is the only open question. Women have a major role to play in shifting the BIGGER is BETTER paradigm and in determining what comes next.

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MID-LIFE AND OTHER CRISES

From Marion Chapsal – Silly Things that Help During a Crisis

In a post that will touch your heart and guide you towards a more evolved version of you own humanity, Marion, my dear friend and colleague, shares wisdom about how she is coping with a series of challenging events in her family. Her suggestions are anything but silly, and I dare say they work for both men and women. Each of us has been there… it is part of life, and we all can benefit from Marion’s courage in sharing what’s happening and how she is coping. She is my friend and I love her.

From Marcia Reynolds – What a Female Mid-life Crisis Looks Like

In Psychology Today Marcia Reynolds demonstrates Mid-Life Crisis woman style. It’s not a sports car or an affair with someone younger. It’s  a….

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From Cherry Woodburn – Warning Bathing Suits Are Hazardous to Your Health

Cherry is also writing about women at mid-life. She’s talking about body image and showing us her knees. They are not your average knees. Of course not, because Cherry is not your average woman. She is so much more.

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©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

NOW LEADERSHIP – The Wave Has Hit Shore – June 2011 is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

Preamble: As you read this post, please be mindful that I believe both men and women, The Masculine and The Feminine, are required to lead for and into a future we need and one we must pursue. This post, and many others, emphasize The Feminine and women, because it and we have been missing from the leadership equation in business. Had men been missing, I hope and trust I would advocate for The Masculine. Why business? In developed countries business is a tremendous lever for change. For profit enterprises have both a sense of urgency and the resources to lead a paradigm shift, not to the exclusion, however, of government, not for profits, and other organized communities.

The Sign Reads

Point 1.

Emerging global conditions are like a neon sign flashing warnings of what’s required on the road ahead. It reads PARADIGM SHIFT.

What are the conditions behind this sign?

• Failing governments
• Failing economies that don’t respond to methods previously used to “fix” such problems
• Extreme weather conditions (This one is just beginning.)
• Out of control U.S. health care costs that we cannot fix
• Extinction/depletion of species and natural resources that will not and cannot be restored (Been fishing lately? Catch much?)

What’s called for is a BIG SHIFT – not a small adjustment, or a tweak, or a stronger pull of some previously used lever. These moves are akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Paradigm Shift

The shift involves our assumption that

Growth is good.

Bigger is better.

More is desirous.

A bigger house. A bigger car. A bigger business. A bigger economy. Bigger breasts. Erection doesn’t last long enough? (Longer is the time version of bigger.) We can fix that too. Caution though – 3 days is too much. See your doctor.

Grow the economy. Grow your business. If your children aren’t tall enough give them growth hormones. And have you seen the growing girth of the population? Bigger portions please.

Because, after all, bigger is better. Growth is good. It’s the natural way of things, or is it?

To get bigger we are borrowing against a future that won’t exist, at least not in the way we picture it, because of the very fact that we are borrowing against it.

If we don’t make the shift voluntarily, and we may not, IT will make us. Nature has a way of balancing herself.

Why the Shift Isn’t Happening

Point 2.

People who come to power in the current paradigm are least likely to see the assumptions underlying said paradigm. They are not bad people, just fish swimming in the water. They are unlikely to see that their assumptions, around which they build their lives and the systems that govern their lives, are not givens or natural laws, such as gravity, but conditions they have created. They don’t see that these created assumptions build a story. It is a story those in power, the ones who get to create the prevailing belief systems, tell themselves about the world, that results in a world about which they tell themselves that story. For the story creators to see these assumptions would be like fish seeing the water in which they swim. They don’t. It simply was, is and always will be. They know nothing else.

Why Women Can Create the Shift

Point 3.

Women are not currently the driving power in business. It is not our story, so we have a vantage point to see the assumptions on which the story is built. Some of us see other plausible assumptions and the stories they can create. We’d like to change things. How do I know? We asked. (Jane Perdue is my partner in seeking answers from women.) We did the research. We surveyed over 200 professional business women, most of whom work in large national or multinational corporations, to find out why they aspire to positions of power – to what end? Their top two priorities are “financial security for my family” not financial growth or riches, and “to lead change and make the world a better place.”

The Paradox of Power

Paradox

Point 4.

It’s tricky. Women have to come into power in a system that does not reflect the way we think about or use power, and simultaneously we have to create the shift to a new way of thinking about and using power. We have to know how to push from both sides, as pictured in the broom with two handles. Then there is the question of whether we will use our power to change the game, the rules and the desired outcomes or whether we will we be co-opted along the way? The story that holds the answer to this question has yet to be told.

Here are my recommendations for creating a story we will be proud of and in which future generations will live enriched (not by dollars) lives.

1. Replace BIGGER. Make a shift.

I like fulfilling.

Is your life fulfilling?

Are you fulfilling your purpose for being here?

Are you full yet? Yes? Good, time to stop eating.

You may choose a different concept. That’s fine.

The first order of business is to understand and stay true to WHY we want power. On behalf of what are we called to lead?

What is the story you want to tell about the world you helped to create?

2. Dress ourselves up in suits of power and get in the game, but never forget the purpose for which we donned those suits.

Understand the current rules.

Once there, and that means all along the way, create the shift.

Start pushing the broom from the other side.

3. Nelson Mandela this thing.

We are not better than men.

We simply have something different to offer, and it is needed now.

We also need men and women working together to make this new paradigm work.

Without men we will simply become fish in a different pond that cannot see the water in which they swim.

Here’s a sample of what could be.

It is new story two women have already created. Enjoy.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

PARADIGM SHIFT and THE PARADOX of POWER is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology