This month we asked men we respect who are leaders and early adopters of NOWLeadership (although they may name it differently) to talk about why they believe integrating feminine and masculine is the way forward and why we need women to lead along with men. Every month we think our contributors have created the best-yet issue of NOW. This month it’s really true.
Enjoy. Learn. Grow, and Challenge Yourself. We invite you to contribute your own comments. In fact, we cherish the fact that you do so. The conversation makes a difference.
For NOW and until next time…
Anne and Marion
Leading with Paradox: Notes from a Feminist’s Son
Tony Schwartz, Harvard Business Review writer as well as President and CEO of The Energy Project, talks about how his mother, Felice Schwartz, founder of Catalyst; and his father, the least macho man you could imagine, influenced Tony to lead with and through paradox.
Why we asked, “Why women?”
Bruce Watluck, @complexified, recently asked, “How do you work with men are not convinced women can and should play a role as leaders?”
Anne’s answer: “Mostly I don’t. I work with early adopters as an intentional change strategy.” I choose this route because working against or even with resistance, you end up using a lot of energy to achieve very little gain and sometimes you get a bucket full of exhaustion and two full buckets of despair.
And then I had a big “DUH” moment. Why wasn’t I and why wasn’t Marion, my partner in NOWLeadership, asking the men who are early adopters to speak up?
So I did.
Here’s what they said:
Why Women? by Adam Quinton
Adam says “Most guys don’t get it so it has to be framed not as a moral or a fairness issue, but as…
Why Women? by Lee J. Carey
Twitter and a mirror opened Lee’s eyes about the dearth of women leaders in his own backyard and in the larger world. He is now an avid supporter.
Why Women? by Eric Peterson
Eric cannot remember a time when he didn’t advocate for women leaders and thinks perhaps it’s because he is gay, grew up in Japan and simply wired that way.
Brand Masculine: Leadership, Perceptions, and the Future
Dale Lawrence responded to a different request by Marion last month about the new masculinity, but tornadoes and resulting flight delays as well as crashing computers prevented Dale’s response from arriving on time for April’s edition. No worries. NOW can wait. Dale has included some puzzling research findings that state people have greater trust in women leaders but when it comes to naming them to these roles..well that’s a different story.