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January 2017 ~ The Changing Face of Leadership
January
2017 ~ The Changing Face of Leadership
[Written before the November 2016 election in the United States]
This month, for the first time in our history, the United States
will have a woman as president, joining many countries around the world who have
female leadership.
This is a historic time and has been a long-fought battle that has seen our country devolve into the worst evidence of hatred and unkindness of any election in our history.
There are many ways to be a leader and we have written about a wide variety of leadership styles in our newsletters. Leaders show up in many different shapes, sizes and styles.
My own experience working for women over many years taught me that women can be just as strong leaders as men. Their style may be similar or it may be different. I had the good fortune to work as a manager in a state government agency in the state of Washington that provided me an opportunity to see female leadership at work in every single position between me and the state governor, who was also a woman. Both U.S. Senators were women also. What I noticed was a slightly different focus in that more attention was paid to making sure that all people were taken care of and a gentler emphasis. Some of that is due to the overall culture in that state that prides itself on paying one of the highest minimal wages in the country and a strong focus on environmental issues.
I have been gifted with many experiences of working for men who were excellent leaders and learned a great deal from them as well, including having excellent mentors early in my career when there were not very many women in the early computer industry.
I have also had the experience of working with male partners to develop a sexual harassment prevention training programs where we had to help police officers understand what is appropriate workplace behavior without jeopardizing their safety when faced with difficult situations on the street.
As we move forward as a country, we are part of a world-wide shift in attitudes that are moving us to a new way of being, a new way of working and a new way of thinking. It is in line with the name of our website — It’s time. Our Motto: "It’s Time . . . for new ways of thinking and new ways of doing business"
Our earliest newsletter articles were:
From March 1996:
- November 1995: Seven Principles of Spirituality in the Workplace
- January 1996: Men and Women Working Together
- February 1996: Leadership and Credibility
- March 1996: Changing Values.
Changing Values of Our SocietyNotice these for yourself - in business, in family life, in the movies and in the news!
We are moving away from these values: And, we are moving toward these values: Cut-throat Competition Cooperation "Getting Mine" at any price Partnership Homogeneous work forces Diversity in: ethnic, gender, life-style, religion Hierarchical chain-of-command Matrix, participatory management Command and control "Empowered" employees Threatening and punishing Motivating Denial Honesty Deception Respect Greed Sharing Blaming everyone else Accepting responsibility for our own actions Dysfunctional systems Healthy systems Radical changes Incremental changes Violence Creativity Destruction of resources Responsible use and protection of resources Fixed, rigid models Flexible, fluid models Mega-corporations Network of smaller companies "America is best" isolation Global economy and global inter-dependency People as machines People as unique and valuable human beings Shallow facade ("Looking Good") Credibility of Quality ("Being Good") Criticizing others who are different Accepting the value of diversity Patriarchy Balanced Male/Female partnerships Short-term thinking Longer-term thinking Fighting Loving Anger Happiness Frustration Joy Government as "parent" Government as "servant of the people" Restrictive ideas, plans, structures Expansive ideas, plans, structures Selling a product to a market Building a product to meet market needs Mechanized businesses Information, people-oriented businesses Polarization of opposite viewpoints Blended, balanced viewpoints Financial success as the highest goal Success as a result of doing the right things
For the past 2,000 years, we have been operating as a male-focused, competition-focused culture. Before that, we operated in a female-focused, community-focused culture. Those previous times in our history focused on the strength of male ways of being or the strength of female ways of being.
We now have the opportunity to operate as a partnership of male and female - feminine and masculine working together in equal partnership so that we can use the both so that we have a more powerful future.
When we use the best that everyone has to offer, we are far stronger than focusing on one or the other. United we stand, divided we fall. We are stronger together than when we are competing with each other.
We hope that everyone in our country will make an effort to look at their own life and see where they can use more of their inherent gifts and talents to be stronger in their own right — whether male or female.
We are hoping that the concepts of power and strength are viewed as something more than just fighting and winning wars, that people begin to recognize that power and strength can also be nurturing and caring. We know it is possible and have been blessed with many real life experiences that reinforce that belief.
Articles (on itstime.com)
Related newsletter article:
Nov 2001 – The Essence of
Leadership
About our resource links: We do not endorse or agree with all the beliefs in these links. We do keep an open mind about different viewpoints and respect the ability of our readers to decide for themselves what is useful.
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