5 AREAS TO EMBRACE FEMININE ENERGY IN BUSINESS
Today I want to talk about what it means to embrace the feminine energy in business building. I think it’s important before I start to let you know that we are talking about energy here and not gender so I want to clarify that the feminine and masculine principles I’m talking about are not defined by gender or sexual orientation. They are universal energies, principles, or capacities found in all people, systems, and cultures.
We all possess feminine and masculine energy within us and the balance of these energies is used in many different aspects of our lives. We rely on both of these areas to show up in different ways and for different means.
It may be that we rely more on the feminine energy for the nurture of parenting or maybe our masculine energy comes through more clearly when we are in activism mode, standing up for justice or making our voice heard for issues that matter. I give these tiny non-exhaustive examples to show that both energies are important and have a lot to bring to the table. This isn’t a masculinity bashing podcast episode but an opportunity to explore what each side brings, and particularly to note how defaulted to the masculine we often find ourselves as women running businesses.
Because business and entrepreneurship has been largely forged and dominated by men, it’s only natural that there is high masculine energy around it, which can make it really difficult for women - especially women who tend to have strong feminine energy - to feel like it is really for them or that they are cut out for it. And yet - we know that any overextended energy that isn’t balanced out will often lead to toxicity. And that’s what we are seeing now in the world of business - men and women who have defaulted too hard into the masculine energy of business and it has led to unprecedented burnout, clambering for status, unhealthy leadership, win at all costs type of ways of working.
For years in business, the masculine energy has typically been held up as being more powerful and effective. The masculine energy pushes through, is assertive, wants to take control of situations. As women (and as men), we can easily see how the qualities of the feminine energy are present in our personal lives, however it still feels like it isn’t welcome in our professional lives or in our work. Our late-stage capitalist culture has overvalued traditionally masculine energy, while denying or undervaluing feminine capacities. So I want to talk through how our feminine energy can actually be some of the most powerful contributions to business right now - contributions that will include a more collaborative, empathetic, creative and receptive way of working. Ways of working that are better for everyone.
I also think it’s important to say that while too much masculine energy in our business can lead to all kinds of problems - it doesn’t mean we don’t need it to be strong negotiators in our businesses, to have clear direction, to look for logic and reason, to implement focus, integrity, structure and stability. All of these qualities of more masculine energy can really benefit us in our work. But an overextension of these and a negligence of the feminine can lead to being mechanical, arrogant, insensitive, power-hungry, and empty in our sense of purpose.
The feminine energy brings adaptability, intuition, creativity, flow, sharing, patience, vulnerability, empathy, inclusion, and trust to our work. But when we lean on the feminine too hard we can see how it can also lead to immaturity in how we run our businesses - being overly sentimental, hyper-dependent, reliant on praise, unfocused or irrational.
While masculine energy is oriented towards action, decisiveness, competition, productivity and profit, we are definitely seeing a shift in values coming from the feminine as becoming more important to the wellbeing of us all when it comes to operating a business. When we overextend into the masculine and forget the importance of the feminine energy in business we are giving up some really incredible opportunities to connect, be intuitive, have a greater impact and take people with us.
there are some elements of business that I believe deserve a much stronger dose of the feminine in business building:
Conflict: The feminine energy is the best to use when it comes to handling conflict (this can be applied both with internal conflict in yourself or with your work or team mates or clients/customers) - listening carefully, staying in the discomfort of challenge instead of racing to find a quick fix.
Goal Setting: It’s also hugely important to exercise the feminine energy in business when it comes goal setting - staying open and receptive to what matters most as your work evolves instead of fixated on arbitrary goals or targets.
Selling: When it comes to selling - being invitational and understanding of the dynamic of potential client/customer vs business dynamic means that you allow relationships of trust to be built instead of having narrow sales focuses that may pay off in the short term but might not lead to repeat or happy customers. The feminine quality keeps a wider perspective around selling and is likely to be curious about: is what I have what the other party really needs? Is this exchange win-win situation?
Generating Ideas: The feminine energy wants us to keep open to being playful about how things can be done. It is open to new perspectives and ideas rather than looking for the most logical or obvious course of action. It is thinking about the bigger picture, greater good again, rather than acting on impulse or shortcuts.
Time Management: The way men see time is linear. They go from A to B because that's how they are biologically designed - they have 24 hour hormone cycles. The way that women live is different. We are cyclical creatures. And we have to honor our rhythms. As women, we naturally have waves. We'll be on fire, but then we need some Netflix in the middle of the day. Men tend to operate in 24-hour periods. But women tend to view time over a much longer cycle so embracing that feminine energy can be really useful when working on bigger projects that require more time to develop and land - not feeling that pressure to have the whole thing executed in an unrealistic time frame.
Pressure: If the masculine energy is too heavy when pressure strikes in business, the impulses will be to be too self-critical or even harsh with others who might be involved in your work, however if you stay in contact with the feminine energy you are more likely to be able to access self-compassion and understanding.
What we want is to be able to know what areas of the masculine and feminine to bring with us and assert when we need it. Maybe we need to bring more masculine energy to our sense of value when it comes to pricing our work - being decisive and practical about it and then weave the feminine into how we show up and sell it by bringing a receptive, intuitive invitational feel to our offers? You see how they can work so well in tandem and balance with each other to make our businesses stronger?
When we learn how to balance the masculine and feminine within ourselves we become magnetic - there is a sacred union of health between both of these energies that can really serve us well.
When we default to running our businesses with too much of the masculine energy we can quickly become burned out as we neglect our self-care, overwork ourselves, and forget to experience pleasure, flow and ease.
In reality we are all a combination of both energies, however most of us default to a preference in business and because the system was built in a masculine space, it’s that. And so many amazing women in business are resisting their feminine energy and battling so much imposter syndrome and burnout and many men are denying the feminine energy they could be accessing and depleting themselves and feeling like frauds.
If you feel a bit impostery or disconnected as a business owner or as an entrepreneur and you feel you are struggling to fully embody your true authentic self in your business, understand that it’s probably because you’re being told you have to be a certain way and are leaning too hard into that default masculine business energy that we’ve been sold as the only way to be a business person. Please know that you do have a choice and you can create a business that embraces both the Feminine and the Masculine energy and use them to build a healthy, regenerative, purposeful business. In fact, it’s important that you do.