"Our world is suffering from hyper-masculinity." - Mo Gawdat
“Sadly as we empower women today, we force them to become masculine.” - Mo Gawdat
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I had my short essay prepared for this month’s newsletter - but then Mo Gawdat’s analysis on our hyper-masculine world and how it creates suffering for all of us (men and women) expressed so succinctly what I had felt over the last years but wasn’t able to pin down. I felt seen, I felt heard, I felt understood. I had to include it in this month’s newsletter.
Who is Mo Gawdat and why is this so powerful?
Mo Gawdat is the former Chief Business Officer of Google [X], a trained engineer and mathematician, very analytical and logical as he says about himself. He achieved everything our society today values and he possesses the exact attributes our society gives credit for: money, power, extremely sharp intellect. Him recognizing our world to be hyper-masculine is so powerful - who can dismiss the message when it comes from a man with this background and these credentials? I needed to hear it from him to give myself permission to talk about it.
Feminine and Masculine qualities
Masculine and feminine is not man and woman. Feminine and masculine describe different kinds of qualities. Feminine is associated with creativity, intuition, nourishing, being, life-giving, the masculine is associated with analytical thinking, strength, discipline, control and doing. As Mo says in short: “The feminine is, the masculine does”. We all have both qualities in us - the tendency to be more in one than the other can correlate with gender. He argues that none of these qualities is inherently good or bad. Instead OVERDOING any of them harms you and others. Overdoing being prevents you from getting things done. Overdoing strength leads to violence. Overdoing doing leads to doing a lot of things without really being aware of all the consequences this headless action creates. As a woman you can be too much in the masculine too!
Hyper-masculinity
Mo says: “Creating this hyper-masculine world is I think the biggest mistake humanity has ever done, and I think humanity is paying for that and will pay more in the future”. He also stresses that men that have really changed the world like Gandhi and Steve Jobs were more in their feminine than in their masculine. Gandhi stressed peacefulness, non-violence and communication. Creativity, appreciation of art and design and empathy towards the users needs is what made Steve Jobs so successful (his masculine qualities of being pushy rather took away from that as Mo argues).
Mo started empowering his feminine side about 5 years a go and says he is 10 more times intelligent now as compared to when he was solely focusing on his masculine qualities. He admits: “To become a successful executive I had to empower the masculine side, until I realized that true leaders don’t do, we be. And being is what the feminine is about.” He also recognizes masculinity as a tool for survival in today’s capitalist society and most importantly understands: “Sadly as we empower women today, we force them to become masculine, we force them to become competitive, we force them to become tough because the way the game is played is that way. We should empower the feminine.“
Wow isn’t that powerful? I feel relieved - like a big burden that I can finally let go off. Subconsciously I have felt for a long time that I needed to focus on my masculine qualities if I wanted to be valued by others in this world. I always sensed that what is associated with the feminine is valued far less if not even devalued. Emotions, intuition, softness, being. That is why I never wanted to come across as feminine. Which at least to some extent even drove me to pick a profession that is associated as masculine and male-dominated. I wanted to prove my value and got the hunch that this works best through developing masculine qualities. I also understood success comes with masculinity and I wanted to be successful. I was too much in the masculine.
Reconnect to the feminine inside of you
Only quite recently I realized that I need to balance all this masculine energy that surrounds us all, and particularly in the tech industry, not only to feel good but to actually be successful (my own definition of success). Through yoga I learned to rediscover my feminine qualities like intuition and creativity. Especially Kundalini yoga, which I am now a trained teacher, is something I do almost every day to nourish my feminine side.
I encourage you (male or female!) to look for the tool that works for you to nourish your feminine energy - it can be a creative outlet like painting or dance, it can be yoga, meditation and mindfulness, it can be connection to nature or anything else you find. Remember it is not so much about what you do but rather how you do it. Do you force yourself to do it, are you competitive with it, do you apply a lot of discipline or do you do it with a lot of playfulness, creativity, flow and intuitively?
Studies and stats 🔢
Still a bit of work until we get to a more balanced representation of women in tech.
Source: McKinsey Study Women in tech: The best bet to solve Europe’s talent shortage published in January 2023
AI 🤖
As you can see from my recommendations, I spent a lot of time familiarizing myself with the EU AI Act this month. As a practitioner, I find it important to be aware of its implications even though of course when developing new AI solutions I always advocate for involving the legal department from the start.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Wellbeing Hack 😁
Another quote from Mo Gawdat in this section to emphasize the importance of wellbeing:
While success doesn’t lead to happiness, happiness does contribute to success. A study from the University of Warwick found that being happy made people about 12 % more productive.
Mo Gawdat in Solve for happy: Engineer your path to joy
Take a walk 🚶♀️
I know that this is probably no news to you - I just want to encourage you to really implement it!
Taking a walk reduces anxiety and nervousness, it activates your creative thinking and it moves your body. Whether you do it before you start your work day, during your lunch break or in the afternoon or evening is up to you. Just do it! Even if it’s just for 10 min. I take one in the morning and after lunch.
Even Steve Jobs made it a regular part of his routine. Ali Abdaal who recently released a book about Feel Good Productivity recommends it as a way to enhance your productivity AND feeling good. These are hopefully enough reasons for you to do it too 🙂
👇❗From surviving to thriving 🙂
I am looking to work with one woman who wants to go from surviving in a hyper-masculine environment to thriving in their career with authenticity and taking back control.
👉️ If this sounds interesting to you, fill out this form to apply.
Events 📆
Let me know if you are planning to attend any of these events - would be great to meet you in person.
Content recommendations 📚️
My favorite pieces of content to learn and grow!
What do you think is your biggest challenge to succeed in your career? ⛰️
👉️ simply reply send me a DM - make it succinct!
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Building New Products @Meta | Creating + style curation in real life
7moVerena Weber this theme on masculine vs femenine energy in the workforce is one that needs more discourse... thank you for surfacing this topic on LinkedIn; it's needed !
Personalberater Verpackungsindustrie + Gebäudetechnik // Gründer & Geschäftsführer // Unternehmer und Headhunter aus Leidenschaft
8moHappy to see there are men understanding these issues and promoting awareness 🤝
Passionate about digitalising People (HR) Processes | People, Culture and Workplace Consultant | Business Psychologist
8moEnjoyed reading your view on the words of Mo Gawdat, Verena! Especially that you shared your personal take aways 🙏
Full Stack Engineer / IT Consultant @ Netlight 🌈
8moVery insightful read. Thank you Verena!