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Historically, we have viewed an effective workplace as a locale for leaders that exhibit control, decisiveness, top-down resolve, and a mannish milieu (yes, mannish is a word. I looked it up). Irrefutably good characteristics, but a little heavy on the stereotypical masculine approach. But with the entrée of the female into the picture, the teeter-totter is tilting. We femmes are now 51% of the American workforce, yet still fewer than 20% of the leadership corps. What’s with THAT? Could it be our model of leadership needs a shift?Is a model a person, a pattern, or a way of thinking? (And I am not referring to the models in the Fashion Industry!) What makes a model approach easier to implement? How does one adapt a model for her best benefit?

Perhaps the answers to those questions depend on personal choice. Perhaps they depend on breaking some mental patterns we have held onto in the past.We don’t see things the way they are. We see things the way we are.I would argue that there is a near chasm of difference in the way the 20- 30-somethings in the workplace see things, versus the Baby Boomers like myself. That difference, I believe, comes from the models we Boomers had growing up and those same Boomers now being the model for the younger women today. My mom did not work, so my model of a woman in the workplace needed to be self-created. That resulted in a certain number of what I will call “hang-up”s in forging forth in my career. Hang-ups like “do I belong here?”, “ what if I do this wrong?,” and “what does it say about my capability if I wouldn’t have done it the same was as he would?”So at the heart of the new feminine model must be something appealing to an array of generations. Perhaps embraced differently, but the same principles at heart.

In my model, they fall into 2 categories – sensing and doing. Women are go-getters in achieving results, but we really differentiate ourselves in our sensing abilities. Innate skills we exhibit like detecting personal needs in others as well as undercurrents during verbal interactions. Then we respond based on those perceptions. We empathize well and build all sensory findings into actions. 

When implementing tasks, we balance the people and the project. Years of practice in multiple playing fields (home, community, work, hobbies, etc) reinforce our comfort in multi-tasking, and our brain physiology confirms that. We have a natural ability to shift between brain hemispheres, serving us well in juggling. (okay, also sending us into stress mode more rapidly, agreed).

So, my feminine leadership model considers the importance of sensing and doing, while taking into consideration the people at hand with the project at hand. It brings forth natural traits like compassion, inspiration, empathy, collaboration, intelligence, honesty and creativity …. a wonderful complement the male model of bottom-line thinking, focus, detail, directness and healthy competition.  What a pleasant harmony.  (ahhh)