International Women’s Day :Learn from the best
In general, women are smarter than men (Full Stop). Before we go on, wondering why, well, let me tell you a story.
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Let’s eaves drop on two funerals.
Funeral A : Huge Crowd. People are visibly upset. The person they are mourning was in late 80’s. You have to really strain yourself to understand who are family and who are friends, and who are colleagues.
Few snippets of conversations:
“A was indeed a good boss, tough, but good” … “Always had time for Sam’s stage performance in school”… “ really hauled me over the coal, but then I learned a lot, and always protected me too.” .. “Used to check on me, when I lost my baby.” … “Really caring but strict on principles.” … “always encouraged to look after family” …. “ Was a great mentor, helped me understand what my life goals will be, even though never worked together” ..
….buzz goes on, and we shift our focus to Funeral B.
Pretty big crowd. People are buzzing, talking to each other. You can see the family members are huddling, talking, some are laughing and having a good time. The mood is surely bit different. The person they are mourning for was looks to be of same age as previous one.
Few snippets :
“Hey, you work in XYZ department? heard there are few good openings there.” … “ Should we go out for a movie, we can finish up here and be in time for night show” … “Sam be a good son, at least for today” . “ I showed up right, which is way more than what I got during my school days” ….. “taught me to keep my eye on the ball, look where I am now, hats off” …. “I liked the take no prisoner’s approach, pretty ruthless, only strong can survive”
Buzz goes on…
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I have worked with both these type of colleagues and leaders in my career. Those who are feeling concerned, all are very much alive. This is just me day dreaming.
The take away is that 70% of type A of my bosses are women, and 50% in type B. Of course both types have their strengths and both have been immensely successful. But now when we look at empathy, and setting our priorities correct as mantra of leadership and life , should we not gravitate towards Type A. Post Covid, this is even more true. But even before Covid, most women I have interacted with have their priorities all set correctly.
Mostly they know what comes first in their life, and there is no compromise there. Empathy is a trait newly coined maybe, but most of the women leaders, I have worked with, have been tough but empathetic leaders.
So on International Women’s Day, lets celebrate the traits of leadership , irrespective of gender, that is required not only to thrive but be remembered even after you have left your seat for the next deserving. Everything in life comes with an expiry date, but how you run till that expiry decides how long you will live after that date. Women invariably seems to know about legacy better than many Men. Happy International Women’s Day!!
