TalentTuning

Make men full partners.

The norwegen quotes and most of the quotes come from men, not women. They are in the mainstream press, not in the women’s magazines. That is, indeed, a new revolution. When men join women – in business, politics and at home – in pursuit of a more meritocratic and balanced sharing of economic and political power, there lies hope.

The time has come to create balance and synergy between feminine and masculine qualities in life and business. We face common failures and challenges like the financial crisis and the climate crisis. New questions arise, and we each on our own try find answers to our challenges.

Common Ground is the dream for a new future for men and women. It is a new way to consider management, business and worklife by asking what it would mean if there were balance and synergy between feminine and masculine traits and energies? What would it mean for us as people and companies to be in balance, what would it require of us, and what could it give us? The future can only become different and better than the present if we change the way we think and relate to the world. We four women, the authors of the book Common Ground, believe in a future in balance: Balance between masculine and feminine values. Balance between business development and operations. Balance between creating things and grasping things. Balance between individual and community. Balance.

Examples of how we can create Common Ground

• In a management with about an equal number of men and women, gender is no longer an issue - it only is as long as there are no or very few women. Gender is still the most obvious difference between people in company boards, and women are just as differentiated people as men are. Hence, companies shouldn't make do with one or two women in their boards, but go for a more even distribution, since this contributes to create Common Ground between the masculine and feminine sides in us all.
• Gender stereotypes prevent men and women from meeting each other as whole people that contain both masculine and feminine values and qualities. Comment and reflect on the stereotypes whenever you encounter them in private live and worklife. For instance, these two exist:

1. Women that talk like men aren't true women!
2. Women talking like women aren't true managers!

• Women have a responsibility to bring the feminine into companies and managements because there is a need to create balance and equality between the masculine and feminine qualities in a business community where masculinity dominates. You do this by honouring and nurturing the feminine in yourself and in men, for in today's world, even many women have forgotten what the feminine is.
• We produce and produce. Efficiency and productivity has increased drastically in the last 15-20 years, and this has, e.g., contributed to giving us stress and burnout as well as to climate and financial crises. Every sustainable and viable production has two sides, which together make a whole, which we can't continue to neglect without noticeable consequences: The creative and guiding force (the masculine) and the encompassing and caring force (the feminine).There now is a need for us to value and appreciate the whole. Some speak of 'female investments', and even if we don't believe in the contrast, but rather the balance between the masculine and the feminine, we currently need a greater focus on the feminine.

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