If Adaptation is one of the secrets to successful business persons…Shouldn’t women be the most successful?
Posted by: adonis49 on: October 10, 2012
If Adaptation is the secret to successful business persons…Shouldn’t women be the most successful?
And they are the most successful in my dictionary. Don’t you think running a family is the most complicated business of all? And women have been running mankind for ever, and keeping this species on the ascendance.
Women wouldn’t necessarily bring mankind to the highest level in the food chain, a situation that would have permitted the world to sustain 11 billion instead of 4.5 billion rich people intent on eating meat every day…and slaughtering 50 billion animals for the purpose of eating alone…Not counting the killing for just the tusks, fins, furs…
But running the most complex business as the family is not what Susan Thomas and Dan Rockwell have in mind: They are shooting for Global organizational acumen. Kind of how to do business in countries where men are given more status than women.
Susan Thomas, Managing Consultant with IBM Business Consulting Services, Human Capital Solutions, said: “If you don’t adapt to cultures, Not only will you not be effective, you might inadvertently offend someone.”
As if offending someone is the worst kind in doing business.
Dan wrote: Wise business leaders, for the sake of effectiveness, adapt to cultures. Why? Susan Thomas embraces adapting.
And Susan told Dan: “when IBM sends teams into foreign countries they are sensitive to things like: Dress, gender, and age (Are these the range of attributes that discrimination can sustain?)
“You may find this offensive. But, the business of business is doing business within moral and ethical standards” wrote dan. (The elite class kinds of standards and exploiting people as the target for doing the best in business standards of success…)
Thomas had suggestions for adapting (to organizational environment?):
- Send in a male team, if necessary.
- Send in more males than females.
- Let men take the lead while women quietly show their competence.
An illustration:
Thomas went to India with an IBM team to lead workshops for an all-male group. The first day of their engagement, she showed up in a traditional Indian outfit, not a sari, but something that included traditional pantaloons.
The group was delighted. Thomas said, “I needed to create a very solid relationship with them so that they felt comfortable working with me. You have to fit in before you can standout”.
Goal:
The ultimate goal of adapting, according to Thomas, is building relationships.
We always adapt to each other. It’s the only way we connect.
Gender issues may make this an uncomfortable topic. But, it’s necessary.
Questions:
The good ole boys club still exists in North America. (Don’t good ole girls club exist as well? And sororities? And successful women clubs? And First Ladies clubs?…) With that in mind:
Should women dress in more masculine ways in order to fit in?
(And who said guys like to see women in gloomy and boring men’s dresses? Don’t they appreciate naked and shaved pretty legs, well-shaped suggestive bosoms…?
Should female leaders minimize feminine qualities and embrace more masculine qualities in order to enhance their effectiveness?
(What are the masculine qualities to emulate that may enhance effectiveness?)
Check out Susan Thomas’ webinar: Developing Global Leaders
Adonis Diaries 
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