International Day of the Girl

Please check out my new Display Adaptability blog post on the 1st International Day of the Girl, October 11, 2012.  This day is to raise awareness of the unique problems that girls face.

The Empowered Woman: A Leader for Change

The Empowered Woman is self-confident, assertive, and in control of her life. However, being empowered may not be compatible with being an employee in a traditional corporate environment, unless, perhaps, she is in the upper echelons of the organization. It may well be that the constant stream of women leaving corporate life to begin their own businesses is connected to the incompatibility of being an empowered woman in a traditional hierarchical environment. The Empowered Woman becomes the Entrepreneurial Woman.

The traditional hierarchical corporate environment is based on the command and control model used in the military. While it may serve a useful purpose during war, it reduces the opportunity for dynamic possibilities by narrowing the scope and focus of each individual. Such a narrowing of purpose is antithetical to empowerment. Supervisors with a narrowed perspective are uncomfortable around subordinates who are empowered, particularly if the supervisor is male and the empowered employee is female.

Empowerment is the process of individuation in which personal identity is formed by breaking free of the collective. To be empowered, we must be aware of the constraints that limit us. Self-awareness is key to success.

A woman with a strong group identity becomes inhibited in individuation, self-awareness, and empowerment; although those women for whom a group identity is important tend to make successful corporate employees. The corporation simply becomes another group with which the employee identifies. The empowered woman is an individual who chooses to associate with certain groups, but does not identify with those groups. This is a critical distinction and one that can lead to tension within the organization since the empowered woman will see more possibilities and be more open to change within the group than will those women who identify with the group and who, therefore, will be reluctant or unable to see the need for change. The following example will serve to illustrate the distinction.

Jenna was born and raised in a tight-knit ethnic neighborhood of a small city. She came from a very religious family that practiced a form of fundamental Christianity. From kindergarten to high school graduation, Jenna moved through each grade with the same set of friends. During high school, she was actively involved in the pep club and helped organize the prom. After graduation, Jenna attended the state university where she pledged a sorority. She was only a mediocre student, but she did complete her degree while also being involved in a full slate of group activities. Now employed at a major institution, Jenna’s position is much like that she held as pep club president: building corporate team spirit. Her self-awareness is limited to an awareness of herself as a member of several different groups: ethnic, religious, and corporate, among others. Occasionally, tensions arise among these different group identities and Jenna sees that changes may be needed, but she is unable to make a sustained effort because changes in a group would mean changing her identity since her identity is not independent of the group.

Danni had a very different background that encouraged the development of an identity separate from that of any group. Although the same age as Jenna and born in a town not far from the city where Jenna was born and raised, Danni did not live there long. Danni’s father’s career took the family to many different parts of the United States, so Danni moved quite frequently as a child, living in large cities and small towns in all regions of the country, and among a variety of different ethnic and religious groups. While religious, Danni’s family practiced a progressive Christianity that was more concerned with self-improvement and bettering the lives of those less fortunate than with enforcing a rigid code of behavior. Despite the numerous moves, Danni was an excellent student who attended a private four-year college that did not have a Greek system. Danni’s upbringing encouraged the development of deep self-awareness and a strong personal identity. While able to easily work with diverse teams and groups, Danni does not take on the identity of the group. This separation allows her to more readily see where change needs to be made, to encourage the team/group to develop a plan for change, and to lead the implementation of the change. However, this ease with change brings Danni into conflict with those whose identity is tied to the group and for whom change is much more problematic. Unlike Jenna, Danni cannot easily find her niche in a corporate environment.

Traditional managers/supervisors are much more comfortable with the Jennas of the world. They are more likely to retain and promote them, even if the Jennas are less competent, creative, and insightful. This is because the Jennas, with their need for strong group identities, are far less likely to upset the status quo than are the Dannis. This is true even if sub-group identities within the corporation clash on certain issues.

For instance, a particular group may feel discriminated against within the larger corporate environment. While some effort may be made to change the larger environment, the most frequent “remedy” is for those who feel strongly to meet formally or informally to “discuss the situation”. Group solidarity is strengthened and even though no real change occurs, the group members feel more able to cope. The formation of these groups is supported by top administrators because the groups give the illusion that something is being accomplished while also easing tensions. Danni would see the intergroup conflict as an opportunity to create a new system which breaks down boundaries between groups by focusing on the individual. Even though this new system would benefit everyone, the focus on the individual can be unnerving to those who feel incomplete without their group identity. The easiest solution to this “identity crisis” is to remove the “irritant”. The entrepreneurial world becomes an enticing alternative for an empowered woman such as Danni.

Another way to examine the issue of individual identity versus group identity is in terms of biology. In nature, selection occurs at the level of the individual, not the group. The individual with the most varied background and most flexibility is most adaptable in periods of change. A group identity is inherently narrow, rigid, and intolerant of change. In the short term, those with a strong group identity may appear to be more successful, particularly in traditional organizations, but periods of change are inevitable. Viewed through a long-term perspective, inflexible groups are doomed to “extinction”. Those whose identity is tied to the group will suffer a major blow to their sense of self when the group becomes “extinct”. If they survive this blow, they will seek to attach themselves to another group posthaste. Only empowered individuals with strong personal identities are successful in the long term because, while they can work in and with a variety of groups, their identities are not tied to any particular group. Since the empowered woman can more readily see the problems inherent in a traditional organization and the limits to change, she is more open to exiting that organization and developing one better suited to her needs.

The traits of the Empowered Woman are also those associated with the entrepreneurial personality. Therefore, it is relatively easy for the Empowered Woman to become the Entrepreneurial Woman. But this is not a necessary outcome. The corporate world is moving beyond the traditional model. The current business environment is one of constant change. Change requires a business to have employees who are self-confident, self-motivated, independent thinkers who are willing to take risks; in effect, workers who are entrepreneurial. It may be that the Empowered Woman can find her niche in this more flexible corporate environment where they can be leaders for change.

Display Some Adaptability: The Wisdom of Jack and Bobby Shaftoe

One of my favorite authors, the novelist Neal Stephenson, created a family that epitomizes the virtues of adaptability: the Shaftoes. The Shaftoes were first introduced in Cryptonomicon, but we discover their ancestor, Jack Shaftoe, who displayed amazing, resilient adaptability, in the Baroque Cycle novels (think Captain Jack Sparrow on steroids). Whenever the 20th century Shaftoes (Marines and marine salvage operators) encountered a problem or crisis, their signature phrase and action was to “display some adaptability.” This is good advice for all of us.

 Change happens. [Feel free to insert a more colorful term for ‘change’.] How we respond to that change indicates how adaptable we are. One would think we would all be pretty adaptable since we are the descendants of those who survived prior changes. But that is the thing about change: it changes. Techniques/behaviors/physiology that worked, or at least didn’t hinder, in the past may well be less than optimal today.

 Some changes require fast action: your house is on fire, run, call 911! But many changes give you a chance to pause and think about how you could best adapt to the change. Here the techniques/behaviors/physiology of the Shaftoes can provides us with some useful guidelines.

• Be aware of your surroundings. Don’t go through life on autopilot. Change is less likely to take you by surprise.
• Become acquainted and make friends with those who come from backgrounds/cultures that differ from yours. You can learn a lot from them and they may provide you with needed contacts when change occurs.
• Try out new things and learn new skills. You never know when they will come in handy.
• To emphasize the previous point: Never Stop Learning! The ability to learn is key to displaying some adaptability.
• Get plenty of exercise: stay in good shape. Change is easier if you are healthy and fit.
• No matter how much change flattens you, if you use your brain and get help from your friends, you can survive, and even thrive, when change occurs.

I know that many of you have read Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle. Are there any guidelines you would add to this list? Please add comments.

And don’t forget to Display Some Adaptability!