WHAT TO EXPECT

Since antiquity, the notion of men being above women had always been done in practice in work-related environments. This worsens when the racial attribute is added into the equation—making everything chaotic in politics, corporate scenarios, and even in personal relationships. Shifting the idea of dominance to equity seemed difficult but doable for as long as everyone has an open-ears, open-mind, and an open heart.

Our guest today, Kate Richmond, author of the book “Psychology of Women and Gender.” Kate had always been an advocate of the study of masculinity and its effects on policies, norms, culture, etc. Her book won the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association of Women in Psychology. Kate discussed men and women’s ethos in corporate, political, and even social scenarios – further elaborated on her book.

Out second segment features Thomas Michael Hogg, author of the book “Profitable Growth Strategy: 7 proven best practices from German companies.”

Segment #1: Kate Richmond

Kate dissects the barriers that kept women from growth and opportunities. CEOs of massive companies like Amazon and Google advocated for attending the climate of their teams. But how does this translate from mid to low-level companies? Women are being held back from expectations to perform like how a man would do, which is a concept derived from men going to work and women staying at home tending to kids—which no longer exists. Kate empathized that women now leave the workforce since child- and adult care disproportionately fell on their backs. Until something can be done to shift that mentality, “the gender equity issues are not going to change” [12:33].

Segment #2: Thomas Michael Hogg

Thomas Michael Hogg also joined the conversation to debunk how four-day work is not as effective if adopted by companies without a cohesive structure like Germany, built by the Union. By observing how German companies run their businesses, Thomas wrote the seven proven best practices you can adapt to your company, focusing on your niche at the forefront of the practice.

• “Not a single person working at a corporation focus on the end goal for the company—they are thinking about their success.” [15:03]
• “All of us are asked to transcribe to traditional masculine norms.” [18:49]
• “What would motivate an extraordinarily successful man to shift the paradigm?” [22:37]
• “Sticky Floor, Glass Escalator, and Glass Cliff are the new terms used in the psychology of women.” [24:16]
• “Focus is the most important thing to adopt.” [39:33]

THE VISION TO SUCCEED

“Not a single person working at a corporation focus on the end goal for the company—they are thinking about their success.” [15:03]

Kate heavily emphasizes the individualistic way of understanding success. How can a company succeed when the employees only think of their success? The fell of corporations cannot be just attributed to the employees’ selfish misgivings but also to the leader, who failed to align the company’s vision to his/her employees. It now begs the question; do you reward a collective success or an individual’s success? Do you assess your employees collectively or individually? If these changes are implemented, it will make a massive shift in a company’s climate and culture.

AGGRESSION AS THE GO-TO OPTION

“All of us are asked to transcribe to traditional masculine norms.” [18:49]

Kate explained how masculinity is the idea that people cling to as the model of success—someone who is aggressive and can get to the top with sheer merit without dependence. She elaborated that this phenomenon can be translated not only in a corporate setting but also in social and health aspects. The concept of dependence being attributed to weakness is why men have shorter doctor visits and how it shapes a boy growing up to be a man. Aggression is also defined differently between a white man and a person of color. Networking, which is the greatest asset anyone should have, gets rewarded when white men do it but punished when black men do the same (gangs). These factors are why giving advice to a workforce should account for these apparent variations of rewards and activities that might work for some but not for others.

SHIFTING THE PARADIGM

“What would motivate an extraordinarily successful man to shift the paradigm?” [22:37]

Kate explained that shifting the paradigm is only open for some men. A man with a vision of individuality, succeeding at all costs, sees paradigm-shifting as a threat. These men double down in an aggressive or assertive action towards women, men of color, gay, and even bisexual. This is why masculinity is hard to achieve yet easy to lose because men who have invested in toxic masculine norms are the hardest to shift. It’s now the challenge for anyone how to get men to think differently about masculinity.

PSYCHOLOGY TERMS OF WOMEN

“Sticky Floor, Glass Escalator, and Glass Cliff are the new terms used in the psychology of women.” [24:16]

Kate defined sticky floor as the tendency for women and person of color to get stuck and never progress past a certain point in their careers. Glass escalator is the phenomenon when a man goes into a female-dominated profession, like education, nursing, and other professions of hospitality, and get promoted faster than women. Glass cliff is when women get promoted to leadership positions at the highest level only when a company is failing.

THE ESSENCE OF FOCUS

“Focus is the most important thing to adopt.” [39:33]

Thomas Hogg emphasized how Focus should be the first and most important thing to adopt. You have key employees, key clients, key prospects, and key products. It is now the job of you, together with your top management team, to analyze the 80-20 of your company when it comes to customers, market, strategies, and employees, and which channel you have to focus on. Thomas observed how managers and company owners are not focusing enough on niching like how German companies lead their respective markets and be the best precisely because of that niche. The key is to focus on one product, one service, and try to be the best with the best quality and innovation to be relevant for your customers.

WHERE TO WATCH OR LISTEN

The Geeks, Geezers & Googlization TV Show is live every Wednesday at 1 PM ET on Facebook, YouTube, Talk 4 TV, and broadcast on W4CY Radio, part of Talk 4 Radio on the Talk 4 Media Network.  The podcast is also available on Talk 4 Podcasting.

Following the broadcast, the replay will be available at the same links for YouTube and Facebook, our podcast website Geeks Geezers Googlization, and on most podcasts including Apple Podcast, iHeart, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and more.