June 9; The Fastest Tactic To Establish Female Power
MANAGEMENT BY THE BOOK:
365 Daily Bible Verse &
One-Minute Management Lessons For The Busy Faithful

Chapter Six: Correction; 9 June

Now Deborah, a prophet,

the wife of Lappidoth,

was leading Israel at that time.

Judges 4:4

Dominance

It was her first day on the job as CEO and there was blood on the walls. She put it there. She fired a senior manager and cut the budgets of a few others. Kinder and gentler she was not.

She brought in loyal, experienced staff with her. She was able to hit the ground running because she had the attention of the bureaucracy.

Also, as she took budget from underperforming units, she transferred the resources to the winning business units.

Business is a bit like horse racing with some flexibility. The CEO can move good jockeys onto better horses. And she can bet on the lead horse to win. The last place jockey can be “right sized” right off the racetrack. The slowest horse, the laggard, can be promoted to a glue factory.

The lesson is that a woman must show decisive action: The First Two Things a Female Manager Must Do — fire someone and cut someone’s budget —is to establish her place in the organization to be effective.

Women must manage differently from men, and other women must coach a woman to do this. Because it is not natural.

For example, President Johnson stood at 6’4”. He would tower over, bend down and get into the face and personal space of his target. It was known as the “Johnson treatment” and few could resist the intimidation.

If a woman gets close to a man’s face it is not intimidation but intimacy. (The male chauvinist would say, “You look so beautiful when you are angry…”)

We study the science and art of management. Dr. Samuel Johnson, the English writer and moralist from the 18^th century, suggests that the “Public practice of any art, and staring in men’s faces, is very indelicate in a female.” Men make other men blink. When women stare—somebody’s going to…blush?

It would seem that women are better talented and motivated in establishing relationships and using persuasion. This takes time and is easier to accomplish when a woman exercises perceived power. It is best done when the subordinates know that she also has the authority; the backing and confidence of the board of directors to make the hard decisions.

Like terminations.

Would women, the “caring gentle gender,” dare to fire staff?

Or so the soft stereotype of female management continues. Dr. Johnson gives an example of an earlier “Johnson treatment” of the male assertion of women’s capabilities. The muse-r mocked,

Sir, a woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.

This is what women face in running a business or in leading a country or sitting in judgment of men.

But it can be done.

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. Judges 4:4

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