I had my blog planned this week – not written, but at least planned. I went down to London yesterday for a concert at the Southbank. And, full disclosure, there was some fangirling over baritone Benjamin Appl. (Also, the concert was beautiful and very moving in parts.)
The gist of this blog was about not only having time off, but giving yourself permission to have fun. This trip was a Christmas present to myself and going back to London always brings me joy.
On my train on the way to London, I took some time off working to look at social media and I’m sure I’m not the only person who saw the video of Mark Zuckerberg dancing and celebrating his wife’s birthday.
I’m not going to comment on the video, but instead, on a recent interview Zuckerberg gave, saying that large companies needed more ‘masculine energy ‘. This week happens to include International Women’s Day and in America, we’re seeing a number of organisations turning away from DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). This doesn’t appear to be replicated in Europe, thankfully, but with minorities, and women, finding it hard to even have a seat at the table, let alone a voice, becoming more masculine doesn’t feel, to me, the way to go.
The ‘best’ coaches (and people, really) are those with soft skills, such as the ability to listen, to have empathy and sometimes just to be present.
As we gear up to acknowledge and celebrate the amazing women in our lives, embrace the ‘feminine energy,’ the quiet, stoic resilience, the compassion, be grateful that we’re all different and we all have our unique contributions to make. To all of the amazing women out there, keep being you.
And to finish on the theme I began this blog with, have some fun whilst you’re at it.