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Business and the Feminine Principle, The untapped resource

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Gaining access to the whole human

Business and the Feminine Principle, The untapped resource
Carol R. Frenier
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0750698292

Book Description

Business and the Feminine Principle: The Untapped Resource describes in lay persons' language the essence of the archetypal feminine and its potential for business. This book shows both women and men how the feminine principle works in human thought and behavior and what it could mean for business if we gave the feminine principle the same kind of attention and support in the work place that we give to masculine consciousness.

Business and the Feminine Principle goes beyond the well-established conversation about the need for feminine attributes in business and invites both genders into an exciting new collaboration. By no means a critique of what is wrong with masculine perception and behavior in business, this book inspires new respect for the integrity of both masculine and feminine energy and their ability to co-create a viable future for all of us.

Helps readers understand the complimentary difference of the qualities of energy we identify as masculine and feminine.
Evokes self-observation in one's own masculine and feminine thinking process.

Customer Reviews:

Gaining access to the whole human.......2000-06-09

For a reviewer of business books, Carol Frenier makes a very welcome change, for 'Business and the Feminine Principle' reads more like a good work of non-fiction than a 'business book' and this enhances rather than detracts from its relevance to people in business.

It is part auto-biography, part applied psychology, deeply reflective, discursive, and very concerned with values. I t manages to convey a lot of messages about the value of combining feminine and masculine ways of thinking and relating in the course of reflective discussion about situations that have influenced the author. Her style of presentation itself helps to illustrate the points she is making. Margaret Wheatley hits the mark exactly with her comment on the back cover blurb:

"This very personal and quietly passionate book asks us to explore aspects of human nature that have gone unregarded for too long. We could create so much more together if we would join Carol on this exploration."

And that is the point: to 'join Carol on this exploration' requires a willingness to engage in joint dialogue and joint reflection, which is too rare in the world of business and administration.

It is worth mentioning a couple of things that the book is not. It is not 'feminist' in any conventional sense, it does not seek to promote any one group over any other and it is not primarily about the place or even the roles of men and women in organisations. Frenier has been deeply influenced by Carl Jung and, if the book has a central theme, it is Jung's concept of individuation, the fullest possible development of the capacities that are present in all of us, through the way in which we enter into community with each other and value difference to aid growth. All women and all men have aspects of both the feminine and the masculine within them in varying degrees, and it is these qualities, not gender, that are the focus of Frenier's interest.

Throughout the book runs the sub-theme of the need to work for a truly sustainable world and the values involved in living simply. She is one of the rare authors who has the courage to challenge us to bring into explicit consciousness and think through the impact of the largely implicit assumptions on which business is based - 'more is better', 'growth is the name of the game' and others, which threaten our long term survival. She does this by example from her own experience and by inviting reflection, not by railing against 'the evils of today's society'. In doing so she displays a great faith in the capacity of small changes in attitude among a wide enough cross section of people to trigger major shifts for the better.

What comes through is the value, for results as well as the quality of all our lives, of engaging in open, reflective dialogue and entering into community around the issues that are important to us. The feminine within us has qualities which make it much more likely that this vital process will occur and be valued. It is an extremely important message in an environment in which the masculine is visibly cutting out all the time for reflection that - as the growing literature on knowledge management amply demonstrates - is vital not merely to our health and happiness, but to our commercial survival.

Encouraging the group we work with first to read the book and then to spend time discussing it would be an ideal way of opening up windows in our minds and expanding ways of relating.

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