In commemoration of the 100th International Women's Day (IWD) I saw an interesting contribution of the German TV station “ZDF”: “Starke Frauen - Die Zukunft ist weiblich” – “Strong women – the future is feminine”.
Three scenarios were portrayed to illuminate this topic:
1) An interview with Renee Haugerud, Founder and CIO (chief investment officer) of www.Galtere.com, managing a $1 billion, New York City-based global macro hedge fund that focuses on the commodity markets. I marvel at her outstanding success and admire her positive view of women in the work force. Her German coworker Werner Schuenemann spoke highly of her and her extraordinary management style emphasizing that she was fairer than any male boss he ever had, that she encourages her colleagues to think out of the box, that every opinion presented is taken into consideration by her and taken seriously, and that she provides plenty of positive feedback.
It has been her experience that women in management positions make fewer mistakes than her male colleagues. Men are into quick profits; therefore, they buy and sell faster, take more risk, and do not diversify adequately.
She thinks that women in politics, for instance, are more interested about what is happening locally and more concerned about and capable of balancing a budget. Now although the latter statement is of extreme importance given the unbalanced budgets of most countries and their states, counties, and municipalities, the first statement needs some explaining. Is it always correct to address the local issues first rather than reaching out to try to deal with regional or international challenges? I have written to Ms. Haugerud asking for further input.
Ms. Haugerud’s management style is typically feminine: She likes to spread the risk (reducing possible detrimental investment outcomes), refrains from making hasty decisions, and gauges instead the situation judiciously, weighing the pros and the cons in a prudent manner.
She considers it an obligation for women to be making money because in her opinion they spend money more intelligently than men. Now this she would have to explain to me, since I don’t quite understand what would be particularly ‘intelligent’ about buying make-up, fashion, decorative home items, pots and pants, or groceries in contrast to the “toys” typical “guys” would purchase. To me, consumption is consumption (and blatant, conspicuous, redundant, routine, and thoughtless consumption is the cause of much badness) unless the customer contemplates a host of variables including CSR (corporate social responsibility), the ethical investing policies of the company from which the merchandise is being purchased, the absence of animal cruelty and environmental abuse, and/or fair trade - just to mention a few of a myriad of considerations that ideally would have to be addressed prior to purchasing an item. So what did the very likable Ms. Haugerud have in mind when she made that comment? Do women take these factors more readily into consideration? And, yes, I have asked her that question also.
Should she take the time to respond, I have a related question for her that bears essential societal implications: Are the decisions made at work by women more ethical than those made by their male counterparts? Do women have higher moral standards and are they applying them more readily to work-related situation? Since Ms. Haugerud herself deals with commodities hedge funds I would be interested in getting her opinion about the excellent and very disturbing feature article “Eating Meat” I just read in the March edition of the German newspaper “fiftyfifty”: http://www.fiftyfifty-galerie.de/start.php3?psidoecda186b14661fd931d63ab0bd055c The author Hubert Ostendorf elaborates on the tremendously negative impact of our meat addiction on world hunger, land use, the climate, and water resources, apart from the fundamental issue of severe animal cruelty.
Hubert explains that China
In addition, tropical rainforests are being cleared to make room for animal feed - all in the service of catering to our obsession with eating meat. (Never mind that health-wise there is nothing good to be said about eating meat in contrast to consuming vegetable forms of protein). Hubert recommends the book “Eating Animals” by “Jonathan Safran Foer http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Animals-Jonathan-Safran-Foer/dp/0316069906.
In regard to world hunger I’d like to repeat here what I mentioned in the “Notes” of “The Novel Acumen” (downloadable from the Page in the right column) in which I am quoting one of my most cherished geography professors, Dr. Jan Bertness, as having taught us in the early nineties: “Every day 40.000 humans on the face of this Earth die of starvation and starvation-related diseases. That is the approximate equivalent to one hundred (100!) 747 Jumbo Jets crashing every day, or one mid-size town a day simply being ‘swallowed up’ from the face of this earth.” It is inconceivable to me how many people have died horrible deaths since then!
The question now is: Does ethical commodity trading take into consideration the heavy and far-reaching subject matters like the increase of world hunger through the conversion of land into accelerated production of fodder … or not? And the second question would be: Are women like Renee Haugerud more inclined to integrate corporate social responsibility into her company’s investment strategies than men would be and if so … how so? How does her firm’s hybrid view composed of the “art” of trading and the “science” of trading also incorporate the “ethics” of trading so that as a result the negative human and environmental effects are not worsened but the world will have become a better place instead. Where do we find those visions and who is upholding them?
~~~
2) As the second example of how female qualities produce excellent results in the work force the program mentioned MSC, the Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A,
a privately-owned container shipping line founded in 1970, and one of the leading global carriers of the world. Renee Maegli, CEO of their Basel , Switzerland
Mr. Maegli is certain that the success of his firm, an annual twenty-five percent increase in profits, can entirely be credited to his female employees. He is convinced that male employees would not have come close to such a remarkable growth rate. An unnamed McKinsey Study is supposed to have found that profits increase more substantially in those firms that employ a larger percentage of women. In his opinion women cooperate meaningfully and excel in teamwork; are conscientious about company expenses and try to optimize corporate resources; and they know how to prioritize. Women honor the opinion of coworkers and are willing to quickly adopt new ideas. When conflicts do arise among them, hey are willing to address them in an open and fair way and find and implement a solution. His experience with men has not been that favorable: While women are dedicated to their tasks at hand and do not attempt to move up the corporate latter at all cost, men readily expend their energies on their own personal power struggles (while secretly hoping that the glass ceiling may remain intact).
3) A third, most interesting example takes us to Oman. You know - the country at the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. You know - oil. Capital: Muscat. A traditional Muslim society. And … women?
In Wikipedia I read: “In November 2010, The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) listed Oman as the most-improved nation over the last 40 years from among 135 countries worldwide.[6] According to international indices, Oman is one of the most developed and stable countries in the region.[7]”
The TV program stated that Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said has been encouraging the young women of his country to study. As a result there are more female than male students getting university degrees. For instance, two-third of the student body of GUtech, the German University of Technology in Oman, is female. President Prof. Dr. Burkhard Rauhut considers the women to be by far the better students, emphasizing that they are making a concerted effort to excel in their studies, and are happily anticipating the freedom that a professional career will make possible for them. Female students are more disciplined and more successful. A female student said that women are conscientious and want to do things the best they can. She went on to say that she and her female peers regularly tutor their male peers who seem to take greater pleasure in activities other than studying. The women students of Oman are fully embracing the Sultan’s forward thinking strategy: A society has men and women just as a bird has two wings. How can it fly with one alone?
The program concluded that the future is feminine. That the facts are proving it. That as students women are more successful and as employees they increase the bottom line to a larger extent than men do. They form a management style which is more modern and appropriate. They are more efficient in solving problems. They are more communicative and cooperative. Not only would the recent world economic crisis not have happened to such a severe extent if more women would have held leadership positions in the private and public sectors - but the world would be a better place in general if the female qualities were to dominate top level decision making.
~~~
These are my thoughts to all of this: Left to their own devices would women, for instance, design, manufacture, and sell (often to both sides!) weapons of mass destructions? Women are the ones who give birth to their babies, and women would do anything for their children. They have a tendency to uphold and safeguard life if at all possible, not to destroy it willfully. What for? Money? Power?
Would they cut corners sacrificing good, more expensive material for cheaper, potentially hazardous substances if this fact was known to them? Would they pour resources into yet another electronic gismo when we already have more that we can count? Launch yet another version or update of xyz software when it has not been tested sufficiently resulting in tremendous headaches for millions of users? Would they find a way to test new drugs, medical procedures, cosmetics, or food without torturing poor, innocent animals in the process? Would they be satisfied at the end of the day knowing that they had made money, all right, but brought misfortune to others and degraded the environment? Produce and sell drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, or guns; engage in slave trade, forced labor, or forced prostitution? Would they engage in bribes in million-dollar amounts to corrupt government officials so that their company will get the contract to build the airport in a particular developing nation, knowing that the general population will continue to struggle to survive? Would women engage in ferocious cut-throat competitive behavior or honor the fact that others want to make a living, too. Would they undertake ruthless M&As knowing that compromises could be found to protect people’s employment and livelihoods?
I cannot imagine women engaging in all the brutal and ferocious acts to which men are capable and which causing unspeakable horror. Again, please download and review my “Notes” to “The Novel Acumen” (one of the Pages on the right column).
Could it be that women will be bringing back the “human” aspect to human beings? Let’s usher in a new area in which the human-ness of the human race will be readily expressed and celebrated.
World, professional and otherwise: You can’t afford to do without women. It ain’t cool.
I am concluding with a funny but poignant side note: Uwe Seeler, one of Germany’s world famous soccer stars of old has been musing: “I make the big decisions, whereas my wife makes the little decisions. However, which decisions are big and which are little is being decided by my wife!”
~~~
Write to me: CultivatingEnjoyment_at_gmail_dot_com
Copyright © 2011 Cultivating Enjoyment. All Rights Reserved.
