We see it in the body, that if you just give the body enough rest and comfort, it has remarkable self-healing capacities. Well, so does the spirit.
I found that female pathfinders generally integrate characteristics commonly associated with being women - like the capacity to be intimate - with 'male' ones like ambition and courage.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Female leaders combine traditionally feminine qualities with masculine traits to navigate challenges effectively.
Gail Sheehy's quote highlights the unique blend of characteristics found in female pathfinders, suggesting that they embrace both qualities typically viewed as feminine, such as intimacy, and those considered masculine, including ambition and courage. This integration allows them to approach leadership and challenges in a balanced and holistic manner, showcasing the strength that comes from embracing a diverse set of traits.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a women's leadership conference, this quote could serve to inspire participants about the power of blending qualities in leadership.
More from Gail Sheehy
All quotes βNo sooner do we think we have assembled a comfortable life than we find a piece of ourselves that has no place to fit in.
I was devastated when I got the review for my first book. The book came out a couple years before the women's movement broke through, and people were putting it down, asking, 'Why does the woman in this book need to get a divorce? Why can't she just shut up and be happy?'
A seasoned woman is spicy. She has been marinated in life experiences. Like a complex wine, she can be alternately sweet, tart, sparkling, mellow. She is both maternal and playful. Assured, alluring, and resourceful.
This is something caregivers have to understand: You have to ask for help. You have to realize that you deserve to ask for help. Because you need to keep on working on your own life.
Being a pathfinder is to be willing to risk failure and still go on.
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I'm a bit tight with money, but so what? I look at the money I'm about to spend on myself and ask myself if IKEA's customers can afford it... I could regularly travel first class, but having money in abundance doesn't seem like a good reason to waste it.. If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. I have to do so for all the IKEA employees.
And therefore I am come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too.
The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths so strong that it makes the system's weaknesses irrelevant.
I respect coaches; I respect what good coaches do. I know that you don't learn to be a coach in an hour and a half.
You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.
Global security can be formed or threatened by heads of state whose wisdom, folly and obsessions shape global events. But often it is the security practitioners, those rarely in the headlines but whose craft and energy quietly break new ground, who keep us safe or put us in peril.