Masculine or feminine energies don't exist. They are just one more way to label you by the societal construct.

I continue to recycle my earlier podcast episodes while researching for my upcoming book: Leadership Beyond Genders. 

The podcast episode "Why don't we learn from our mistakes?" I did on The Change Makers Podcast 5 years ago. I interviewed my dear friend and the No More Boxes Movement co-creator, Nicholas Haines (Nick). 

In this podcast episode, Nick discusses the five energy types, Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal and proposes solutions to help individuals improve their learning and growth.

Make mistakes to learn from your mistakes!

One key takeaway from the podcast is that learning can go wrong differently based on one's energy type.

For example, water energy types love the past but often struggle to apply it to the present and future. 

On the other hand, wood energy types naturally tend to focus on, and move towards, the future. People with lots of wood energy can be the masters of ploughing through.

Understanding our energy type can help us understand our strengths and inherent challenges and work towards becoming better leaders.

Your traits and superpowers are already there; your leadership skills are unrelated to your gender!

Leadership is often associated with specific traits, such as decisiveness and confidence. You’ve most likely heard these traits as being ‘Masculine’ energies. My take on it is different. As Nick points out in his interview with Dr Carolyne Edelstone - Yin & Yang Busted - he points out that energies are just energies. We have them all. Labelling them into the social construct of something being ‘Masculine’ and another being ‘Feminine’ is a great way to keep humanity enslaved in boxes that do not serve individuals’ uniqueness.

Initially created by a Chinese Emperor who turned Yin & Yang, which was initially seen as Heaven and Earth, into Masculine (above) and Feminine (below), ensuring men had power over women!

I ask myself:
What if we let go of this habit of labelling energies by socially constructed gender roles?

Would that enable humanity to be more themselves?

I think so!  

Using the Vitality Test to discover your strengths and challenges is a beautiful way to help you become a better leader for yourself and leading others. 

We all have these five energies, only a different amount of each energy. It's then how we are socially constructed by our background, culture, and religion that influences our lives and creates the subconscious programs, rituals and habits that we tend to believe are the truth and nothing but the truth. 

Leaders must develop emotional intelligence, such as active listening to others and considering their perspectives.

You might be assuming that skill is more natural for women than men.  

I question that assumption, as I've worked with both genders in my leadership coaching and mentoring practice and can't see one gender is better than the other with their active listening. 

In some cultures, society might expect that from women, but that is based upon the construct the society places on women, not who they are, not by their superpower and how they can best use it in their lives. 

• Expecting another human being to be something from their gender-based upon assumptions is a perfect way to keep people enslaved in a box that they might not even fit into. 

• It's a perfect way to keep people feeling lonely, not good enough, isolated etc.

That approach is not helping humanity to thrive - it’s keeping us stuck in a box!

As leaders, we must encourage individuals to build on their potential and create an environment where everyone feels valued and recognised for their contributions.

The more we know ourselves better, how we function, what makes us shine efforts from the inside out, and how we can use our unique X-Factor, or superpowers, as Nick calls them, the better leaders we can become. 

In conclusion, the episode "Why don't we learn from our mistakes?" on The Change Makers Podcast highlights the importance of understanding our energy type to improve our learning and growth. 

For me, researching for my book; Leadership Beyond Gender is about recognising each individual's unique strengths and challenges and creating an environment where everyone feels valued.  

As leaders, we should strive to detach ourselves from our ego, actively seek feedback, and be grateful for our mistakes and lessons learned.