New Plans for VUCA Times

There is a constant sense of uncertainty in the air and angst is our constant companion. It feels like we have been frozen in the midst of never-ending transition. Way too often these days, I’m asked, “What gives?”?My unequivocal response is, VUCA times have arrived! (VUCA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.)?So hold on tight to what matters most and buckle up for the ride.

The country continues to step further into an unknown, uncharted new cycle of populism and radicalism ripping our valued democratic tenets to shreds, putting each of us on the line. This backwards turn to a traditional patriarchal model, steeply?rooted in the “old game” of win/lose, is rapidly trying to recover its hold. A deeply held animosity toward the enormous potential of win/win/win is not only disrupting the world order, it is endangering all of humanity’s future – as well as our present.

No doubt about it, the underlying problem is not a male versus female one.?These chaotic times demand the integration of both our Inner Feminine and Masculine strengths, as well as the collaboration of all genders in the outer world.

What is apparent is that the Feminine experience and worldview provides a growing awareness that our system is entering breakdown, and that?we must avert breakdown and move toward breakthrough. By the very nature of their discontinuous changing roles and life cycles, women are more apt to ride the waves of sudden change and disorienting breakdowns. Far more in touch with their inner world, women will more readily align to this deep Feminine force desperately calling us to transform.

From the hallowed halls of academia to the towers of global corporations, and all in between, things need to change fast.?And they are.

A September 2020 report from Lean In and McKinsey & Company found that?out of 40,000?women?surveyed across?corporate?America?between May and August, “1 in 4 was contemplating resigning or downshifting her career,”whether that meant going part time or leaving the company altogether. At the same time, thousands more women continue to leave corporate positions without choice as many businesses downsize and they look toward new ways of creating home-based businesses.

Women can no longer sit on the sidelines. We must come to the forefront, bringing our deep Feminine wisdom to bear.?Recent studies suggest that 44 percent of new women businessowners are leaving corporate life after banging into the glass ceiling. Further, the majority of these women adamantly declare that nothing will bring them back. Lack of recognition and upward mobility may only be the presenting reason. Our departures are indicative of our dying Souls seeking new reasons to express our collective, unrealized Feminine aspect.

Our current?win/lose, short term profit-driven system?thwarts passionate self-expression?and leaves no room for values-driven self-fulfillment. More recently, this growing disconnect is observed across all genders, generations, and across diverse intersections of identity. Now more than ever, we are buying, watching, and voting not only based on value-added, but even more so?based on our values.

Women are now in positions of power in the largest numbers ever; albeit not yet at parity with men, but nevertheless having a significant impact in all walks of life. They have reached for their dreams. Along the way, we have broken many of the self-limiting ancestral beliefs such as “a woman’s only place is in the home” and “nice women don’t succeed” that were handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter.?In the process, however, many women have traded in precious assets?– their deep Inner Feminine knowing and expansive capacity for nurturance and healing?– for their share of the game chips.

Now in midlife and moving toward elderhood, droves of women are rediscovering the wholeness of being female. The best news yet is that the bulk of the $11 trillion-plus in assets projected to be passed down to Baby Boomers, topped by the staggering projections of $30 trillion to be transferred from Baby Boomers to younger generations, will eventually end up in women’s hands. Lovingly, I jest, this will be our version of the Widows’ Welcome Wagon. Thus, we will hold the financial reins of a new paradigm.

From the time of the earliest suffragettes, American women have been on the front lines of change, blazing new trails.?Going forward, “Old Girl” networks will proliferate as more women rise rapidly through the ranks to the executive suite and stand at the helm of their own companies. Being at the threshold, we are being called forth to breathe fresh life into our Visionary Feminine. It is from this new vantage point that women around the globe will lead the way with a new greatness.

As more and more women move toward a new worldview, the men in their lives are coming forward to join them. Together they are ushering in a new epoch.?Men, too, are looking for a greatness that is all encompassing, allowing them to fully potentiate. Together, we are evolving to a more authentic, enlightened approach to life and work?that will engage our total being – laying down the bricks of a better road to the future?– one full of possibility and greatness.

As each of us evolves a more authentic and conscious life, society as a whole evolves as well. When we create lives that?reflect our core beliefs for the common good, it is inevitable that our world will improve.