We need more Mad Women in the boardroom

I've always had a weakness for Alpha males. So I found myself watching Mad Men on TV the other night both  attracted to Don Draper, the protagonist, but also identifying with him more than any of the submissive women.

Surely  this kind of servitude doesn't happen anymore - at least not in the West. Although we would do well to remember a recent Vanity Fair article on how Madoff made billions, using the off- limits 'Floor 17' where he kept semi-literate low paid women working without phones on creating fictitious investment statements. Basically, he accomplished his fraud on the backs of women who didn't have the educational background or  confidence to know what was happening or to question.

The problem with misogyny is that women are often complicit in it. Joanna Lumley has led a terrific fight for  the gurkhas. The Sunday Times interviewed her and, responding to a question about why doesn't she run for Prime Minister, she said: "It needs to be a bloke; I don't think men like to be led by women." What a totally unfortunate statement to make.
On Sunday, at the Marketing Day for my business school, I was asked what I would do differently knowing what I know now. I would wish upon my earlier self a greater confidence.

Today, my motto is: "Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way". If men can lead companies, countries and initiatives, fantastic. But too frequently, women are called in to clean up the mess that men have made, and then men take credit for the clean up.

Become a Mad Woman then - someone who takes charge of her life, fills the vacuum of leadership before there is one - and model yourself on the great women leaders of history: Elizabeth 1, Margaret Thatcher, Oprah, Golda Meir etc.
They didn't worry about being popular so  got things done, created power bases not tied to beauty, and had a personal life strategy.

The Mad Woman strategy works for both men and women because when woman don't get mad, but instead take control of their lives, the world is in balance.

By the emergence of stronger women, and the greater harmony created in the world as a result,  Mad Men, those alpha males lurking about, will understand that it is in their interest for women to have more responsibility and leadership in the world. Their power is not reduced by women being stronger. Life is not a zero sum game.

That realisation is typically made for men with their daughters. It's where they don't feel competition but total love and pride.

Claim your "Mad Woman" strategy today. For yourself, for your daughters, for your wives.

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