Tweet

You Have the Right to...Have Male Friends!

Guest post by: Sheryl Nicholson

Article Overview: Right #9 You Have the Right to...Have Male Friends! For some of you this statement could be controversial so let me clarify. When you live your life with integrity - i.e., you have good personal ethics and you have developed a reputation of trust - then having male friends will not be seen as a threat to your existing relationship with your man. Having friends of the opposite sex is important in many ways. In my seminars, when I talk on the topics of Leadership, Coaching, Team Building, Parenting, and Communication, I recognize the fact that men and women do all those things equally, but differently. I take care that every seminar contains what men need to hear and what women need to hear...and they're different! When I walk into a big networking event at a conference or a chamber of commerce, I see women talking and sitting

You Have the Right to...Have Male Friends!

For some of you this statement could be controversial so let me clarify. When you live your life with integrity - i.e., you have good personal ethics and you have developed a reputation of trust - then having male friends will not be seen as a threat to your existing relationship with your man.

Having friends of the opposite sex is important in many ways. In my seminars, when I talk on the topics of Leadership, Coaching, Team Building, Parenting, and Communication, I recognize the fact that men and women do all those things equally, but differently.

I take care that every seminar contains what men need to hear and what women need to hear...and they're different!

When I walk into a big networking event at a conference or a chamber of commerce, I see women talking and sitting mostly with other women and men doing the equivalent. What a missed opportunity to glean vital insights from the opposite sex.

Having male friends will allow you inside their minds. Why? Because men and women mentor differently. They play the games of life and politics differently, too. We have confused each other since the beginning of time. But today our roles have changed; we all need clarification and help to "get it right," and we can get that help by sharing information.

When I started a new business several years ago, I knew nothing about Private Placement Memorandums, SEC laws, how to find or work with investors, or how to build a board of directors. Yet today I have a database of more than 3000 people.

I looked for female investors - females who had built multi-million dollar businesses from scratch. Unfortunately, there were few in my backyard. I don't live in New York or California or Chicago or some place where there are many women you can tag along with and learn from. So forming friendships with men has certainly shortened my learning curve.

I know a lot of men who value their platonic friendships with women because those friendships give them insights into a more open communication style, a new knowledge of how to manage others from the heart, an understanding of how to work more cooperatively and less competitively, and a little mental peek into how women think.

We too can benefit by respecting and valuing our differences.

I can always tell a man or a woman who isn't connected to the opposite sex through friendship. "I'm the President of our Man Haters Club." "All men are pigs." "Women are just users and takers."

We have a choice...to create barbed wire fences around our hearts and our minds, or to build a white picket fence with a gate that opens up for the right kind of respectful human beings we want in our lives, regardless of their gender.

You Have the Right to

Have Male Friends

Related Articles
  The Glass Ceiling Effect In Selling
  A Woman\'s Edge In Sales
  Who Makes a Better Salesperson - Men or Women?
  Men and Body Image
  A Big Fat Issue
  Selling Art to Men
  Rejection…Not Once, But Twice!
  The X and Y Fighting Factors under Stress: Fresh Insights
  2.0 The African Entrepreneur Demographic Characteristics: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa
  How Powerful Is Your Denial
  Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.
  Could It Be Male Menopause?
  How to Prevent Discrimination in the Workplace
  5.0 How is the performance of businesses affected?: Gender Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness in Africa, 2007
  "The Bonk Approach to Testing"
  Leadership Insight: A Culture of Tattling
  Carly Fiorina
  Barack Obama and the World at Midlife
  What's Happening to Your Husband?
  Why Can't a Woman be More Like a Man?

Article Tags: leadership coaching, male friends, men and women, networking event, personal ethics



Related Forum Posts
Re: pitching - Friendliness is closely related to the concept of "permission marketing" as articulated by Seth Godin. The subtitle of his book says it all: "Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers." The old method was "interruption marketing" where you suddenly get an ad in your face whether you want it or not...
Maze Inc - Greetings Friends,
Re: QUESTION: What was the last book you read? Would you recomme - Right now I'm reading [i:3d7bb3lw]How to Win Friends and Influence People[/i:3d7bb3lw] by Dale Carnegie. I'm not finished yet but I can already say that I highly recommend it!
Re: How do you budget your life? - Here is my financial management categories for today: 15% Long Term Savings; 10% Home Expenses; 45% Business and Marketing charges; 10% Friends (Meeting); 20$ Scientific and Law Books. But this will change when it is August or September. Orxan
Re: Is being too connected pushing your business forward or back - The problem with social media sites is that you can't just submit more and more links. you need to have friends, and build a social community, this way your friend may become customers, or their friends will be. Friends take time, online and offline. there is no automation to this process.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

10 Steps to Excelling at Franchise Sales

Five keys to business success

When Living the Dream isn't enough!

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.