The Decline of Men

I have been very fortunate to be included in a new book by Guy Garcia, author of The New Mainstream. The book is The Decline of Men which is about a new trend in American society where more women are succeeding and more men are struggling to earn competetive wages and compete in the global economy. A preview of the book was published in Fortune Magazine/CNN Money last week. Here are a few snippits:

"...Changes [in the job market] tend to favor women, whose innate networking and social skills often give them an edge in the service industry, now the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy. In corporate America the cycle has accelerated because women tend to know their customers: other women. The ability of women consumers to make or break a brand is being felt in industries from publishing to health care. Women, armed with advanced degrees and expanding spending power, are increasingly seen as the decision-makers in housing, autos, and technology."

"While it's been widely noted that women have innate skills that help them thrive in an organization - communication, multitasking, collaboration - what's less well-known is how this extends to global competition. Geert Hofstede, a Dutch psychologist who worked at IBM and now consults at major corporations, has profiled national cultures according to key values, including masculinity. On that index the U.S. scores relatively high at 62, compared with countries like Sweden (5) and Norway (8), but lower than Japan, which has the highest masculinity index in the world at 95. For Christopher Liechty, a design and marketing executive based in Salt Lake City, "Masculine is primarily competitive and prestige-oriented; feminine is primarily nurturing, caring, but that means egalitarianism. Women are more consensus-building."

"Liechty notes that when national gender values are overlaid onto corporations, many of those with the most "feminine" traits, including Scandinavian companies like Nokia (NOK), IKEA, Lego, and Volvo, have an inclusive brand identity that often gives them an edge in today's global - and increasingly feminine - markets. The world, it turns out, may be curved after all."

For the full article, see CNNMoney/Fortune Magazine "Men: the new misfits" 29 September 2008