28: Protect the Feminine

During the middle to late stages of a project there are often battles to be fought and problems to be resolved and team members to be encouraged.  

The wise project manager needs to act as both a warrior and as a healer.  As a warrior, showing power and decision, he displays the Yang or masculine aspect of leadership.  But most of the time the project manager acts as a healer in an open, receptive and nourishing way.  Providing assistance and encouragement to the team members is the feminine or Yin aspect of leadership.  This mixture of doing and being can be very productive.  

The Way  
The third aspect of leadership is the way.  From time to time the project manager needs to withdraw from the team and return to silence.  Be there, do it and then withdraw to replenish the spirit.  Knowing when to act, when to listen and when to withdraw is the way of the project manager.  

Know the strength of man,  
But protect the feminine.  
Be as a mountain stream to the world.  
As a mountain stream in the world,  
The eternal virtue abides.  

Return to the state of the uncarved block.  
When the block is carved, it becomes useful.  
This for the sage is the example of adulthood.  
A great tailor cuts little,
And does not destroy.  

“The Way of the Project Manager” by John Carroll (ISBN 978-1481076111), is published by CreateSpace and available from Amazon in hard copy and on Amazon Kindle.