Men Talking Mindfulness

Masculinity Contest Culture

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Episode notes

Today we are going to speak about something called: Masculinity Contest Culture. Here’s a little taste of what we are going to dive into:

“At work, this pressure to prove “I have what it takes” shifts the focus from accomplishing the organization’s mission to proving one’s masculinity. The result: endless “mine’s bigger than yours” contests, such as taking on and bragging about heavy workloads or long hours, cutting corners to out-earn others, and taking unreasonable risks either physically (in blue-collar jobs) or in decision-making (e.g., rogue traders in finance). The competition breeds unspoken anxiety (because admitting anxiety is seen as weak) and defensiveness (e.g., blaming subordinates for any failure), undermining cooperation, psychological safety, trust in coworkers, and the ability to admit uncertainty or mistakes. Together this creates miserable, counterproductive work environments that increase stress, burnout, and turnover.”

The source of this quote is from a Harvard Business Review article entitled: “How Masculinity Contests Undermine Organizations, and What to Do About It” by Jennifer L. Berdahl, Peter Glick, and Marianne Cooper.  (https://hbr.org/2018/11/how-masculinity-contests-undermine-organizations-and-what-to-do-about-it )

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01:00 Masculinity Contest Culture

05:30 Jon leads Opening Grounding Practice (~4 min)

09:30 In the time before Will was a hippie…

14:00 What contest culture is doing to companies

16:30 What exactly is Masculinity Contest Culture?

19:00 MCC in the Navy

22:00 Can we use competition in a healthy way?

27:30 Using competition to better ourselves

34:30 No one likes a bully

40:00 Everyone carries masculine and feminine energy

43:30 Jon and Will have their first disagreement

48:00 Will learns a new word

51:00 Learning to say sorry

55:00 Quote about Thomas Hobbes

1:00:30 Will leads Closing Grounding Practice (~2 min)

Our Hosts: Will is excited to teach you how to develop self-mastery. From teaching and practicing for the last 19 years, he feels it's a joy to work with long-time practitioners and students that have never tried these practices before or have only dabbled.   Email: [email protected]

Jon is a Navy SEAL Commander turned mindfulness and meditation teacher. Since ending his 24-year military career in June 2020, Jon is now dedicated to spreading the practices of meditation and mindfulness to help others live happier and more fulfilling lives.   Email: [email protected]

Opening and closing Music: Malecon by Soyb & Amine Maxwell https://soundcloud.com/soybmusic https://soundcloud.com/aminemaxwell Creative Commons —   Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/al-malecon Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/xbWzYbtMgIE