Business in the Style of Yin: Not Only for Women
14/12/2017
Premiere Magazine
Did you ever find that, after all the highly-demanded business trainings of the world-known business leaders, you realize that everything is all useful and good, but it just does not work for you; that, once you start to apply the rules and business advice to your own platform, your business begins to dry and bend under the weight of your efforts?
Today, we’ll reveal one good reason why this is so. Everything in our world is built on the basis of the interaction of two principles or two energy structures. The fact is that these two principles that balance have not yet been widely taken into consideration in today’s business environment. Often, businesses operate on only one of the principles of business development. It can be called “traditional”. A business demands from us a clear strategy, tactics, goal setting, analysis and reporting. Would you agree, it sounds strong, strict, even tough sometimes, like a male energy? Let’s call it the principle of Yang, so as not to be tied to gender. This principle has worked well in the past, at a time when business was the prerogative of the mainly male population.
The second principle, which involves the use of other kind of energies, the business community, began to realise not so long time ago. This principle is characterised by spontaneity, variability, intuition and creativity. It can be called Yin energy. Any business always uses both energies: a structural Yang and a spontaneous Yin. Both energies are necessarily present in all vital processes, just as inhaling and exhaling are present in breathing. Yang and Yin, it is said, may be expressed in greater or lesser degrees, depending on the situation.
The traditional way of doing business safely, in the past, would often bring excellent results without having to worry too much about the Yin side of the issue. It flowed by itself, latently, naturally and without attracting attention.
This strategy would have continued to flow in its given direction if not for the increasing presence of women in the business world. For women, it is important to consider the inner sense, which brings a more involved life to business. Even if success is obvious and financial results are impressive, a business can often bring a sense of emptiness, frustration and dryness. It is a feeling that your life-giving well emptied rapidly. There may be little time or energy for family and a private life, which is perilous to enduring happiness.
Many men also experience these symptoms when apparent success does not bring due satisfaction. There is a feeling that the “game is not worth the candle”. At such moments, you may want to drop everything and get a job that will guarantee a stable income, with a minimum amount of stress and responsibility. All this planning, achievement and performance may become too exhausting and energy-consuming. You find that you are no closer to your goal of securing a joyful and satisfying life
WHAT IS THE REASON?
Traditionally, it is known that the Yang principle is the form and Yin is the filling that fills out the form. It is logical that, both in life and in business, a man clings to form, with the structure of the result, and the woman is more interested in the process itself. For the Yang principle, motivation is the goal, with the result expressed in figures and tables. For Yin results, what is most attractive are those things expressed by an internal sense of job satisfaction.
If a Yin person does not feel the joy of his/her activity, he/she loses motivation, just as a river dries up during a drought. Moreover, any pressure in the form of graphs and financial results only de-motivates and drives depression. Such a person is easy to see in modern life. For example, a woman starts her own business with a bright original idea, flutters like a butterfly in spring and puts all of her energy into its development. Soon, the colour begins to gradually go out of her face, as her idea begins to lose its former dynamics, brightness and even appeal. Worst of all, she loses interest in life, family, sex and in the people around her. Everything becomes, for her, a grey and monotonous struggle, with each day like the previous one and no end to this “tunnel”. She wants to leave the business or to switch to some other venture that will provide her with that “spark”, but she may have missed the message that life was sending her.
This is an indication that the woman is trying to do business on the principle of Yang and is diluting her precious Yin energy. What if other options for doing business in the market of modern knowledge are not offered? This situation is analogous to the problem of a school that still advocates the principle of strict academic training, while leaving behind potential geniuses with extraordinary abilities outside of that realm. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate both approaches and understand which one works best for you personally. Let us consider the duality of the basic components of any business process.
Targeting
Goal setting, itself, is a task requiring the contribution of human Yin. In business training, you will hear that each goal should be stated very clearly, not blurred or abstract. The goal must be specific and express a specific need in its highest form. “If you need to jump over the fence, aim for the moon”. Yang structure takes the bull by the horns and forms its own purpose. For example, “to increase production next year by 15% compared with the previous year”. For a Yin person, this sounds like white noise. For him/her, the important emotional component of the target is unidentified and ignored. It is simply words and numbers. To be fully engaging, the goal must also include what is tactile, physically palpable, extremely desirable and delicious. From the start, this will motivate and engage. This was the theme that Rhonda Byrne revealed in the book “The Secret”.
When goal-setting at the Yin principle, it makes sense to learn, because in the modern world, we are not taught to think imaginatively and to hear the desires of the inner self. We have no idea what we want! In fact, our goals can vary from day-to-day and we may not know how to competently dream and have our dreams materialize. For a Yin person, it is very important not to think about the purpose of his/her work, but to simply feel it.
The second challenge to traditional goal-setting can be called “creative thinking”. The Yin person sees a picture of the world and its purpose as something integral. It is difficult to divide the whole into parts because, then, it loses its meaning. If you ask a Yin businessman about goals and objectives of business, he soon gives a vague answer, for example: “Because I feel that it should be done”. It certainly speaks to the idea of purpose and vision, but the words to describe this colossal picture are almost impossible to locate. Here, businesses need the help of a Yang mind.
Strategy
The concept of strategy came into the language of the military and into the diplomatic relations of the ancient world. When an army gave way to the more advanced techniques of combat of an enemy’s army, they may have ceased to make important changes from primitive tools to better implements of war. They may have failed to advance their strategies to new levels. The strategy of the Yang principle is to defeat, neutralise and capture the enemy. In the business world, this is analogous to tackling a problem in, for example, the supply chain that is “poisonous” to success or dealing with staffing and training issues as they arise.
The ancient sages and military leaders, in contrast to modern man, were much “closer to nature” and understood the importance of harmony between Yin and Yang. In history, we find outstanding examples of a brilliant combination of both: direct combat (Yang) and clever manipulation (Yin). “Stratagems, like invisible knives, are hidden in the human brain and shine only when you dare to use them. Anyone who knows how to use stratagem will always keep the initiative in their hands”. “The trick in battle is 36 stratagems” (Sun Tzu).
Yin energy is like a powerful full-flowing river, which flows into the ocean. It does not need to fight. On the contrary, it can gently circumvent any obstacles in its path. It has a goal; a vision of a success picture, which can be altered. It simply allows itself to flow easily and it takes from life the best that it meets along the way. Business strategy in the style of Yin: “If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by”. (Sun Tzu). Yin never fusses and does not hurry. The Yin does not understand the principle of confrontation and conflict in the business world. After all, when two rivers meet, they do not resist each other’s water, but blend together, reinforcing each other and increasing the coverage area and flow of power. In business, a man driven by the power of Yin will be guided by the principle: “Together — we are stronger”, and seek opportunities to unite, rather than resist.
Structure
For Yin principle, a good strong structure is as important as for the Yang, but the structuring process is different. The structure is built on the basis of the context. The frame is adjusted for the picture. Following the principle of Yang, first the structure is thought out, which is then filled with content. That is, choose the first frame and then select a picture for it. For the Yin businessman, it is important, from the very beginning, to feel the business body; feel its ideological essence and energy content. Then, he can try to describe, in words, what he sees and feels. So, people will enjoy the Yin ray of light; enjoying its beauty and feeling its warmth. The Yang person will try to break the white light into spectra and analyze each component. It is neither good nor bad! They are different ways of understanding the world.
Motivation
A person with Yang energy is likely to operate with ambition as a motivation. Psychologically, ambition (from the Latin ambitio, meaning heightened self-esteem) is a “deformed consciousness, expressed in a bid to prove superiority by achieving certain goals”. That is, it is synonymous with vanity. It puts the master into the service of ambition alone and takes away a huge amount of his energy. For a Yin person, human ambition cannot serve as the driving force, as it threatens his/her Yin energy, at great cost. The driving force of a Yin business will likely be a strong inner desire to achieve the image that exists deep within consciousness. You just cannot do what you feel should be done. In the English lexicon, there is the word “destiny”. We can say that the Yin person is driven by a sense of destiny. He does his business without believing the incentive is competition and profit! He does not care about competitors. Competition is not an incentive or a motivation.
Marketing and Advertising
The life of any standard business starts with market research: market analysis, niche needs, audiences, suppliers and other potential opportunities, challenges and conditions. On the basis of thorough research a developed marketing strategy is born. However, a huge amount of money goes through your fingers because everything is based on speculative assumptions, guesswork and the marketing department of the company. A Yin business is unlikely to engage in research specifically. It flows into the market and naturally fills it out, intuitively filling a void, while capturing territory and niches. The choice of ways of promotion is based not so much on the “intelligence” (although “Yin” company might have a proper marketing department), but on a certain “whim”, relying more on inner instinct. Summarising all the above, the Yin business style is, undoubtedly, a new topic in the market today. Still, an increasing number of inquiries are being made and interest is growing. This is an indication that the mentality of the world is changing. From confrontation, we begin to move to the stage of unity; feeling and fostering an understanding of the fact that we all have enough space under the sun and do not necessarily need to destroy our neighbour to make our grass greener.
Business success is not the size of the market or the number in your bank account. Now, successful business can rightly be considered if it brings joy and gives energy to the owner every day. A business that motivates and gives pleasure is outstanding. Can we really consider a profitable business a success if, because of it, a person has not rested for several years? Does it make sense to eat yourself alive today in the hope that the business will bring you happiness tomorrow? Tomorrow may never come, so be happy today! This is one of the most prominent facts of the Yin style of business. Simply enjoy every day of your life, do your best and success will follow.
