The Superpower That Connects - Grasshopper

I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say that women are better at connecting than men. Women have a superpower that most men lack that allows them to relate.

Before I reveal that superpower, allow me to share a memory. I’m old enough to remember when members of a religious sect known as Hare Krishnas were at airports soliciting donations from people traveling. They usually had flowers with them. What they would do before requesting a donation was to offer you a flower. This offering made a connection and it led to lots of receiving.

 

Women intuitively offer something before they receive. It’s their superpower. They offer Vulnerability! They show their soft underbelly to others – a part that most men attempt to hide. Let’s call that what it is – a concrete wall of pride.

 

Offering vulnerability allows you to not only connect with other people, it also puts you in connection with the genuine you that’s often hidden away from public view.

 

Instead of pretending you’re someone you’re not, like many of us do, vulnerability lets you drop your disguise and the world gets to see the unvarnished you. The result: you’ll connect more often when you do.

 

People relate to people they perceive who are more like them. If you are a walking façade – a pretender – your underbelly is nothing you’ll ever surrender, and you’ll remain unconnected.

 

When you discover that you’re not the storefront, but the store, you’ll dispense with the window dressing and others will more easily buy into you.

 

It’s OK not to be the person culture tells us to be. When you get that realization, you’ll connect more often with your superpower: Vulnerability!

 

All the best,