I read an article on Sunday Life today, regarding women at the top. Apparently, women bosses tend to be more nitpicky, temperamental and domineering. This has given me several insightful thoughts on this subject, the first and most important being:

AHH! I am every one of these things! Well, maybe not temperamental, but certainly domineering and nitpicky. This is terrible. If This Goes On, I will be carrying the label of the Dragon Lady.

I have thus decided on a course of action. Because I cannot change my natural urge to be domineering and nitpicky, I will attempt it to disguise these traits in the following manner:

1) Act more like a Man

That is, instead of being Domineering and Autocratic, I will be Decisive and Firm. I must change my innate feminine bossiness to a more masculine way of being bossy. I am not quite sure of the specific differences as yet, but they will no doubt all come to me later.

My tendency to nitpick will be substituted with my eye for detail and a continuous pursuit towards excellence. I shall emulate my male counterparts in this regard, without seeming too gay.

Rather than being naggy, I will be, er, persistent. Though actually, on further thought, what the hell. Who am I fooling? Naggy means naggy. At least I'll make a good mother in future.

2) Display my softer, more feminine side

Phase one of Fooling Other People is already in action. I have pierced ears, rebonded hair, and I dress better when I go out--except for the occasional brightly coloured, cartooned T-shirt. What I need to do is to carry it to the extreme. Not only will I purchase more frilly stuff, I must cultivate a sweet, soft spoken and pleasant feminine charm that will knock everyone off their feet. Even when being bossy, I shall be bossy in a nice, sweet manner.

Well, I haven't figured out how to do that yet, but I will eventually.

Now as I sit back and admire my foolproof plan, I realise that Damn(!), they contradict! This requires deeper thought.

So for more ideas, I refer to the article again, which mentioned several stereotypes with regard to women bosses. They are: Micro-Manager, Mother Hen, Blinkered Boss, High-Flyer, Drama Mama, and PMS Tigress. So all I have to do is examine the faults of all these types and not follow the trend, right? Right.

Essentially, I can't be too demanding and fastidious, but I also can't be too caring and maternal. I should not be too temperamental, or be too much of a yes woman, though I shouldn't be too contrary either. I mustn't be too "blinkered" and just use tried and tested methods, yet a risk taking style could be dangerous too, from what they say of Carly Fiorina.

Darn it. I still have a long way to go.