I had the honor of interviewing my friend Drew Deraney. Recently, Drew took on 4 top life stressors simultaneously in a concentrated period of time and has come through stronger, yet without a proper support system. Knowing that he could have come through in a healthier and more empowering way if he had a community of like-minded men to lean on, Drew is dedicating his life to empowering mission-driven men to multiply that impact quicker through collaboration and tapping into each other's connections and resources to explode their impact and reach more people to make a difference in the world.

There is a lot of talk right now in the current newscycle about gender and the gender divide.

The recent conversations seem to circle back to masculine and feminine energy, the chemicals and hormones that we each have in our body and that we think that too many of us are imbalanced. Either the women are too much on the feminine side and ignoring their masculine side or men are too far in the masculine ignoring the feminine. It's scientific that we have these chemicals in our body, we're supposed to have masculine and feminine traits. And a balance of the two is supposed to be a strength for both of us. It is important to work towards tearing down the divide of the genders that's been happening in this country and uniting us because men need women and women need men. We are stronger united and weaker divided.

How can we begin to understand the differences in men and women?

It starts with acknowledging physically and scientifically that men and women think differently. The synapses fire differently, the neurons fire differently, we think differently. Throughout history, men and women have had traditional roles and those roles haven't changed even in 2023. Research shows that the first thing men think of when they wake up is money and business. That's the Provider piece. The Fixer piece of research shows that when most women wake up they think about family. What's happened with this divide that's being forced on us is you have the women using most of their feminine energy and pushing the masculine aside. The men are being told by society to get rid of all their feminine side and no showing emotion. That’s when labels are placed on us and we have to stop this as it is detrimental.

What can we do today to work on this issue?

It is important for women to learn and understand the thinking language of men and vice versa. Once we acknowledge, agree to observe and learn, we have to respect that we think differently. Also focusing on collaborating verses compromising. When you compromise, there's always a loser. Actually, both people lose something. When you collaborate, you work together for a common goal. Lastly, it is imperative to set and manage expectations. “This is what I heard, this is how I feel, this is what I expect.” Communication is key!

How can you work on yourself today to be a better partner tomorrow?

Contact Drew Deraney: https://www.profitcompassion.com

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