Feminine Intelligence by Elina Teboul How visionary leaders can reshape business for good
What's it about?
Feminine Intelligence (2025) challenges traditional definitions of power and leadership by elevating qualities like empathy, intuition, and emotional presence as essential tools for transformation – both personal and organizational. It offers a roadmap for integrating so-called “feminine” traits into business and life, not as gendered attributes but as vital capacities for navigating complexity, building trust, and leading with purpose.
For decades, leadership has been modeled on ideals of control, competition, and relentless performance – qualities long associated with the masculine. Sure, that mindset helped build global markets. But it’s also left a trail of burnout, disconnection, and ecological cost.
These approaches are no longer enough. Leaders have been taught to sideline “soft” skills like empathy, intuition, presence, and emotional depth – in other words, qualities we might call “feminine.” But what if these qualities are in fact the most essential traits of visionary leadership today? That’s what this exploration of feminine intelligence is all about. Feminine intelligence invites a shift: not a rejection of capitalism, but a reimagining of it.
In this lesson, you’ll discover how today’s most effective leaders don’t just dominate – they listen. They don’t just strategize – they sense. And so can you. With insights from psychology, neuroscience, and coaching, anyone – regardless of gender – can access feminine intelligence to build trust, foster innovation, and navigate uncertainty with grace.
In 2003, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hughes led his squad down a street in Iraq. Soon, the town’s residents began pouring out of their homes, surrounding his troops. Tension was mounting, and Hughes knew that any one of his soldiers could easily interpret a single hand gesture or quick movement as a sign of aggression – and open fire.
But instead of escalating, Hughes did something shocking: he ordered his troops to kneel. For two full minutes, his men remained still and silent while the crowd watched. Slowly, the townspeople dispersed, and peace was restored without a single shot fired.
Hughes’s response exemplifies what author Elina Teboul calls feminine intelligence – a leadership approach rooted in empathy, relational awareness, and collaboration rather than the traditional masculine model of dominance and control. Importantly, this has nothing to do with gender. We all have both masculine and feminine qualities inside of us. The masculine leans toward analysis, hierarchy, and linear thinking, while the feminine connects us to creativity, intuition, and holistic thinking.
The problem is that most modern institutions lean too heavily on the masculine. Corporate and political systems reward dominance, competition, and short-term gains, while vulnerability and emotion are discouraged. As a result, Western culture overvalues measurable outcomes – like profit margins and market share – while overlooking softer, but equally important, qualities like compassion, purpose, and long-term well-being.
Science reveals what we’re missing when we operate from this hypermasculine mindset. Harvard researcher Jill Bolte Taylor lost most of her left brain function to a major stroke at age 37. Roughly speaking, the left hemisphere is the seat of masculine intelligence – it’s where we do much of our logical, analytical thinking. Losing it meant Taylor lost her ability to walk, talk, read, and write, along with many memories and her sense of identity.
But what she gained was extraordinary. For the first time, she experienced pure right-brain consciousness without left-brain chatter and control. The right hemisphere is where we access feeling, intuition, and holistic thinking – essentially, our feminine intelligence. During her eight-year recovery, Taylor described stepping into “awe-inspiring experiential sensations of the present moment.” She felt her spirit soar free and experienced an incredible sense of oneness with all of life.
Evidence also shows that feminine leadership consistently produces better results. Research from the Council of Foreign Relations shows that when women participate in peace negotiations, agreements are 64 percent less likely to fail and 35 percent more likely to last at least 15 years. Countries led by women, like Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, consistently rank highest in global happiness reports. And in business, leaders who use more participative and collaborative styles invite greater creativity and diverse perspectives, which leads to better decision-making.
The key lies in integrating both the masculine and the feminine instead of emphasizing just one. Truly effective leaders learn to hold seemingly contradictory qualities simultaneously: strength and kindness, decisiveness and empathy, discernment and inclusion.
In 1970, a study at Princeton Theological Seminary revealed a striking truth about leadership. Students preparing to deliver a talk on the Good Samaritan encountered a man slumped in a doorway, clearly in distress. Those who weren’t in a rush stopped to help 63 percent of the time. But when told they were late, that number dropped to just 10 percent. Some even stepped over the man to get to their talk… on compassion.
The lesson? When we’re hurrying, we miss what matters. Busyness narrows our focus and blocks our capacity to perceive the deeper human and strategic dimensions of leadership. Truly effective leadership requires something slower and deeper: presence, reflection, and the ability to see the whole picture.
That’s where the TRUE model comes in – an approach to conscious leadership built on four foundational dimensions: Time, Relationships, Uncertainty, and Emotions.
Mastering time means being intentional and strategic about how you spend your hours. Be extremely selective about your calendar, and understand what gives you energy versus what drains you. Know when you work best – whether it’s morning or night – and schedule your most important tasks then. Reject constant busyness and carve out dedicated time for reflection. Consider a meditation practice. Or, to start small, try taking three slow, conscious breaths during a stressful moment to press pause on reactivity and cultivate present-moment awareness.
Next, relationship mastery is about developing what psychotherapist Esther Perel calls relational intelligence. That starts with deep, active listening – not just with your intellect, but with your body and heart. Listen for what’s not being said while quieting your internal dialogue. Take time to understand people’s life stories, filters, and worldviews. Doing so creates “micro-moments of positive connection” – brief but powerful exchanges that leave others feeling seen and valued.
The third dimension, mastering uncertainty, means letting go of the cultural obsession with measurement and control. Explore modalities that help you disconnect from conventional expectations, such as somatic awareness and grounding techniques. The key is developing spiritual intelligence – approaching uncertainty with interconnectedness and inner peace rather than fear. This includes being open to mystical and unconventional perspectives.
Emotional mastery may be the most challenging dimension in the TRUE leadership model, especially in a culture that often sees emotion as a sign of weakness. To build this skill, develop your emotional vocabulary – name what you’re feeling instead of just analyzing it. Physical practices including regular exercise, good nutrition, and body-centered therapies like yoga, tai chi, or even ecstatic dance can all help here. For deeper work, you might explore altered states of consciousness through professionally supervised psychedelics or practices like holotropic breathwork, which can facilitate profound introspection and emotional processing.
The TRUE model represents a fundamental shift from the hypermasculine leadership paradigm that has dominated Western culture. Instead of viewing leadership as a purely analytical, control-oriented endeavor, it integrates both masculine and feminine intelligences.
A quiet moment in nature, guided by mushrooms and reflection, set the stage for a powerful realization. Lying on the ground, Teboul felt spoken to. The Earth’s breath and pulse became unmistakable. So did its grief and rage about humanity’s treatment of her. It was a visceral reminder that our relationship with the planet is deeply personal – and urgently in need of repair.
That moment, paired with Teboul’s past in corporate law, led to a question: If the Earth is alive, shouldn’t it have rights? Legal and economic systems still treat nature as an object to be owned. But groups like the Earth Law Center, which Teboul is now involved with, are working to change that – giving ecosystems legal standing and reframing land as kin.
Psychedelics were a key part of Teboul’s reconnection to feminine intelligence. Previously, like many, she’d absorbed the traits of hypermasculine work culture – inauthenticity, emotional suppression, and a control-oriented approach. Psychedelics offered an embodied return to feminine ways of knowing: expanding intuition, emotional insight, and relational awareness.
Like Teboul, many psychedelics users report feeling a renewed connection to nature. Abstract concepts like climate change and biodiversity loss can become intimate and embodied. Scientific research backs this up: users often report lasting changes in their attitudes toward the environment. Notably, 16 percent of psychedelics users even pivot their careers toward more environmentally focused roles.
Beyond environmental consciousness, psychedelics also unlock creativity and problem-solving. Studies from Imperial College London show that they increase brain connectivity, promoting “unconstrained cognition.” This means rigid thought patterns take a backseat, paving the way for spontaneous, novel insights and solutions. Many entrepreneurs credit their best insights to psychedelics. Take, for example, Kary Mullis – the Nobel prize winning inventor of the PCR process – who says he doubts he would have come up with the invention without LSD.
The interpersonal benefits of psychedelics may be equally transformative for leadership effectiveness. Research demonstrates that these substances significantly increase empathy – moving us beyond intellectual understanding and toward deep emotional connection. And this has clear, practical applications. In 2021, a group of Palestinians and Israelis participated in an ayahuasca ceremony together. The experience allowed them to access empathy for each other, deeply feeling and understanding the pain of those they’d formerly despised.
But before leaders can connect with others, they must face themselves. Psychedelics often surface repressed emotions, revealing the unresolved traumas that quietly shape behavior. With the right support, these moments become breakthroughs, leading to greater self-awareness, resilience, and integrity.
Perhaps most powerfully, psychedelics awaken the spiritual intelligence mentioned earlier – establishing a sense of unity with all life. Leaders who cultivate this spiritual intelligence become better equipped to inspire others with wonder and awe, approaching uncertainty with humility rather than fear-based control. As David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, explains, psychedelics can be “boundary dissolving,” providing a deeper understanding of relationships to others, ourselves, and the planet.
Allan Gray grew up a privileged white boy in apartheid-era South Africa, one of the most unequal societies on Earth. But instead of hardening into indifference, the injustice around him ignited a lifelong mission. He believed South Africa could never truly prosper unless all of its people had access to dignity, opportunity, and wealth. This vision of justice would shape one of the most visionary models of ethical business and philanthropy in modern history.
At the height of apartheid in 1984, he boldly proposed donating 20 percent of his investment business to support Black entrepreneurs. The proposal was rejected by the apartheid government. So he waited until new laws made transformation possible. In 2005, he seeded a venture capital firm, E Squared, aimed at empowering Black founders – decades before “impact investing” became a buzzword. More than a decade later, that experiment bore fruit – not only financially, but socially – with ventures like Go1 contributing over $2 billion to South Africa’s economy.
Gray also deliberately structured his company to resist short-term pressures, including refusing to go public and embedding philanthropic giving into its ownership model. Now, the firm’s controlling interest is in the Allan & Gill Gray Foundation, which channels all its profits into education, entrepreneurship, and community empowerment – forever.
Meanwhile, half a world away, the tiny kingdom of Bhutan was undertaking its own radical redefinition of success. In 1972, when the country had almost no roads, electricity, or modern infrastructure, its king famously told a reporter that he wasn’t interested in Gross Domestic Product. Instead, he cared about Gross National Happiness. With that one sentence, Bhutan challenged the assumption that a nation’s strength could be measured solely by its economic output. Eventually, the country even enshrined “gross national happiness” into its constitution.
Where Gray focused on reimagining the internal architecture of a company, Bhutan scaled that principle to the level of national policy. It launched the world’s first Happiness Index, measuring not just income but also health, cultural vitality, and psychological well-being. Countries like New Zealand, Iceland, and Finland have since followed suit with well-being budgets and policy frameworks that prioritize quality of life alongside economic growth.
Both stories – Gray’s and Bhutan’s – suggest something rare and important: that power can be wielded with conscience, not against it. Whether steering a firm or a nation, conscious leaders need to resist the gravitational pull of short-term metrics and dare to define value differently. They must prioritize relationships over returns, well-being over quarterly reports, and long-term flourishing over fast wins.
In the end, both Allan Gray and Bhutan ask us to expand our imagination. What if we designed our businesses and nations to support wholeness, not just growth? What if we valued trust, time, joy, and dignity alongside returns? What if our organizations were built not just to extract value, but to regenerate it?
The main takeaway of this lesson to Feminine Intelligence by Elina Teboul is that effective leadership today requires integrating qualities traditionally labeled as feminine – empathy, presence, intuition, and emotional depth – into how we lead organizations, relate to others, and shape society.
From corporate boardrooms to national governments, conscious leaders are moving beyond short-term gains and embracing well-being, creativity, and connection as strategic priorities. Whether through altered states that foster insight and empathy, models like the TRUE framework, or businesses that prioritize long-term flourishing over extraction, this shift reflects a deeper truth: power rooted in care, alignment, and regeneration isn’t a weakness – it’s the future.
Feminine Intelligence (2025) challenges traditional definitions of power and leadership by elevating qualities like empathy, intuition, and emotional presence as essential tools for transformation – both personal and organizational. It offers a roadmap for integrating so-called “feminine” traits into business and life, not as gendered attributes but as vital capacities for navigating complexity, building trust, and leading with purpose.
For decades, leadership has been modeled on ideals of control, competition, and relentless performance – qualities long associated with the masculine. Sure, that mindset helped build global markets. But it’s also left a trail of burnout, disconnection, and ecological cost.
These approaches are no longer enough. Leaders have been taught to sideline “soft” skills like empathy, intuition, presence, and emotional depth – in other words, qualities we might call “feminine.” But what if these qualities are in fact the most essential traits of visionary leadership today? That’s what this exploration of feminine intelligence is all about. Feminine intelligence invites a shift: not a rejection of capitalism, but a reimagining of it.
In this lesson, you’ll discover how today’s most effective leaders don’t just dominate – they listen. They don’t just strategize – they sense. And so can you. With insights from psychology, neuroscience, and coaching, anyone – regardless of gender – can access feminine intelligence to build trust, foster innovation, and navigate uncertainty with grace.
In 2003, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hughes led his squad down a street in Iraq. Soon, the town’s residents began pouring out of their homes, surrounding his troops. Tension was mounting, and Hughes knew that any one of his soldiers could easily interpret a single hand gesture or quick movement as a sign of aggression – and open fire.
But instead of escalating, Hughes did something shocking: he ordered his troops to kneel. For two full minutes, his men remained still and silent while the crowd watched. Slowly, the townspeople dispersed, and peace was restored without a single shot fired.
Hughes’s response exemplifies what author Elina Teboul calls feminine intelligence – a leadership approach rooted in empathy, relational awareness, and collaboration rather than the traditional masculine model of dominance and control. Importantly, this has nothing to do with gender. We all have both masculine and feminine qualities inside of us. The masculine leans toward analysis, hierarchy, and linear thinking, while the feminine connects us to creativity, intuition, and holistic thinking.
The problem is that most modern institutions lean too heavily on the masculine. Corporate and political systems reward dominance, competition, and short-term gains, while vulnerability and emotion are discouraged. As a result, Western culture overvalues measurable outcomes – like profit margins and market share – while overlooking softer, but equally important, qualities like compassion, purpose, and long-term well-being.
Science reveals what we’re missing when we operate from this hypermasculine mindset. Harvard researcher Jill Bolte Taylor lost most of her left brain function to a major stroke at age 37. Roughly speaking, the left hemisphere is the seat of masculine intelligence – it’s where we do much of our logical, analytical thinking. Losing it meant Taylor lost her ability to walk, talk, read, and write, along with many memories and her sense of identity.
But what she gained was extraordinary. For the first time, she experienced pure right-brain consciousness without left-brain chatter and control. The right hemisphere is where we access feeling, intuition, and holistic thinking – essentially, our feminine intelligence. During her eight-year recovery, Taylor described stepping into “awe-inspiring experiential sensations of the present moment.” She felt her spirit soar free and experienced an incredible sense of oneness with all of life.
Evidence also shows that feminine leadership consistently produces better results. Research from the Council of Foreign Relations shows that when women participate in peace negotiations, agreements are 64 percent less likely to fail and 35 percent more likely to last at least 15 years. Countries led by women, like Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, consistently rank highest in global happiness reports. And in business, leaders who use more participative and collaborative styles invite greater creativity and diverse perspectives, which leads to better decision-making.
The key lies in integrating both the masculine and the feminine instead of emphasizing just one. Truly effective leaders learn to hold seemingly contradictory qualities simultaneously: strength and kindness, decisiveness and empathy, discernment and inclusion.
In 1970, a study at Princeton Theological Seminary revealed a striking truth about leadership. Students preparing to deliver a talk on the Good Samaritan encountered a man slumped in a doorway, clearly in distress. Those who weren’t in a rush stopped to help 63 percent of the time. But when told they were late, that number dropped to just 10 percent. Some even stepped over the man to get to their talk… on compassion.
The lesson? When we’re hurrying, we miss what matters. Busyness narrows our focus and blocks our capacity to perceive the deeper human and strategic dimensions of leadership. Truly effective leadership requires something slower and deeper: presence, reflection, and the ability to see the whole picture.
That’s where the TRUE model comes in – an approach to conscious leadership built on four foundational dimensions: Time, Relationships, Uncertainty, and Emotions.
Mastering time means being intentional and strategic about how you spend your hours. Be extremely selective about your calendar, and understand what gives you energy versus what drains you. Know when you work best – whether it’s morning or night – and schedule your most important tasks then. Reject constant busyness and carve out dedicated time for reflection. Consider a meditation practice. Or, to start small, try taking three slow, conscious breaths during a stressful moment to press pause on reactivity and cultivate present-moment awareness.
Next, relationship mastery is about developing what psychotherapist Esther Perel calls relational intelligence. That starts with deep, active listening – not just with your intellect, but with your body and heart. Listen for what’s not being said while quieting your internal dialogue. Take time to understand people’s life stories, filters, and worldviews. Doing so creates “micro-moments of positive connection” – brief but powerful exchanges that leave others feeling seen and valued.
The third dimension, mastering uncertainty, means letting go of the cultural obsession with measurement and control. Explore modalities that help you disconnect from conventional expectations, such as somatic awareness and grounding techniques. The key is developing spiritual intelligence – approaching uncertainty with interconnectedness and inner peace rather than fear. This includes being open to mystical and unconventional perspectives.
Emotional mastery may be the most challenging dimension in the TRUE leadership model, especially in a culture that often sees emotion as a sign of weakness. To build this skill, develop your emotional vocabulary – name what you’re feeling instead of just analyzing it. Physical practices including regular exercise, good nutrition, and body-centered therapies like yoga, tai chi, or even ecstatic dance can all help here. For deeper work, you might explore altered states of consciousness through professionally supervised psychedelics or practices like holotropic breathwork, which can facilitate profound introspection and emotional processing.
The TRUE model represents a fundamental shift from the hypermasculine leadership paradigm that has dominated Western culture. Instead of viewing leadership as a purely analytical, control-oriented endeavor, it integrates both masculine and feminine intelligences.
A quiet moment in nature, guided by mushrooms and reflection, set the stage for a powerful realization. Lying on the ground, Teboul felt spoken to. The Earth’s breath and pulse became unmistakable. So did its grief and rage about humanity’s treatment of her. It was a visceral reminder that our relationship with the planet is deeply personal – and urgently in need of repair.
That moment, paired with Teboul’s past in corporate law, led to a question: If the Earth is alive, shouldn’t it have rights? Legal and economic systems still treat nature as an object to be owned. But groups like the Earth Law Center, which Teboul is now involved with, are working to change that – giving ecosystems legal standing and reframing land as kin.
Psychedelics were a key part of Teboul’s reconnection to feminine intelligence. Previously, like many, she’d absorbed the traits of hypermasculine work culture – inauthenticity, emotional suppression, and a control-oriented approach. Psychedelics offered an embodied return to feminine ways of knowing: expanding intuition, emotional insight, and relational awareness.
Like Teboul, many psychedelics users report feeling a renewed connection to nature. Abstract concepts like climate change and biodiversity loss can become intimate and embodied. Scientific research backs this up: users often report lasting changes in their attitudes toward the environment. Notably, 16 percent of psychedelics users even pivot their careers toward more environmentally focused roles.
Beyond environmental consciousness, psychedelics also unlock creativity and problem-solving. Studies from Imperial College London show that they increase brain connectivity, promoting “unconstrained cognition.” This means rigid thought patterns take a backseat, paving the way for spontaneous, novel insights and solutions. Many entrepreneurs credit their best insights to psychedelics. Take, for example, Kary Mullis – the Nobel prize winning inventor of the PCR process – who says he doubts he would have come up with the invention without LSD.
The interpersonal benefits of psychedelics may be equally transformative for leadership effectiveness. Research demonstrates that these substances significantly increase empathy – moving us beyond intellectual understanding and toward deep emotional connection. And this has clear, practical applications. In 2021, a group of Palestinians and Israelis participated in an ayahuasca ceremony together. The experience allowed them to access empathy for each other, deeply feeling and understanding the pain of those they’d formerly despised.
But before leaders can connect with others, they must face themselves. Psychedelics often surface repressed emotions, revealing the unresolved traumas that quietly shape behavior. With the right support, these moments become breakthroughs, leading to greater self-awareness, resilience, and integrity.
Perhaps most powerfully, psychedelics awaken the spiritual intelligence mentioned earlier – establishing a sense of unity with all life. Leaders who cultivate this spiritual intelligence become better equipped to inspire others with wonder and awe, approaching uncertainty with humility rather than fear-based control. As David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, explains, psychedelics can be “boundary dissolving,” providing a deeper understanding of relationships to others, ourselves, and the planet.
Allan Gray grew up a privileged white boy in apartheid-era South Africa, one of the most unequal societies on Earth. But instead of hardening into indifference, the injustice around him ignited a lifelong mission. He believed South Africa could never truly prosper unless all of its people had access to dignity, opportunity, and wealth. This vision of justice would shape one of the most visionary models of ethical business and philanthropy in modern history.
At the height of apartheid in 1984, he boldly proposed donating 20 percent of his investment business to support Black entrepreneurs. The proposal was rejected by the apartheid government. So he waited until new laws made transformation possible. In 2005, he seeded a venture capital firm, E Squared, aimed at empowering Black founders – decades before “impact investing” became a buzzword. More than a decade later, that experiment bore fruit – not only financially, but socially – with ventures like Go1 contributing over $2 billion to South Africa’s economy.
Gray also deliberately structured his company to resist short-term pressures, including refusing to go public and embedding philanthropic giving into its ownership model. Now, the firm’s controlling interest is in the Allan & Gill Gray Foundation, which channels all its profits into education, entrepreneurship, and community empowerment – forever.
Meanwhile, half a world away, the tiny kingdom of Bhutan was undertaking its own radical redefinition of success. In 1972, when the country had almost no roads, electricity, or modern infrastructure, its king famously told a reporter that he wasn’t interested in Gross Domestic Product. Instead, he cared about Gross National Happiness. With that one sentence, Bhutan challenged the assumption that a nation’s strength could be measured solely by its economic output. Eventually, the country even enshrined “gross national happiness” into its constitution.
Where Gray focused on reimagining the internal architecture of a company, Bhutan scaled that principle to the level of national policy. It launched the world’s first Happiness Index, measuring not just income but also health, cultural vitality, and psychological well-being. Countries like New Zealand, Iceland, and Finland have since followed suit with well-being budgets and policy frameworks that prioritize quality of life alongside economic growth.
Both stories – Gray’s and Bhutan’s – suggest something rare and important: that power can be wielded with conscience, not against it. Whether steering a firm or a nation, conscious leaders need to resist the gravitational pull of short-term metrics and dare to define value differently. They must prioritize relationships over returns, well-being over quarterly reports, and long-term flourishing over fast wins.
In the end, both Allan Gray and Bhutan ask us to expand our imagination. What if we designed our businesses and nations to support wholeness, not just growth? What if we valued trust, time, joy, and dignity alongside returns? What if our organizations were built not just to extract value, but to regenerate it?
The main takeaway of this lesson to Feminine Intelligence by Elina Teboul is that effective leadership today requires integrating qualities traditionally labeled as feminine – empathy, presence, intuition, and emotional depth – into how we lead organizations, relate to others, and shape society.
From corporate boardrooms to national governments, conscious leaders are moving beyond short-term gains and embracing well-being, creativity, and connection as strategic priorities. Whether through altered states that foster insight and empathy, models like the TRUE framework, or businesses that prioritize long-term flourishing over extraction, this shift reflects a deeper truth: power rooted in care, alignment, and regeneration isn’t a weakness – it’s the future.
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