Men feel their masculinity is threatened when they are told they are less assertive, dominant, or 'masculine' than others. They may also experience these reactions when they find themselves to be subordinate to a woman who clearly takes the lead or when they are expected to perform tasks considered 'unmanly.'
For decades, work was designed around a fiction, that of the 'neutral' worker, an abstract individual assumed to be fully available, consistent, rational, and unaffected by bodily constraints. But this neutrality was never real.
To successfully repair after a mistake, you need to acknowledge and name the mistake, validate the other person's feelings and viewpoint, and create a plan for the specific actions you will take to prevent this mistake from occurring again.
