{
  "id": 12602672,
  "title": "‘Masculine energy’ is costing companies billions",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/masculine-energy-is-costing-companies-billions",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-07T09:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91618395/masculine-energy-costing-companies-billions"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In January 2025, social media influencer Mark Zuckerberg expressed on Joe Rogan's podcast that the corporate world required more \"masculine energy\" and a culture that celebrated aggression. The political movement he supported has since diminished in influence. As of September 2025, Donald Trump's approval rating had plummeted to 38%, the lowest of his second term. Despite this, the concept of \"masculine energy\" persists in corporate America. Women currently lead 56 Fortune 500 companies, representing 11.2% of the total, a record but still minimal. They hold 29% of C-suite positions, unchanged from 2024, according to McKinsey and LeanIn.org's \"Women in the Workplace\" report. The corporate world values boasting, displays of strength, and risk-taking far more than cooperation and caution. The job market is shifting, with women-dominated sectors like private education and healthcare adding 800,000 jobs in 2025, while all other sectors combined lost around 500,000 positions. Many of these new jobs are low-paying, as care work is often undervalued. Linda Babcock and her coauthors found that work aiding the team, like mentoring and conflict resolution, falls disproportionately to women and goes unrewarded, while self-promotion is seen as leadership. Companies that cultivate a dominance-centered culture face significant consequences. In the United States, men accounted for 92% of fatal work injuries in 2024, with the norm of ignoring fear and refusing help contributing to these deaths. One study on offshore oil platforms showed that when the culture shifted towards safety and continuous learning, accidents dropped by 84% and productivity increased. The third cost is the normalization of rule-breaking and toxic peer groups. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' 2024 study, men committed 75% of occupational fraud cases and caused higher losses. This undermines motivation and trust in the employer. The \"masculinity contest\" work culture, with norms like no weakness, strength, work first, and treating colleagues as rivals, has led to toxic leadership, less psychological safety, increased bullying, and higher turnover rates. The focus on productivity as an individual achievement ignores the collective efforts that sustain it, leading to a mirage of the top performer. The true economic value of women's work is often overlooked, and the costs of a toxic work culture are hidden until they manifest as harassment settlements, legal fees, and workers' compensation claims.",
  "summary": "In January 2025, Mark Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan that the corporate world needed more “masculine energy” and a culture that “celebrates the aggression a bit more.” Twenty months later, the political movement he was courting looks much weaker. Donald Trump’s average approval rating fell to 38% in September , the lowest of his second term. But the ideal Zuckerberg praised remains…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}