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Birute Regine
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While getting her doctorate in human development at Harvard in the 1980's, Birute Regine, EdD was part of that groundbreaking research that exposed new insights into girl’s development and women’s psychology. She collaborated with Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice, and served as a teaching assistant to Pulitzer Prize winner Erik Erikson. One time when Regine was invited to speak on a panel, she was asked what her passion was. Instinctively she said she wanted to resolve the ‘battle of the sexes’ as it was called in those days. Certainly a bold ambition but in Iron Butterflies she returns to this passion, reframed this time as a way to bring greater balance in a world out of balance, where feminine and masculine skills and values, and men and women are equally empowered.

For twenty-five years Regine worked as psychotherapist in private practice and today she works as an executive and life coach. She spent two years as a visiting scholar at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College and as an affiliate to the Stone Center where she explored the power of stories as vehicles of change. Drawn to complexity science, to her surprise, she found herself in the world of business and co-authored the highly acclaimed book The Soul at Work: Embracing Complexity Science for Business Success with science writer Roger Lewin.

In retrospect Regine realized that the leaders in this book were men who had embraced a more feminine side in their leadership style. Regine wondered what this dynamic balance between masculine and feminine qualities looked like in women leaders. This query led her to sixty women from ten countries and from many walks of life. A labor of love turned into a labor of patience and perseverance for it would take eight years and many delays before the book would be published.

Meeting these ordinary/extraordinary women filled Regine with hope because she uncovered a revolution happening that is largely off the radar screen. Women are leading in a new era of cooperation and collaboration supplanting a society based on domination. They are transforming a meaning of power from power used to dominate others, power over others, to power for and with others, that is, working together. How they dealt with vulnerability in themselves played a central role in their personal transformation and how they dealt with vulnerability in their work realms was key in contributing to a social transformation. Allowing and accepting vulnerability leveled the playing field, connected people to their shared humanity and proved to be a crucible for developing new strengths. And people connected to their vulnerability were more willing to cooperate. We are in a crucial time of historic change and women are leading the way to a better and peaceful world, both determined and vulnerable.

Regine speaks to women’s groups around the country to hear the summons to act and participate in the movement, as well as facilitates retreats to connect women to their feminine power and their capabilities as leaders.

Regine is married to Roger Lewin. Her daughter Rasa Dawson works for Oxfam America and has given her a two year-old granddaughter Lina by whom Regine is completely smitten and a brand new grandson Grayson. Her son Romas Zimlicki is a captain in the Army who has been to Iraq three times and is currently stationed in Germany with his wife Andrea. Modern dance, yoga, and hiking serve as Regine’s therapy. Cooking and entertaining are her playgrounds. She divides her time between Cambridge, MA and Hancock, NH where she is learning that many creative people are hidden in the woods.

Here website is www.ironbutterflies.com

Blog Entries by Birute Regine

The Next Evolutionary Step: The Power of Circle

(4) Comments | Posted February 8, 2013 | 5:00 PM

We hear a lot about the anxiety people feel during these uncertain economic times, when long-held systems are breaking down and new ones are not yet visible. A discomforting chaos comes along with these breakdowns, but we can also see them as breakthroughs, where an opportunity for a new, stronger...

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What About Love?

(6) Comments | Posted February 5, 2013 | 5:46 PM

With Valentine's Day coming up, there's lots of talk about love. Well, what about love?
If I asked you that question, how would you answer? If you can, write down your answer.

That's a question I did ask when I was conducting a longitudinal study at the Project...

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Finding Our Way Home

(0) Comments | Posted December 12, 2012 | 12:50 PM

The holiday season is a time to go home and be with family or friends, a journey that begins with the best of intentions. We look forward to all those parties and shared meals, all those gatherings where the room is abuzz with conversations as everyone catches up on news....

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47 Percent and Beyond

(13) Comments | Posted October 4, 2012 | 4:18 PM

The majority of polls and pundits give the win in the first presidential debate to Romney because of his performance. Well, what does that say about what we value in a leader?

To me, Romney came across as antsy, aggressive, amped up, and entitled in his general disregard for...

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50 Shades of F***ed Up

(185) Comments | Posted April 30, 2012 | 4:10 PM

I think Fifty Shades of Grey is pretty hot.

Sure, it's not that well-written; it's pretty hokey at times (how many times can you say, "He's so hot" in a book. Apparently a lot). It's an escape book, a naughty book, a remind-you-of -your-passion book, a nothing- new-erotica-book because...

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Desperately Seeking Gloria

(2) Comments | Posted March 21, 2012 | 1:44 PM

"Leaders of all stripes are hard to come by lately," writes Sarah Hepola in her New York Sunday Times 3/18/12 piece, "A Woman like No Other." The woman Hepola is featuring is Gloria Steinem and her role as leader of the feminist movement. Who is going to take her place?...

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Recognizing Women, the Changemakers

(1) Comments | Posted March 6, 2012 | 10:29 AM

When you and I take the basic necessities of life for granted, we can sometimes forget that to some people, they can mean the difference between life and death.

I was reminded of this while watching Water in Tigray, a video from Oxfam America, where water has saved lives. It...

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Sex Appeal and Strutting our Stuff: Sexual Power or Real Power?

(12) Comments | Posted February 26, 2012 | 9:01 AM

I hate to admit it, but I love watching the way the celebs dress for the Grammys and the Oscars. What really struck me at the Grammys was how Adele was dressed -- fully-clothed: no cuts to the navel; no butt cracks showing. She exuded a kind of power, a...

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The Girls of Egypt Are Here

(3) Comments | Posted January 16, 2012 | 3:55 PM

It was exciting to finally see outrage in thousands of Egyptian women who took to the streets on January 10 to protest the beating and stripping of a female demonstrator in Tahrir Square. The iconic demonstrator became known as the "blue bra girl" because the soldiers tearing away at her...

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2012: The Gate to the Garden Is Open

(7) Comments | Posted December 1, 2011 | 1:59 PM

I was asked to sit on a panel at The Economist 2012 conference, which focuses on predictions for the coming year. My assignment was to make a prediction about the workplace and jobs.

Given that I look at organizations as complex systems, which are non-linear and highly unpredictable, I'm not...

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On Being 'Nice'

(20) Comments | Posted November 23, 2011 | 5:17 PM

Women often find themselves between a rock and a hard place. When women are viewed as "nice," studies show that people "like" them better, but they are considered less effective in the workplace. When they're considered more effective but less nice, they experience more career roadblocks. What's a girl to...

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Women CEOs: Bold Enough to Be a Woman?

(19) Comments | Posted October 28, 2011 | 2:48 PM

Virginia M Rometty, new CEO of IBM, joins Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, to be among the elite 2 percent of women who hold CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies. We still have a long way to go, but now that we see more...

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Wall Street Retro: The Two Question Interview

(214) Comments | Posted August 17, 2011 | 12:39 PM

Finally, after too much time had passed, my girlfriends and I managed to coordinate a dinner date. As we sipped chilled white wine, we picked up on our conversation and it was, as it is with old friends, as if it had never stopped. The first subject was, of course,...

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Vulnerability Management: Required Course for Leaders?

(2) Comments | Posted July 8, 2011 | 4:02 PM

I was having dinner with a friend, a very successful consultant, whom I hadn't seen for quite a while. As we munched on a Caesar salad, I talked about my research on successful women. "I asked myself, what did these women, from many walks of life, share in common?" I...

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Ending Hunger Starts With Women

(3) Comments | Posted February 25, 2011 | 11:30 AM

My husband told me a story about himself when he was 18 years old that really struck a chord in me. He was out to breakfast with his girlfriend and her parents. When his boiled egg arrived, he cut off the top of the egg, put it aside and proceeded...

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From Amazon Woman to a Feminine Presence

(6) Comments | Posted January 21, 2011 | 11:28 AM

In the eighties, women flooded the male-dominated workplace and had to prove themselves man enough for the job. In order to succeed, they had to play the game and often felt they had to copy men's behavior. Women even dressed the part with padded shoulders, pant suits, certain kind of...

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The Importance of Care in Business

(6) Comments | Posted December 21, 2010 | 12:44 PM

I remember a time I spoke at a CIO conference, during the dot com bubble when hubris was in full swing. I was talking about the important role care plays in the workplace. These guys looked back at me with an expression like "what did you have for breakfast?" Once...

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Ginger Rogers, Competency, and Women

(8) Comments | Posted December 3, 2010 | 10:29 AM

"Jan" was sitting in a meeting and had a great insight into the issue being discussed. She enthusiastically put it out to the group, and waited for people's response. Nothing. No one commented or even nodded. The lack of response threw her for a loop. She thought she had something...

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Power, Politics, and Polarization

(12) Comments | Posted November 11, 2010 | 1:48 PM

Fed up with the polarization and posturing in Congress, many people opted to vote out the old and vote in the new in hopes of changing the game. Voting out women, however, is not going to help solve these problems. This is the first decline in women represented in Congress...

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The Land of the Free and the Home of the Care-Less?

(2) Comments | Posted October 21, 2010 | 9:41 AM

What do tea baggers, big banks, and the followers of Westboro Baptist Church have in common? A stunted view of morality.

The Tea party waves the flag of individual freedom, personal liberty, free market, and espouses the inalienable rights of individuals.

Westboro Baptist Church feels it has the undeniable right...

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