It’s just making me nuts.
One after another, smart women, leaving companies and in many cases,
leaving corporate America. I don’t take a position on whether or not women should work – that’s a personal choice. But when a women leaves a company or a job because they don’t think it is “worth it” to stay – when they can’t see a path that lets them achieve success as they define it, I think that is a problem. I’m a woman, and I’m an executive. My career hasn’t peaked, at least I don’t think it has, and I have goals that I hope to achieve as I progress and grow. I’m not a CEO – that’s next – but by most people’s definition, I am “successful” – not just at work, but at life. I’ve navigated different industries, different companies, and different situations, and generally have come out on top of them – no worse for the wear. I get asked a lot – “how do you do it?” -and frankly, I have to say that until recently I never really gave a lot of thought to the answer. It just felt natural to me – one foot in front of the other, one ball up in the air while another rests for awhile – and it was what it was. Until someone suggested that clearly I had some sort of “methodology” that I’d applied, consciously or unconsciously, and that maybe people and companies and business in general could benefit from my sharing it. That really, I have a “responsibility” to share it and to help others. Okay, I’m
a process-based person, so that makes a bit of sense to me. And I absolutely want more women working side by side with me – not because I feel a special kindredness towards women because I don’t (more on that later) but because women bring a different energy and a different perspective to the workplace, and it is a different vibe that I think is needed more critically today than ever before. I’m watching companies change – and believe that companies MUST have the feminine perspective for their long term success (more on that later too). So I’m committed to defining this “methodology” – to understanding if there really is a “how to” guide that helps weave that energy and perspective into the fiber of more companies, allowing them to have even greater success by allowing their women to thrive. There’s that word again. Success. Try definingit. It’s tricky and very personal, and some definitions actually generate disdain! Dictionary.com defines it as follows:
1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
For the record – I’m not interested in that second definition. But I love the first one, in that it uses the adjective “favorable.” Not so interested in the “prosperous” aspect, except to the extent that “prosperous” is synonymous with, you guessed it, “favorable.” This blog isn’t about making a lot of money. I mean, if you agree with the experts out there, if you do what you love and you do it well, you will make money. So maybe money is a byproduct of success. But the success that I’m talking about is the success that we each define, based upon the priorities that we have at that point or stage. I can tell you right now – for me, success during my 21st year was about adjusting to life in the military. For much of my 28th year, it meant getting my newborn to sleep more than a couple hours at a time. During my 45th year, it was about navigating my exit from a company that could no longer support my growth without negatively impacting my family. It changes, year by year, stage by stage. But one thing I can tell you – wherever I am, whatever is important to me, whatever defines ME as “successful” – that is what drives my daily activities, consciously and subconsciously - through being proactive, or through the “Law of Attraction” – it is my true north. And while I can honestly say that I don’t give much real thought to it each day, I cannot deny that I must be doing something right – because again and again, the termination of my endeavors is “favorable.”
So here we are. I’m going to write about it. I’m going to try to define the methodology, not in the same way that many well meaning authors have done it because frankly, I haven’t found any of those books (and I’ve read so many of them) that have captured the end-to-end essence of how to be successful at work and at life if you are a woman. I do like many of the books that I’ve read
and I will draw upon the point of view that many authors have presented because I do think that they are part of the picture, and they certain provide for interesting debate. But I plan to be a lot more pragmatic. And I hope that it is helpful. And it not, take it for what it is - one person's view on what has worked for her.
No comments:
Post a Comment