I appreciate every one of you executive women and your ability to overcome challenge-after-challenge in a marketplace not receptive to you moving into positions of authority.
And what I love most is that you do it while wearing high-heels in an environment overrun with Oxfords.
Okay. Perhaps I’m dating myself a bit, but you get the picture.
As a woman, you succeed because you’re brilliant and talented. And it’s time to celebrate all that makes women remarkable and highly effective in business—your heart… your attitude!
It all emerges out of YOUR STRATEGIC EDGE!
It’s the unspoken hero in your success story.
So, let’s dig into 5 Power Attitudes that differentiate you on your career pathway.
#1 You’re Collaborators: I love what Helen Keller says about this trait: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” The marketplace’s demands for collaboration are increasing every year. A Microsoft US Information Worker Survey shows the number of teams employees are on doubling the last five years.[1] And even the workforce recognizes this as 70 percent indicate they will be spending more time on collaborative platforms.[2]
So, you can understand why it is considered one of the top four skills necessary for career success. And women own collaboration. It’s part of your DNA.
#2 You’re Appreciators: Don’t sluff it off as unworthy. A Women’s Rights Activist, Margaret Cousins, says of this quality: “Appreciation can change a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.”
Again, we women are natural encouragers. Most of us care about making this world a better place—including business organizations—even if only one individual at a time. And this is a good thing.
Studies confirm appreciation leads to satisfaction, increased productivity, innovation advances as well as improved engagement. All business elements that corporations are looking for their leaders to generate.
And the corporate workforce is craving appreciation. Women understand this better than anyone. Remember, appreciation is hard to receive unless it is honest, genuine, and specific. Anything less will read false and do more harm than good.
#3 You’re Overcomers: Helen Keller, an overcomer of the highest ilk, nails this for us. “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
Overcoming is the story of a woman’s life, for sure professionally and often personally.
Research validates that as you prevail against adversity, the attitude muscles you’re building give you all kinds of advantages.
First, you’re more resilient, a much-admired trait in organizations. And secondly, through the process of defeating one challenge, you expand your skills as an overcomer. The insights you’ve learned along the way are why you’re standing on the precipice prepared to win against all the messy realities in business today.
#4 You’re Connectors: I recall what Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, discloses: “When you look at successful women, they have other women who have supported them, and they’ve gotten to where they are because of those women (and men).”
Women effortlessly build rich, productive relationships wherever they find themselves—including in business.
You connect over shared interests and goals. You support others to thrive even in troublesome work environments. Since no products or services are generated without relationships, this gives women a leg-up as employees work better for bosses and co-workers they trust and like.
With your innate ability to consistently cultivate your interactions, research affirms that customers tend to remain loyal to women more than they do to men.
#5 You’re Intuitive: Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run With Wolves, advocates, “Practice listening to your intuition, your inner voice; ask questions; be curious; see what you see’ hear what you hear; and then act upon what you know to be true. These intuitive powers were given to your soul at birth.”
Women are hardwired to tap into the unspoken and not yet seen through intuition.
In today’s marketplace, the pressure for problem resolutions is hitting everyone faster than ever before. Intuition is a gift you’ll want to use as often as possible.
Decisions made through intuition are a combination of your mind’s ability to pick up on both internal and external clues and often simply a wise, knowing voice that taps into an unspoken universal mind aiding you in making rapid-fire decisions. When you get an intuitive hit, make sure you back it up with left-brain, linear language to get buy-in from the organization.
Your 5 Power Attitudes are indeed potent assets to achieving a rewarding, long-term, sustainable, and satisfying career. So, lead with YOUR STRATEGIC EDGE whenever and as often as you can.
I hope you realize the more you lean into YOUR STRATEGIC EDGE Attitudes the more effortless your career journey will seem. Are you interested in receiving help in growing YOUR STRATEGIC EDGE? Calendar a FREE Discovery call to realize a fulfilling career.
[1] https://goremotely.net/blog/workplace-collaboration/
[2] IBID
