Introduction
In today's professional world, women face numerous challenges as they climb the career ladder. The metaphorical glass ceiling is often discussed, but the reality is that many obstacles appear long before reaching that point. It's more accurate to say that the ladder leading to the glass ceiling has many missing and broken rungs. Statistics paint a sobering picture: only ten percent of top corporate roles are held by women, with an even smaller percentage occupied by women of color.
However, these statistics shouldn't discourage ambitious women. Instead, they should serve as a call to action. Smart, driven, and dedicated women can reach their full professional potential by employing targeted strategies. These strategies help them define success on their own terms, balance the competing demands of work and life, and brand themselves as leaders.
"Show Your Worth" by Shelmina Babai Abji provides a roadmap for women aiming high in their careers. This book offers practical advice and inspiration for those who want to overcome obstacles, repair the broken rungs of the career ladder, and ultimately shatter the glass ceiling. Let's dive into the key ideas and strategies presented in this empowering guide.
Define Success on Your Terms
One of the most crucial steps in achieving career success is defining what success means to you personally. Many people make the mistake of allowing others to define their success, which is like embarking on a journey where someone else has chosen the destination. To truly succeed, you need to program your own GPS and set your own goals.
Cultivate Self-Awareness
The first step in defining your personal success is to develop self-awareness. This involves exploring your personality, past experiences, and inner desires. Ask yourself important questions like:
- What does success look like to me?
- What truly energizes or depletes me?
- What are my core values and how do they align with my career goals?
These questions help uncover your unique aspirations and desires, providing a foundation for your personal definition of success.
Create a Holistic Vision of Success
Success isn't just about your professional life; it encompasses your personal life as well. When defining your long-term vision of success, consider both your career goals and personal aspirations. For example, you might envision reaching the top of your field while also maintaining a happy, loving home for your family.
Remember that your priorities may shift at different stages of life, so it's important to regularly reassess and adjust your definition of success. This holistic approach acknowledges that life is more than just a paycheck and a title.
Set Long-Term and Short-Term Goals
While it's essential to have a long-term vision, it's equally important to set short-term goals that will help you get there. Start by picturing where you want to be in five years. This serves as your roadmap, providing direction and motivation.
Next, outline short-term definitions of success. These should be tangible, actionable steps that bridge the gap between your current reality and your long-term vision. Ask yourself: What milestones will mark my progress along the way?
Reflect and Celebrate
Set aside time each week for reflection and celebration. This practice helps reinforce a success-oriented mindset. Use this time to:
- Acknowledge the hurdles you've overcome
- Reflect on the lessons you've learned
- Celebrate the milestones you've achieved
By celebrating your achievements, you're boosting your self-belief and nurturing your motivation to keep moving forward.
Inspiration: Verna Meyers' Story
Consider the story of Verna Meyers, the Vice President of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix. Despite her impressive credentials as a Harvard graduate and her high-status career at a prestigious law firm, Meyers felt unfulfilled. She chose to follow her passion for Diversity and Inclusion, starting her own consultancy in this field.
This bold move ultimately led to an offer from Netflix, which allowed her to retain her consultancy alongside her leadership position. Meyers' story illustrates that success isn't just about prestige and a hefty paycheck – it's about aligning with your true calling, even if it means taking a leap into the unknown.
Allocate Your Most Precious Resource with Intention
Your attention is a valuable yet limited resource. To achieve success, you need to allocate it effectively and invest it for maximum returns. The key to doing this is setting clear priorities.
Learn from Johanna Maska
Consider the example of Johanna Maska, who served as the White House Director of Press Advance for President Barack Obama. Maska's journey took her from working on Obama's senatorial team to organizing his presidential campaign and inauguration, and finally to becoming one of his most senior aides.
In her role, Maska was responsible for allocating the President's most valuable resource – his attention. With an incredibly full schedule and new conflicts arising daily, Maska had to make quick decisions about which issues and people deserved the President's time.
Her strategy relied on three key principles:
- Trusting her judgment, even under pressure
- Cultivating a deep understanding of the context she was working within
- Navigating by her north star priorities
Whenever Maska had to make a quick decision, she would ask herself: What would the American people want the President to pay attention to?
Strategies for Effective Attention Allocation
To allocate your attention as efficiently and productively as Maska did, consider these five strategies:
Structure your day with purpose: Review how you spend your time and identify areas where you're focusing on unproductive or irrelevant tasks. Your calendar provides a snapshot of where your attention is allocated, so analyzing it can be eye-opening.
Create a personal success plan: Break down your yearly, quarterly, and monthly objectives into manageable pieces. Determine your priorities for each objective to ensure you're actively working toward specific outcomes rather than chasing vague goals.
Ruthlessly prioritize: Learn to say "no" to tasks that don't contribute to your goals. As a woman, you might find yourself burdened with irrelevant tasks or expectations that don't align with your objectives. Give yourself permission to assertively decline such requests and focus on what truly matters to you.
Address the essentials: While prioritizing your goals is crucial, some mundane tasks like emails and administrative work still need attention. Allocate specific time blocks for these essential but less glamorous responsibilities to maintain a balance between strategic progress and day-to-day necessities.
Reflect and celebrate: Regularly evaluate your daily tasks. Were they all truly worthy of your attention? Focus on progress rather than perfection, understanding that each step forward brings you closer to your long-term success.
Believe in Balance
Achieving a balance between professional and personal life is a key challenge many women face in the workplace. While it's frustrating that women are often more pressured to balance caregiving and domestic responsibilities alongside their careers than men, it's important to focus on solutions rather than dwelling on the unfairness of the situation.
The Secret to Work-Life Balance
The secret to achieving optimal work-life balance starts with believing that balance is possible. Your mindset plays a crucial role in this process. Many women desire work-life balance but lack the belief that it's attainable. The first step, therefore, is to cultivate a balance-oriented mindset, firmly believing that equilibrium is within reach.
Practical Steps for Achieving Balance
Identify personal priorities: Recognize your personal priorities and give them the same importance as your professional ones. These are the aspects of your life that rejuvenate and invigorate you, such as spending time with family, pursuing hobbies, or enjoying moments of solitude for self-reflection.
Allocate time for different roles: You play many roles in life – professional, family member, friend, and more. To thrive, it's crucial to allocate dedicated time to nurture each of these roles. This not only preserves your well-being but also enhances your capacity to excel in every aspect of your life.
Establish clear boundaries: Create a clear distinction between your work hours and personal time. This involves disconnecting from work-related devices and temporarily muting emails during personal hours. These "hard" boundaries not only enhance productivity but also motivate you to complete tasks within designated work hours.
Use transition routines: Develop routines that serve as bridges between work mode and home mode, preventing the spillover of stress between the two domains. Something as simple as changing out of your office clothes when you get home can serve as a psychological cue, helping your mind transition seamlessly.
Learn to say "no": Within your non-work hours, it's important to create another vital boundary – the ability to say "no" to anything that's unnecessary or emotionally draining. This safeguards your personal time and energy, ensuring that your personal priorities remain in focus.
Clarify your top priority: Be clear with yourself about what your highest priority is. Life often presents choices, and it's crucial to understand the trade-offs. When push comes to shove, there should be no ambiguity - your top priority takes precedence.
Embracing Balance: Oprah's Perspective
Remember Oprah Winfrey's wise words: "You can have it all, just not all at once." This perspective acknowledges that achieving perfect balance all the time is unrealistic. Instead, focus on finding a balance that works for you in your current life stage, understanding that this balance may shift over time.
Your Authenticity is Your Strength
In the workplace, the value you create is the cornerstone of your success. The more unique your contribution, the more indispensable you become. Having the confidence to bring your full self and experiences to your work is key to creating significant value.
Overcoming Hurdles
Women, especially those from minority backgrounds, often face significant hurdles in the workplace. They may find themselves in environments where they don't see people who share their backgrounds or experiences. This lack of representation can lead to discomfort and the feeling of being compelled to construct a corporate image that doesn't fully embrace their unique stories and perspectives.
To counter these challenges:
- Don't let feelings of being underrepresented, undereducated, or underconnected dominate your mindset.
- Shed societal programming that suggests women should be seen and not heard, or that men's voices inherently carry more value.
The Power of Effective Communication
Effective communication is a powerful tool in your journey to authenticity. Learning to convey your thoughts succinctly and persuasively is essential. This not only captures people's attention but also allows them to see you for who you truly are.
Tips for effective communication:
- Don't undermine your ideas with self-doubt; use strong and assertive language.
- Avoid phrases like "This might be a dumb question" or "Maybe this idea is silly."
- Communicate with unwavering conviction.
- In the face of interruptions, assert yourself politely but firmly. Saying "Let me finish" when someone talks over you sends a message that your voice deserves to be heard.
Showcasing Your Value
Align yourself with projects and departments where your competence can shine brightest. Demonstrating your capabilities in these settings is the most potent way to showcase your value. If biases lead others to question your abilities, the best response is to educate them through your actions, proving them wrong with your performance.
Know When to Move On
If your unique value consistently goes unappreciated and unrecognized, it's time to consider a change. Sometimes, it's necessary to move on to environments where your worth is fully acknowledged and celebrated.
Inspiration: Kathleen Hogan's Story
Consider the story of Kathleen Hogan, Chief People Officer at Microsoft. In 2007, when diagnosed with breast cancer, Kathleen initially kept the news to herself, wearing a wig throughout chemo and confiding in only a few people. She wanted to maintain her image as "Kathleen the executive" rather than becoming "Kathleen who has cancer."
However, she found this subterfuge exhausting. When diagnosed with breast cancer again in 2018, Kathleen decided to approach things differently. She chose to be real and share her diagnosis, and was overwhelmed by her colleagues' support. This experience taught her the strength in bringing her whole self to work.
Kathleen's story illustrates that authenticity can be a source of strength, even in challenging circumstances. By being true to herself and sharing her experiences, she fostered deeper connections with her colleagues and found unexpected support.
Brand Yourself as a Strong Leader
How you are known and who knows you are two factors that will significantly influence your professional success. It's crucial to make yourself known as a leader to those who can place you in leadership positions.
Understanding Your Personal Brand
Your personal brand is essentially what people think of when they hear your name. To elevate this into a personal leadership brand, you need to integrate strong leadership qualities into what people already associate with you.
Steps to Develop Your Leadership Brand
Identify your leadership aspirations: Reflect on leaders who have inspired you and those who haven't. Their examples can clarify what you aim to achieve in your own leadership style.
Focus on fundamental leadership attributes:
- Trustworthiness: Build a foundation of trust through authenticity and transparency.
- Caring: Genuinely care for your team and guide them toward success.
- Listening: Practice active and attentive listening to understand and meet your team's needs.
- Communication: Develop clear and compelling communication skills to share your vision and objectives.
- Inspiration: Cultivate the ability to inspire, energize, and motivate your team.
- Innovation: Foster a creative environment that encourages new ideas.
- Nurturing potential: Recognize and encourage the potential in your team members.
- Crisis management: Develop the ability to guide your team through tough times.
Take a focused approach: Identify which attributes you want to build upon and incorporate them into your Personal Success Plan. For example, if you aim to improve your listening skills, seek out resources to help you do just that.
Seek accountability: Share your objectives with trusted colleagues to keep yourself accountable.
Continuous improvement: Remember that building a strong leadership brand is an ongoing journey. Continually work on strengthening these attributes and take time to celebrate your successes along the way.
The Importance of Networking
Building a strong leadership brand also involves expanding your network. Make connections with influential people in your industry and seek out mentors who can guide you on your leadership journey. Attend industry events, join professional organizations, and leverage social media platforms like LinkedIn to increase your visibility and establish yourself as a thought leader in your field.
Showcasing Your Leadership Skills
Look for opportunities to demonstrate your leadership skills, even if you're not in a formal leadership position. This could involve:
- Volunteering to lead projects or initiatives
- Mentoring junior colleagues
- Sharing your expertise through presentations or articles
- Taking on additional responsibilities that showcase your leadership potential
Adapting Your Leadership Style
As you develop your leadership brand, be mindful of the need to adapt your style to different situations and team members. Effective leaders are flexible and can adjust their approach based on the needs of their team and the demands of the situation.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
Many women, especially as they move into leadership roles, struggle with imposter syndrome – the feeling that they don't deserve their success or aren't qualified for their position. Remember that these feelings are common and don't reflect reality. Combat imposter syndrome by:
- Acknowledging your achievements and the hard work that led to them
- Seeking feedback from trusted colleagues and mentors
- Reframing negative self-talk into positive affirmations
- Embracing challenges as opportunities for growth
The Power of Visibility
Make sure your accomplishments and contributions are visible. Don't shy away from sharing your successes and the impact of your work. This isn't about bragging, but about ensuring that decision-makers are aware of your value and potential.
Embracing Continuous Learning
Leadership is a journey of continuous learning and growth. Stay curious and open to new ideas. Seek out opportunities for professional development, whether through formal education, workshops, or simply reading widely about leadership and your industry.
Final Thoughts: Your Path to Success
"Show Your Worth" provides a comprehensive roadmap for women aiming to thrive in their careers. By implementing the strategies outlined in this book, you can overcome obstacles, define your own success, and position yourself as a strong leader in your field.
Remember these key takeaways:
Define success on your own terms: Create a personal definition of success that encompasses both your professional and personal aspirations.
Allocate your attention intentionally: Focus on what truly matters by prioritizing tasks and managing your time effectively.
Believe in balance: Cultivate a mindset that believes work-life balance is achievable, and implement practical strategies to make it a reality.
Embrace your authenticity: Bring your whole self to work, recognizing that your unique experiences and perspectives are valuable assets.
Brand yourself as a leader: Develop and showcase the qualities of an effective leader, continually working to strengthen your leadership brand.
Success in your career is not just about climbing the corporate ladder; it's about creating a fulfilling professional life that aligns with your values and aspirations. By following the advice in "Show Your Work," you can dare to become the leader you dream of being, overcome obstacles, and make a significant impact in your chosen field.
Remember, the journey to success is ongoing. Celebrate your achievements along the way, learn from setbacks, and continually reassess and adjust your goals as you grow and evolve. With determination, self-awareness, and strategic action, you can show your worth and achieve the success you desire.