The 2 Things Holding You Back From Leadership
In your professional life, you’ve probably noticed there’s a distinct difference between people at lower levels and those with influence.
Having worked with hundreds of mid-career women, I’ve noticed a difference between people at lower levels and those that rise with influence.
Executors
People with tons of experience & results but a hard time articulating their value to decision-makers.
If they do advocate for themselves, they don’t do it strategically.
These people can sometimes feel under-resourced & overlooked.
Executives
These people articulate their career, department and org's future with confidence.
They tie it to their value.
They leverage their network & strengths to design roles where they can have impact.
2 Things The Best Executives Have
1. Clarity in their personal brand story.
That includes:
where they’re going
what they’re known for
what they do best
2. Communicating their vision and value prop strategically
That means they frame their value, not what makes them so great.
It's how their value can contribute to the firm. They make strategic connections with the right stakeholders.
A big shift they have made is moving from the "me" mindset: when do I get what I deserve?
To the "we" mindset: what can my (and my team's) work do to achieve the firm’s goals?
Signs That You Still Have Work To Do To Get There
You're feeling a bit overwhelmed by moving through haphazard to-do lists
Part of leading is delegating. Winning is not clearing your inbox. It's clearing your calendar and head.
You're taking meetings and/or advice without knowing your own long term career goals
Say no to random meetings and take that time to figure out your long term career, team, or org vision.
You move toward opportunities you aren’t sure you want but seem to be the "automatic next step"
In mid-career, you are at a level and have enough knowledge to define your next step!
You keep hoping someone notices your value even though you yourself can’t articulate it
There are easy ways to start to figure this out, it just takes answering a few questions (ask me how I know 😉)
This is just one gal's opinion (who has worked with 500+ womxn) buuuut, to me:
The question isn’t, ‘what do you want for yourself this year?’
It’s ‘what’s on tap five years from now and how do you move toward that starting tomorrow?’