Women in Leadership
Managing Bias in the Workplace
I firmly believe that success for women in leadership roles happens most easily when women in those roles embrace their personal authentic selves.
What does this mean? Here’s what we know. At the heart of any great leadership tenure, mastery of the tenets of leadership is displayed everyday. That being said, the business world is still dominated by men. Therefore, the climate of the business world is biased towards men.
This biased climate can feel very difficult to navigate if you are not clear about who you are. What does that mean? To be authentic, you must identify for yourself who you are – your strengths, values, mission, vision, goals, gaps and blind spots. You need to think critically about what is meaningful to you and what you want to champion. You need to work on building confidence that is balanced with humility and resilience, balanced with vulnerability.
Working to define yourself will bring you to a place of ease in displaying your authentic self. A woman who can do this is powerful. More specifically, she is empowered. She is empowered by the most important person – herself.
So, do the work, know yourself, clearly show everyone who you are and enjoy the fruits of your efforts by being, more often than not, respected for being real. Of course, you’re still expected to excel at all of the dimensions of great leadership – so read, practice, seek mentorship and coaching so that you are current with leadership best practices.
Interested in learning about how an executive coach can help you clarify who you are? Learn about your blind spots and fill in the gaps of your skill set and grow as a leader using the most current social science research.
Contact Kimberly Putman at Kimberly@KimberlyPutmanCoaching.com or via phone at (512) 298-9021 to set up a consultation to learn about how KPC can help you be the authentic leader you want to be.