What else can guide us as women who lead? Leaning into dispositional leadership.
Other threats to women leading, regardless of their positional title in an organization that need to be called out in this moment are fear, and competition. People aren’t mean--they are scared. When women lead, they can do something to competition, they can be responsible for changing the connection with other women. Great leaders find strength and skill in others, and help them to leverage strength as well. When women lead from a place of knowing that they are enough, and recognize that everything matters, they hold the power to change the way that organizations thrive and flourish. Being a woman who leads requires a special tapping into grit and grace to get the job done.
I’m the mom of two small boys, and while I love being a mother, SAHM life is NOT for me. I love to work. I love to get other people to bring their best to work. I have a unique strength and skill that allows me to find the talent in others, encourage them to bring it to the table, and then unleash it and connect with a project. For 20 years I’ve been leveraging that skill. Getting smarter. Getting stronger. Getting more convinced that when other people bring their best to the table, the impossible becomes possible. I’ve seen it in the nonprofits I’ve been part of, in the clients I’ve coached, in the businesses I’ve advised. At the end of the way, I hope that the little boys that I’m raising will become the men that bring this out in others as well.
Write this down and come back to it later today:
When have you had to access your grit and grace in order to make the impossible possible?
Leveraging that momentum, think about this:
What is one thing you would like to do, see through, or accomplish in the next year that will require more?
When women lead, more is the four letter word that we get stuck with. There’s always more. More to do. More to make. More to clean. More to lose. More More More.
As I was finishing FSWL last year, I was reconnected with something that meant more to me than I realized. Running. I wanted it. But I had had two babies. My body couldn’t take MORE. I felt like I couldn’t do MORE. But I wanted to. There was this chapter in the book about running and Cancer...just snag a copy of the book and read it. There are some things that only we can do for ourselves.
I needed that time out to heal. To gain strength in new ways. I came back stronger. Taking time for a time out is an important part of sustaining our roles in leading and serving. Come back and look for other who need your leadership. For she who leads, everyone gets served. When women lead, serving is how we do what we do well. We can’t forget that. We can’t let each other forget that.
What steps will you need to take to achieve that one thing?