Jan 14, 2020
Best-Selling Author, Speaker, and Leadership coach Sally Helgesen joins the show today, to share her wisdom as one of the world’s leading experts on women’s leadership. For 30 years, Sally has been helping women and organizations recognize not only why we need women leaders, but how to develop them and help them grow. Sally talks about how she has seen organizations build more inclusive cultures over the past decade, where we still need attention and direction in women’s leadership, and the top three habits and behaviors that can help build successful and sustainable careers. Sally also discusses the inspiration behind her latest book, How Women Rise.
What You Will Hear in This Episode:
- ● Sally was working as a journalist and speech writer when she became fascinated with understanding women’s leadership.
- ● In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, many of the strategies for women to successfully lead and fit in and organizations said to act more like men, and to talk about “man things”.
- ● The financial crisis and bad decisions of 2007-2008 showed us that maybe it was time for women to contribute more to be involved in the conversation of business, economy, and leadership.
- ● Sally’s best-seller, The Female Advantage, broke ground by using data and studies to suggest women can contribute in leadership rather than need to change or adapt in their environment.
- ● There is still a long way to go, but organizations are thinking bigger than just hiring women as part of the pipeline. They are spending resources to help develop women as real leaders and decision makers.
- ● Sally has seen that organizations are starting to recognize traits that women tend to bring to the table, such as empathy, authenticity, and ability draw from personal experience to connect as necessary components of leadership.
- ● We are so worried about people not liking us that we short ourselves of servicing our organization and world.
- ● Three things Sally recommends to step into a leadership position:
- 1. From the day you begin, recognize that a successful career is built from balancing: expertise, visibility, and connection.
- 2. Don’t be afraid to clearly state and articulate where you hope your job will lead.
- 3. Build as much outside support as you can, and develop an outside network.
- Quotes:
- ● “It’s more than just a question of hiring a lot of women.”
- ● “Maybe you need to ask women themselves what they need in terms of leadership, instead of all these assumptions.”
- ● “We have changed our model of what an effective leader looks like.”
- ● “We spend too much time proactively trying to micromanage what other people might think of us.”
- ● “The strongest relationships are mutually beneficial.”
- Mentioned:
- Sally Helgesen
- Sally Helgesen Books
- How Women Rise
- The Female Advantage
- Necessary Dreams