Last week I had the privilege of hearing Hillary Clinton talk publicly about her career and life. Whilst her speech covered a range of topics, including international politics, I extracted for you here some nuggets about women and leadership. Along with some of my reflections prompted by her achievements and stories.
The biggest aha moment for me was about what is possible for us to achieve in a lifetime – men or women. As we watched the movie of Hillary’s life and career to date, I was totally stunned. By how much she has achieved already. The results, the amount of work, the growth, the political success, the fights she led and the campaigns she embarked on. And she is not even done! She is human like you & I. She has her unique talents and strengths, but she does not have super powers.
As I considered all those, my achievements seemed so ridiculously little in comparison. But this isn’t about feeling lesser. This is about realising that the scale available for us to grow in our lives is so massive. So as we hit the limit of our comfort zone with our next challenge, let’s think again. It’s only a small leap we need to take, in the scheme of things that are possible for us. We can go so, so much further. It’s up to us how fast and how far. Right now we are probably using only a small portion of our abilities. So next time you fear the next step, remember those women who have achieved way more and trust you can do the same.
Hillary Clinton also talked about how to stand strong when facing gender bias. Typically when we as women lose approval quickly as we go from fencing for others to advocating for ourselves. It’s a tricky transition, as the external look on us changes. But this should not stop us from stepping into our own power. This would mean otherwise that we stay in a stereotype of the helper, the good girl, the altruist. But we can be both – the socially-conscious and the personally-driven. Just be ready that the way your peers approve of you might change, as you go for what you want. Including some female friends or colleagues around you. That’s OK, it’s part of the process. Don’t give up on what you want to maintain that approval.
Another insight which came from Hillary’s speech was around criticism aimed at women. Obviously she has been on the receiving end of a lot of that during her campaign, and it was striking to feel the intensity of the attacks and their impact on her. We are not all highly visible leaders, but we can all feel the impact of some of those attacks in our lives at times. So let’s take some of her wisdom on board.
The threat according to her comes from men looking to undermine our confidence. Like a well-calculated strategy. And this is taking its fuel in the fact that there is a large audience who rejoice in this. The tactic is to verbally attack something else than our credit, which is usually impeccable. So it’s a diversion technique. And the minute we let the doubt creep into us, they get some success. Can you see how this might play in your work life? Have you let a few smart words create that 2 seconds of doubt in your mind? That’s the germ of gender discrimination. So next time, watch out for it. If it comes, label it in your head and send it straight back with the integrity of your credit.
You might think like I do that it’s lucky we are not women in politics. But we need them there to get sexism out of the door in this male-dominated arena. And it makes us realise that the business world might not be so bad after all! Or that we are not facing as harsh a judgment as in some other countries. So why not leveraging those aspects of our situation to push ourselves? To dare doing what gets us motivated and fulfilled? How can you step into your own power a little bit more tomorrow?
