Further Thoughts on Rising from Victimhood to Empowered Leadership
The portraiture of a woman is a reflection of her essence. It embellishes her expressions and movement while illuminating her strength glowing from within. Throughout history she has forged her way, often working like a man while gracefully acknowledging her woman within. She fights for her equality, fiercely defends her integrity, and embraces her identity.
“A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink.” Gina Carey
Disparity within the workplace has historic roots. Women working in environments where they feel excluded leads them to either question their abilities or mimic male power actions. Long ago, the saying “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” became a battle cry. Many women found the courage to boldly voice their ideas, and discovered it was easier to be heard by their male counterparts or supervisors when skirts and heels were replaced with power suits. That vision and voice created the mold for a changing work culture, and women experienced position advancements and increasing authority.
To paraphrase, women gained power in the workplace by mimicking male power. This great leap in the workplace was done not by choice but by socioeconomic pressure to be manlike. But, ponder this: Are men and women the same?
Results of numerous studies and experiments have concluded there are negative health consequences to being something you are not. Men and women have different archetypal empowerments. Women, you have a makeup of power independent of men. Find your biological uniqueness, find your strengths, and bring them to work. This influences cultural change to productivity and wellness. When women are empowered to bring their natural essence, the workplace culture experiences cooperation vs. coercion, intuitive knowledge vs. rigid intellect, internal excellence vs. external competition, and internal nesting (a way of creating quality and safety) vs. external hunting (beating competition to create a monopoly). Empowerment is access to resources to overcome a challenge; power is trying to control someone else.
As women are exposed to confident female role models, they are likely to become more confident themselves. This summer, I have been collecting stories on how women in leadership overcome the adversity of limiting beliefs and behaviors confronted in and out of the workplace. The results of this work are helping to inform my coaching and mentoring services while also inspiring me to design a complementary mini-workshop series with empowerment training and community development.
“The empowered woman is powerful beyond measure and beautiful beyond description.” Dr. Steve Maraboli
The first session in my mini-series, “De-masculinizing Women in Leadership” will be held on Thursday, August 6, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. CST. It is my pleasure to invite leaders, change-agents, and social innovators to gather and learn about the universal challenges that female leaders face around the world, and develop unique tools to move beyond adversity into personal excellence.
Please register to reserve your seat: bit.ly/2CF1QUf
I look forward to our connection!
With moxie, Samantha