Coffee and Conversations
To kick off the new year we have decided to write a new Coffee and Conversations Series to capture and share advice shared by some of the inspirational women in our personal lives. In each of these posts, we will write about some of the key takeaways that resonated with us and that we thought might help others and help inspire further conversations in your own personal network.
Lift up others
I attended the first in the series of local networking events on leadership this week. I was listening to a female COO speak about how she got where she was. Her talk reminded me of a piece I wrote last year for International Women’s Day – 5 ways to support women around you. Ultimately, she didn’t put herself forward for the role. Someone else did. This is considered a “common” female trait. Time and time again I hear examples of women not putting themselves forward. Personally, I think they are often just busy doing whatever it is that they do in the day job that it simply doesn’t occur to them. I may be wrong. However, regardless of the underlying reason why women don’t put themselves forward in the first place, a great example of how you can support others is to lift others up. Examples might include things like putting other people forward for awards and promotions, encouraging them to celebrate their achievements and giving credit where credit is due.
A great trait for a leader or potential leader is to support and lift others up!