Tips for Managing Your Personal Brand at Work: Are You Doing All the Right Things?

iStock_000018133371XSmallBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

In our conversations with top female executives, we have noticed that one of the most popular topics discussed is the importance of managing your personal brand and how this influences your career advancement. But what exactly does it mean to manage your personal brand and how can you do it effectively? Believe it or not, your personal brand consists of more than your outward appearance. Of course how you present yourself at work is very important, but when you think about your personal brand, you need to take more factors into consideration.

Your personal brand is always working. Whether or not it is working for or against you is completely in your control. Every time you enter a conference room, a networking function, or a team brainstorming session, you need to be thinking about how other people perceive you.

Take a look at the list below to see what factors are the building blocks of your personal brand. Making sure that you are always putting your best self forward can help you get noticed by the people who matter. This could lead to career changing opportunities such as getting a sponsor or being chosen for an overseas assignment.

When managing your personal brand at work, you should take the following factors into consideration:

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Are You Risk Averse at Work? Learn Why Challenging Yourself Will Help You Get Ahead

iStock_000017439589XSmallBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

What does it mean to be a risk taker at work? For many people, the idea of asking for a raise, going for a big promotion, or taking on a challenging project is daunting, but these are exactly the types of actions that risk-taking employees, especially women, should be doing in order to drive their career advancement in the right direction. Previous studies on risk appetite have indicated that women generally do not take as many risks as men, but is this hypothesis true, and does it apply to business women in a corporate setting?

In a recent working paper, researchers at Tufts University suggest that the idea that women are more risk averse than men needs to be revisited. The paper’s author, Julie A. Nelson, states, “Taken as a bald statement, the statement might be taken as indicating something that is universally true for every individual member of the classes ‘women’ and ‘men.’ In this case, it would have to be true that every individual woman is more risk averse than every individual man. This exceedingly strong implication is not likely intended by those who write such statements, since just one example of a cautious man and a bold woman disproves it.”

According to the research, not all women are more risk averse than men. It suggests why we shouldn’t base our assumptions of women in business on stereotypes – which exactly why we must move beyond tokenism in diversity hiring.

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Leadership and Forgiveness: Five Steps for Letting Go

iStock_000006492382XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Forgiveness is a core competency of true leadership. After all, holding onto transgressions that happened in the past means wasting valuable energy that could be put into moving people forward. What’s more, insofar as workplace culture is built first and foremost by the example set by leadership, it is critical that leaders set the tone for an inclusive environment based on forgiveness and progress – rather than one of grudges, backbiting, and gossip that can kill innovation and productivity.

In a recent INSEAD working paper, Distinguished Professor of Leadership Development Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries, discusses why transformational leaders must learn to forgive, and how to do so with grace and power.

He writes, “Forgiveness is one of the factors that differentiates exceptional from mediocre or ineffective leadership. When leaders forgive, they dissipate built-up anger, bitterness and the animosity that can color individual team and organizational functioning.”

“Forgiveness offers people the chance to take risks, to be creative, to learn, and to grow in their own leadership. Individuals, organizations, institutions, and societies can progress when people are not preoccupied by past hurts,” adds Kets de Vries. “Forgiving means accepting the fallibility of the human condition. It demonstrates courage, vulnerability, integrity, and trust, all constructive ways to build collaboration and connections.”

By letting go, leaders can help move their people forward.

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Next Gen Allies – How to Make a Difference for LGBT Colleagues

Business teamThis article is part of our June Pride series – check back all month as we explore what it means to be an LGBT woman or ally in the professional workplace.

By Michelle Clark (Keene, NH)

Every minority group needs members of the majority in their corner. In the business world, the LGBT community looks to straight allies to provide public support for their cause. Straight allies in the workplace don’t necessarily hold the key to total inclusion and diversity, but their role is absolutely essential in advancing LGBT equality efforts in the corporate arena.

By getting involved with employee resource groups and being outspoken advocates for their LGBT colleagues, straight allies have the ability to help change the attitudes and strip away the preconceptions that impede the establishment of a global corporate culture ruled by acceptance rather than exclusion.

Straight allies have already made incredible strides on behalf of the LGBT community in the workplace through their supportive words and actions, but the next generation of workers will be even more influential, according to Tyronne Stoudemire, Principal at Mercer and expert in inclusion and diversity consulting. He says, “The next generation of workers is far more accepting of different backgrounds, cultures, and communities, and I think they welcome difference.”

Even though next gen straight allies will approach LGBT community with an open mind, the road to equality for LGBT workers is still going to be littered with plenty of opposition. This is due in part to the fact that the corporate world must still take many of its cues from the social and political arenas.

Stoudemire says, “Society will have to take the lead, and corporate America will follow.” He adds, “Until organizations can provide a safe place where people feel comfortable coming out at work, things will continue to be hard, and members of the LGBT community will still feel like coming out at work could be held against them amongst their managers and colleagues.”

Next gen allies can make that happen by vocally supporting LGBT colleagues, calling for equal policies and benefits, and standing up to correct less enlightened team-mates if they make a negative comment or joke about being gay.

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Four Tips to Stay Focused at Work This Summer

iStock_000007154239XSmallBy Michelle Clark (Keene, New Hampshire)

It can be hard to keep your mind focused on work during the warm summer months when you can easily spout off a long list of things you would rather be doing or places you would rather be. And if you have children who are home for summer break, it adds an entirely new layer of distraction to infiltrate your thoughts throughout the work day.

While it may seem like an unfair sentence to be stuck in the office all day instead of basking in the warm summer sun with a cold drink and a good read, there are some things that you can do to make the best of the situation and enhance your career in the process.

Staying sharp and on point during vacation season can be accomplished in many different ways, but the best way to keep your brain focused on your task list is to set very specific goals for yourself to achieve before the end of summer. And because your attention span is already short, make sure your goals are varied enough to keep you interested and motivated to see them through to the end. Come up with a couple of simple and straightforward goals – one that you can measure and one that incorporates more intangible elements.

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Double Jeopardy or Professional Advantage? LGBT Women at Work

iStock_000000227687XSmallThis article is part of our June Pride series – check back all month as we explore what it means to be an LGBT woman or ally in the professional workplace.

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

There’s no question that LGBT individuals face additional challenges in the workplace – after all, in 29 states, it’s still legal to get fired for being gay. That’s one reason why a recent study by the Center for Talent Innovation, The Power of “Out” 2.0, revealed that 41 percent of LGBT employees remain in the closet at work.

But according to Karen Sumberg, Executive Vice President at the Center for Talent Innovation and an author of the report, one of the main issues that two in five LGBT employees remain in the closet is simply a culture of intolerance. “The hurdle is the subtle comments, jokes, and assumptions that create an environment where people don’t want to come out.”

For LGBT women, this issue is compounded by the factors that keep women from advancing to leadership levels at work. This is the essence of the “double jeopardy” factor, or as some have called it the “double glazed glass ceiling” – since LGBT women face additional hurdles than men and straight women, they are more likely to stay in the closet at work, rather than come out.

But those views may be changing. Many LGBT women are beginning to view being gay as a strategic differentiator and a tool to help them advance. Here’s why.

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The Effect of Voice Pitch on Women’s Career Advancement

iStock_000017490863XSmallBy Michelle Clark (Keene, New Hampshire)

What does the sound of your voice have to do with your level of corporate success? Apparently a lot, according to “Voice pitch and the labor market success of male chief executive officers,” a research paper recently published by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in Evolution and Human Behavior. The authors, William J. Mayew and Mohan Venkatachalam of Duke, and Christopher A. Parsons of U.C. San Diego, present strong evidence that male CEOs who possess a deeper vocal range are more likely to work for larger companies, enjoy a longer tenure, and make more money.

While this study does not explicitly analyze how the vocal pitch effect impacts professional women in a corporate setting, a solid argument can be built around the fact that female executives might find themselves at a disadvantage because of a supposedly inferior biological trait. But, this is not the message that should be taken away from the paper, suggests author and Duke Professor Bill Mayew.

“This can be an empowerment tool for women in the sense that if we can understand what characteristics matter, the next step to is to look at why they matter, and when do they matter most,” says Mayew. “Then you can start to think about tailoring them. For example if you are a female sitting in the boardroom, and you cannot control your voice pitch, what are the other things you can do in terms of getting your voice heard?”

As one of the first research studies to emerge on the topic of how evolutionary and biological traits affect how quickly an executive ascends the corporate ladder, this paper shifts the focus from the common factors of education and experience to intangible traits that are more difficult to measure, such as voice pitch. By learning what factors might play a role in determining who gets chosen for senior level positions within large corporations, women can focus on displaying their own unique set of strengths.

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Go Ahead – Give Yourself Credit

iStock_000012546879XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

How often do you truly take credit for your accomplishments on big projects? According to a new article published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, for women working in male-dominated environments, the answer might be “not often enough.”

The research, carried out by Michelle C. Haynes, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and Madeline E. Heilman, New York University, suggests that when paired with male colleagues, women tend to give credit for success to men on the team. The reason, they suggest, is because women expect to perform worse than men on stereotypically male tasks (like making management decisions), and when the team generates success, they figure it must be because the work was carried by their male peers. Haynes and Heilman explain:

“Most high status, high power, professional positions are thought to require agentic characteristics for success, characteristics that are congruent with the male stereotype but incongruent with the female stereotype. As a result of this perceived “lack of fit,” men are generally expected to perform successfully in these types of roles; women are expected to be less likely to do so.”

The team performed a similar study in 2005, and this study corroborated those results and went further. The two determined that this wasn’t simply a case of women being “modest” and giving credit to any team-mate, rather than draw attention to themselves. After all, in another test, when women were paired with female colleagues, they didn’t give their partner credit for the team’s success.

It was only when they were working with men that women assumed success was their team-mate’s doing. Given that the professional workforce is dominated by men, especially higher tiers of the corporate ladder, that amounts to a lot of credit handed over to men, when they didn’t necessarily deserve it. It also suggests that there a lot of women not taking credit for excellent work, performance that could lead to bigger responsibilities, promotions, and salaries.

Next time you attribute the success of a project to someone else’s prowess, it is perhaps literally worth your while to stop and think about where that success really came from. Go ahead. Give yourself credit.

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When to Use Your Head and When to Use Your Heart in Negotiation

Three serious business people talking in boardroomBy Melissa J. Anderson (New Your City)

There are many different styles of negotiation, and to get the best outcome it’s important to examine the stakes and the situation. A new study purports to show when you should put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and when it’s best to focus on feelings in negotiation settings.

The paper, entitled “When to use your head and when to use your heart: The differential value of perspective-taking versus empathy in competitive interactions” and published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin earlier this year, suggests how two different ways of “imagining others’ experience” – one cognitive and one emotional – can enable best outcomes in specific types of negotiation scenarios. The authors write:

“Philosophers and psychologists have described at least two fundamentally different modes of imagining others’ experience: Perspective-taking, which is the cognitive capacity to spontaneously consider the world from another’s viewpoint; and empathy, which is the affective capacity to emotionally connect with others and experience sympathy and concern for others.”

At first, these strategies – and yes, empathy is a strategy here – don’t seem all that different. But the authors, Debra Gilin, Department of Psychology, Saint Mary’s University, William W. Maddux, INSEAD, Jordan Carpenter, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Adam D. Galinsky, Northwestern University, explain that one is about the head and the other is about the heart.

Perspective-taking (or putting yourself in someone’s shoes) means thinking about a situation from another’s viewpoint. It is a process of acknowledging your difference from someone else and trying to see how they would see. Conversely, empathy is about connection. It means seeking “one-ness” with how others and feeling how they feel. Rather than examining difference, you are focusing on similarities.

Both of these approaches have a place in negotiation, according to the research, and choosing the right one can get you the best outcome. You just have to know when to go with your heart or your head. Here’s how.

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“What’s She Doing Here?” How to Deal with the Legitimacy Double Bind

Attractive business womanBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

As women advance through their careers, they often face challenges to their legitimacy, or the notion that they didn’t really earn their position. Apparently, some people are incapable of fathoming a world where a woman is competent and capable of earning a job by way of her qualifications. They would rather attribute her success to a quota, or to mere optics, or to one of the other methods women are presumed to employ to make their ways to the top.

It’s not fair, and it’s an issue that doesn’t seem to be going away, either.

It’s also not just an anecdotal issue or one that can be explained away by so-called oversensitivity (yet another term hurled at women to demoralize and delegitimize us). In fact, hard data backs this up. Both Catalyst and McKinsey have uncovered research showing that, while men are hired and promoted based on their perceived potential, women don’t get that benefit. Women have to earn new positions by already having done the work – by proving their performance.

And once a woman has earned her position, the questions don’t stop there. Women have to keep earning that job over and over again. It’s exhausting. It’s one more way way women are inhibited by tiny invisible biases throughout their day.

It can also lead women to question whether they should engage in women’s networks and initiatives – after all, they may reason, if they need that extra help, maybe they really don’t deserve their job. Or, perhaps, they worry, others will feel that way, that if women are perceived to need extra help, then they don’t really deserve those jobs they have fought so hard for.

It’s a double bind many women experience – they want support, but don’t want to be seen as needing support, for fear they may seem they need it. Exhausting.

But that doesn’t mean we should throw up our hands and go home. It also shouldn’t prevent us from engaging in women’s events and supporting initiatives to help one another. Here are a few ways we can approach challenges on job legitimacy.

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