Tag Archive for: career advice

Why Self-Care Matters Most In Leadership (Yes, for you too!)

You know the first things you are quick to sacrifice when it comes to meeting all the demands of work (self-care, well-being, downtime)? Well they are the last things you should.

Self-care in leadershipIf you have been able to reach and stay at the executive level, then you are more likely to have learned that self-care is inextricable to leadership. You have ideally dropped the cultural self-sacrifice story a long time ago in your leadership journey.

A study of self-care among executive leadership in healthcare organizations found that “Leaders’ with high self-care ratings were likely to be from an organization with a high profit margin, while leaders with low ratings were likely to be either in their role for less than a year or from an organization with a lower profit margin.”

How much leaders practice self-care has a trickle down effect within organizations, and especially, in your own life and ability to show up.

Sacrificing Self-Care Benefits Nobody

We already know that playing the long hours game has a strong adverse impact on women’s short and long-term health relative to men. We know that a female-skewed over-conscientious approach to work can lead to emotional exhaustion. And research has shown that high work-related fatigue is even stronger for highly educated women.

Mindfulness researcher and author Jacqueline Carter shared with theglasshammer, “it was amazing to see how basically the higher you got in an organization, the higher the level of the executives, they all took time to exercise, they slept well, even despite ridiculous travel schedules and ridiculous scopes of jobs,” says Carter. “It was really clear that if you don’t start taking good care of yourself and setting good boundaries and saying no at an earlier level of your leadership journey, you’re gonna burn out.”

According to Harvard Business Review, “burnout cuts across executive and managerial levels…the major defining characteristic of burnout is that people can’t or won’t do again what they have been doing.” Identifiable characteristics include: “(1) chronic fatigue; (2) anger at those making demands; (3) self-criticism for putting up with the demands; (4) cynicism, negativity, and irritability; (5) a sense of being besieged; and (6) hair-trigger display of emotions.”

When in burnout, you lose your heart for where you’ve come to and where you’re at and what you’re doing.

Investment: Healthy You, Healthy Leadership

“I think there’s a mind-set shift that happens when people start to take this seriously, which is to go from seeing the investment of time in sleep, exercise, and mindfulness as a cost to thinking of it as an investment,” says Caroline Webb, senior adviser to McKinsey and author of How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life.

“In fact, it’s not just an investment that pays back long term, it’s an investment that pays back, all the evidence suggests, rather immediately,” says Webb. “The idea of that shift—that this is not down time, it’s simply investing in your ability to have more up time—is something which I’ve seen at the heart of everybody who makes a difference in the way that they’re living their lives, and also in the way that their teams around them are living their lives.”

The Value in Reset and Renewal

There are many ideas for how to incorporate self-care into your daily routine – such as meditation, being in nature, spending pockets of time in silence, drinking more water, starting a gratitude practice, scheduling your day to include work and non-work activities, practicing affirmations, getting massages and more. The thing is when you approach these things as something else on the task list to fit in when you’re already at overload, self-care can feel like yet another chore.

Research shows it can be valuable to step away from it all, take a bigger breath and dedicate attention for yourself to reset and renew. The right health-related vacation can shift things – it can bring you back to yourself, to open perspectives and return to a center of clarity and expansiveness, with benefits that last long beyond the time you spend away.

Research has shown that “individuals who attended a spiritual retreat for 7 days experienced changes in the dopamine and serotonin systems of the brain, which boosts the availability of these neurotransmitters” that relate to positive psychological effects. Additionally, meditation retreats have shown “large effects” on anxiety, depression, stress, mindfulness and compassion. Studies have also shown improvements in physical health, tension, and fatigue.

“A one-week wellness retreat (including many educational, therapeutic and leisure activities, and an organic, mostly plant-based diet),” according to a scientific study, “resulted in substantial improvements in everything from weight to blood pressure to psychological health – and sustained at six weeks (the last check-in point of the study).”

Beth McGroarty, director of research at the Global Wellness Institute, said to Travel Weekly, “in a wellness retreat, therapies/experiences often happen in concert and over multiple days, and combining them may have unique outcomes.”

As the research report states, “Retreat experiences provide a unique opportunity for people to escape from unhealthy routines and engage in healthy practices and activities that lead to immediate and sustained health benefits.”

For transparency, the writer of this article hosts women’s retreats, and my direct experience in facilitating a space in which a woman can connect with other women in vulnerability, return to her own center, show up from this place, and impact her own life trajectory is the inspiration for my personal commitment to this work.

No Matter How You Do It…

The bottom line is that no matter how you start or improve self-care – whether taking small moments for big impact changes in your daily routine or taking a bigger break away from it all to truly reset and renew – what’s most important, on all levels, is that you do.

Writer Bio:

Aimee Hansen, freelance writer for the theglasshammer, is the Creator and Facilitator of Storyteller Within Women’s Retreats, recommended by Lonely Planet Wellness Escapes. Since 2015, she has hosted nearly 150 women across 18 intimate retreat experiences. Her Journey Into Sacred Expression Retreats involve meditation, yoga, self-exploratory writing and sacred ceremonies, all in beautiful natural surroundings. She’ll be hosting two upcoming women’s retreat events this summer – in late June and late July – on the stunning Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, for women seeking self-renewal.

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Hard Talk: Work, Motherhood and the Unfinished Discussion

By Nicki Gilmour

Welcome to my new column called Hard Talk.

Nicki GilmourThis column will surface the topics that are buried by most of us due to many reasons including fear, exasperation, denial, taboos and lack of information until we stumble upon the topic itself as a challenge. Also, happy Mother’s Day.

I am going to start by telling you I do not have all, if any, of the answers, but I do want to create the space for each of us to come up with our own answers while offering insight into the individual and common psychology that binds us. I believe there is value to putting on the table the systemic and psychological reasons that explain why important topics are often ignored by the best of us as it pertains to careers and the person we are inside and outside of the office building.

How to spot a difficult subject

There are so many things that we aren’t willing to talk about in society and, in this instance, corporate life. How do you spot a taboo or something that just isn’t “on the table,” or, weirdly, is half on the table, whereby the topic seems like it is being dealt with or is resolved already, but really isn’t?

A sign to look for is when the topic is mostly talked about in a personalized (subjective) way, pitting women or people against other women or other people, suggesting somehow it is not a systemic issue but rather a matter choices and opinions. This is false reasoning when the so-called choices are a binary revolving around a lose-lose paradigm that only one societal group has to participate in.

The topic must be identified for real solutions to be found.

Why is motherhood a minefield topic?

Motherhood is a tricky topic as it is an identity and a job in itself. Fatherhood, when played out as many fathers do now in the legacy mother role of primary caregiver, also begs analysis for bias, but for now we shall discuss motherhood. Not everyone wants (another taboo) or can have (another under-discussed taboo) babies. But for those who do, there is not a woman alive in a defined career trajectory who has not given serious thought to the timing and logistics of how having a kid will affect her career. Anxiety at worst, mindshare at best. Once in it, motherhood can become both a Chief Operations Officer job and an internship as moving parts and project scheduling and learning plus actual execution are all very much part of the job. This is on top of a (big, busy and important) day job.

Just to be clear, this column is not one of judgment or even grouping as everyone has different feelings towards ambition, guilt and their own individual needs regarding work and what they glean intellectually, emotionally and financially from doing it. Additionally, there are so many influencing elements around each person’s spousal division of labor, capacity to organize and delegate support. Then there is the other topic of how much money each person has to throw at solutions should their preference lie there. And if the primary care giver is your spouse – man or woman – the conversation certainly changes slightly.

The difficulty of saying small humans disrupt life as we know it

Why has it taken me 13 years and 8,000 articles published to touch this topic? Simply put, we were in another time era. It is only very recently that corporations are in a place to discuss policy around parental leave as opposed to maternity leave. Equal pay for the same job in the US and elsewhere – such as the UK – is still being truly decided and addressed. We are not as advanced as we think we are.

The perception around women and babies and how that somehow negatively affected productivity or competence was just too strong. It felt like even indulging in the conversation of babies impacting careers was an admission that there was validity to the possibility that it was so. Instead of speaking in terms of systemic changes, we were very much stuck in an individual choices discussion.

The denial around impact of any kind was necessary because it felt like a betrayal to the messaging around “you can do it,” “just lean in” and other Generation X messaging to women. Good men with willingness to change have continued to be messaged more or less the same “provider” talk until recently and those who bucked the trend have had their own bias to deal with, from being excluded from mommy coffee dates to how to enter a bathroom to change their babies.

Motherhood has been said to be the unfinished work of feminism in a matricentric theory and movement being proposed by Andrea O’Reilly. Motherhood has been largely left out of feminist theory and I think this is why my usual “push the envelope and talk about it anyway” trait, which has allowed us to talk about intersecting identities at work in so many forms, has not attracted me to this topic until now. Apparently I was not on my own but like my evolution on the willingness to talk about it, others indicate a sea change with The Guardian’s Amy Westervelt opining that, “Most surprising to me, as someone told by women’s magazine editors for years ‘we don’t cover motherhood’, is the fact that publications like Elle and Marie Claire appear to have lifted their long-standing ban on motherhood.”

Still an issue to resolve

Ann Crittenden, in her book “The Price of Motherhood”, states, “once a woman has a baby, the egalitarian office party is over thoroughly.”

And other people have written at length regarding the bias of motherhood for pay and promotions so it is felt currently by some and is far from a resolved issue, culturally. In fact, if you look at Wikipedia’s definition of “mommy track” it is interesting to see that they define it almost as a choice for women to take, instead of an action that happens to women by others.

No company has this issue cracked. But, some are trying hard to create conditions culturally and programmatically. It still feels like the conversation needs to be reframed and developed to redesign the workplace of the future with a society to match. In the meantime, look for those companies that remove the subjectivity of flextime or where parental leave is taken by men for real amounts of time. Live your values and instead of the lean in message, and perhaps focus on personal renewal while the system catches up.

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The Importance of Supporting New Parents, Inside and Out of the Office

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Supporting new parentsGlobally, parental leave policies vary greatly among both advanced and developing countries, and researchers have determined that these policies can have a profound effect on female workforce participation rates.

Research conducted by Goldman Sachs found that in 2018, the participation of prime-age women in the US economy was lower in comparison to the workforce participation of this population in 2000, nearly 20 years earlier.

A separate study, titled “Female Labor Supply: Why Is the United States Falling Behind?” that was published in 2013 in the American Economic Review, found similar results, reporting that in 1990, the US had the sixth-highest female labor participation rate among 22 OECD countries. However, by 2010, the US’ ranking on this list fell to 17th.

Goldman Sachs research estimates that if the US were to introduce longer parental leave policies and higher public childcare spending, similar to policies adopted by other advanced economies, female-participation rates in the US could increase by around 4 percentage points.

Companies are therefore focused on their parental leave policies, including Goldman Sachs, which offers primary caregivers 16 weeks leave and non-primary caregivers four weeks leave following the birth or adoption of a child. In addition, the bank provides a variety of other services to employees to support them during this time period.

Here, Goldman Sachs people describe their parental leave experience, working with the firm’s dedicated Wellness team and share their advice for other new parents.

Naomi Leslie: “I Appreciated Being Treated Like Any Other New Mom”

Naomi Leslie, a managing director in the Investment Banking Division, described working closely with the firm’s Wellness team as she prepared for her baby, who was born via gestational carrier. “I appreciated the firm’s parental leave policy because I was treated like any other mother who was carrying a child,” said Leslie. “I took several months to be home with my daughter and bond with her, and felt well supported by the Wellness team in preparation for going on leave.”

Leslie noted that she relied on LifeCare’s consultants, as well as their recommendations for pediatricians and day care centers, in preparation for the arrival of her daughter. In advance of going on leave, she also discussed different approaches with Wellness for keeping in touch with her teams, and ultimately went on to develop coverage guidelines for each client.

She recommends that both women – and men – take the full parental leave offered to them, in order to “set the standard” going forward. “We should begin to treat paternity leave with the same reverence as maternity leave,” Leslie notes.

Jane Moffat: “The Support I Felt Was Unparalleled”

“The support I felt was unparalleled – both from the firm as a whole as well as Wellness, my team, and my internal clients,” said Jane Moffat, a vice president in the Legal Department. Based in the firm’s Washington, DC office, Moffat also described the lengths the firm went to in order to provide her with appropriate accommodations. “We have a wellness room in our office that was converted into a lactation room – as a breastfeeding mom, my needs were prioritized and it could not have been easier for me to return to work.”

As part of her role, Moffat makes overnight trips between Washington, DC and New York, and leveraged the firm’s milk shipping program, offered in partnership with LifeCare, to ship milk home overnight. Moffat said, “The process worked seamlessly each time – Goldman Sachs is truly the best place to work, including for a new mom.”

Vinod Jothiram: “Taking My Parental Leave Helped Me Bond With My Son”

As a soon-to-be new dad, Vinod Jothiram, a vice president in the Securities Division, thought that the firm only offered a few weeks for parental leave. However, as Jothiram planned to be the primary caregiver for his newborn son, he realized he was eligible for Goldman Sachs’ primary care parental leave program, which offers up to 16 weeks. “Taking my parental leave helped me bond with my son over the course of the 12 weeks I was home with him,” said Jothiram.

Jothiram described the process of taking his parental leave as “fairly straightforward,” noting that he had developed a transition plan to bring team members up to speed. He recommends: “If you’re taking a parental leave, think of it like mobility – you should develop a plan, and team members should be ready to pick up different roles upon your return.”

Naomi Lupemba: “Utilize Firm Resources During Your Transition”

“Prior to taking maternity leave, I was a bit concerned about being away from the office for several weeks,” explained Naomi Lupemba, an associate in Compliance. “However, after going through the process, I realized that this concern was completely unfounded – my team was very supportive of my parental leave.”

Lupemba described how she took advantage of the myriad of benefits offered by Goldman Sachs in advance of, during and after returning from maternity leave, including onsite prenatal classes and onsite childcare. “At my lunch break, I go see my son,” said Lupemba, noting that she uses firm-provided childcare at her office. “Being able to see him in the middle of the day removes a source of stress for me as a new mom.”

Elizabeth Reed: “My Managers and My Team Were Extremely Supportive”

“The idea of going on maternity leave was daunting,” said Elizabeth Reed, a managing director in the Investment Banking Division. “However, my maternity leave outperformed my expectations – my managers and my team were extremely supportive.”

Reed described her leave and returning to work as a “holistic recovery process” due to the support provided by the Wellness team, including lactation services and childcare guidance. Commenting on her return to the office, Reed said, “All my colleagues at work who have children have been incredibly helpful – I now have a whole new network to connect with as a sounding board.”

The Role of Corporations

In the absence of a federal paid parental leave policy, it’s more important than ever for private institutions and corporations to provide new parents with the resources they need to successfully take their parental leave, and ultimately return to the workforce.

Goldman Sachs is one example of what a company can do to help employees manage one of the biggest changes in their life, such as introducing a child into their family, successfully.

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The Professional Woman’s Guide to a Drama-Free Workplace

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Guest Contribution. The following article is adapted from the book, The Drama-Free Workplace.

Workplace DramaIn this post-#MeToo era, many women, both organizational leaders and individual contributors, are asking what role they can play in ridding our workplaces of drama.

Workplace drama comes in many forms, but two of the most common, and two that disproportionately affect professional women, are sexual harassment and bias.

Root Causes of Workplace Drama

The list of root causes is long, but here are four of the most important reasons why bias and sexual harassment exist at work:

Inauthentic leadership: A lack of authenticity creates or perpetuates a belief that management is hypocritical, that they only talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

Problem-solving deficit: A lack of authenticity leads to inconsistency, usually seen in the form of the failure to implement solutions in an even-handed way.

Increased division: Failure to communicate clearly and transparently creates a sense of “us versus them” which perpetuates the cycle of division and mistrust.

Culture of complicity: An “us versus them” culture becomes permissive and tolerates bad behavior. This leads to blind spots since “we” think “they” are out to get us.

From Unconscious Bias to Radical Fairness

Bias is at the root of many of the issues that become workplace drama.

As the term gains popularity, many now cringe when they hear “unconscious bias” since they imagine training on something touchy-feely. Another way of stating it is that our “hidden” brain heavily influences our decision-making at work (and elsewhere). We won’t solve the issue unless we:

1) acknowledge that we are all influenced by factors outside our conscious minds;
2) that affect our decision-making (sometimes negatively); and
3) that despite this reality, there are ways we can fix the problem.

So, what can we do to take away the power of unconscious bias at work? Here are a few strategies:

  • Create stronger connections up, down and across. Research shows that we tend to view the world through a relatively homogenous lens. If your friends, coworkers and acquaintances tend to be from the same demographic groups as you (race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, geographic location, position at work, etc.) then how can we expect to debunk hidden beliefs we have about “the other?” Be creative – use stories and analogies, current events and research, facts and popular culture – anything that can show people that we have more in common than we think.
  • Be authentic. Employees can detect hypocracy from miles away. Implement programs that you’re truly committed to studying and resolving. Be the “and” in a “this OR that” world. Combine data/ AND a human touch to resolve issues of bias so that you are hiring and retaining top diverse talent.

Failure to implement realistic solutions to eliminate bias from decision-making at work leads to exclusion. This becomes clear as we look at issues of inclusion and diversity – if biased decision-making isn’t checked, your program to create a diverse workforce where each employee feels as though he or she belongs, is doomed.

The “Cure” for Workplace Sexual Harassment

For female professionals, the presence of sexual harassment at work is as dangerous as the presence of gender bias.

Here are three strategies you should take to eliminate sexual harassment at your organization:

  • Go beyond the letter of policies. While promising a “harassment free workplace” is a good promise, that should be the floor, not the ceiling. Just like you don’t want to eat at a restaurant that promises not to give you food poisoning (rather than promising an excellent dining experience) so too should workplaces promise a healthy, respectful and inclusive culture, not just mere legal compliance. The spirit of the policy should be just as important as the written word.
  • Step up and speak out. In many instances, harassing behavior starts out as minor, but when left unchecked, it not only escalates, the bad actor is emboldened to go one step further. Going from passive bystander to active upstander is therefore vital. There are a number of ways to accomplish this and the only rule is that doing nothing shouldn’t be an option.
  • If you’re a leader, help develop a system of perceived fairness, in addition to actual fairness. For the elimination of sexual harassment, the single most important way to do this is to hold everyone equally accountable for misconduct. Everyone. Even if the bad actor is the CEO, or a leader deemed “too valuable to lose.”

And while these strategies might appear to be geared toward leaders, they apply equally to every employee who has a vested interest in ridding our workplace of bias and harassment– we’re all in this together and it will require each one of us to implement these strategies to succeed. By taking these steps, you will play a vital role in making sure that bias and harassment are a thing of the past at your workplace.

Patti Perez is VP of Workplace Strategy at Emtrain. She is a licensed California attorney, a professionally-certified HR executive, and a specialist in the prevention and resolution of workplace drama. She is a frequent speaker on these topics and is the author of the soon-to-be-published The Drama-Free Workplace (Wiley, April 2019).

This is a guest contribution and does not represent the opinions of theglasshammer.com- all views are of the guest writer.

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The Importance of Not Losing Yourself – in Work or Motherhood

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Working mother
Attending the needs of our children and responding to the demands of work may leave us with a sense of stripping us apart – especially when there can seem to be so many demands of both, often times appearing to be in conflict.

In the effort to manage and give your energy to both, you may begin to wonder where time and energy for you are in the middle of all of it.

How do you give your best to your career and motherhood and not lose yourself in the process?

You don’t have to lose yourself nor make sacrifices in your career or parenting to have fulfillment and enjoyment of all elements of your life.

If you have a sense that you are losing touch with yourself amongst the roles of parent and worker, there are some simple steps you can take to function a little differently and have greater success (and enjoyment) in your commitment to your kids, your career, and have a strong and healthy connection with yourself.

One important element to accomplishing this is choosing to be more present in your life. Contrary to what you might believe, being present is not about excluding one element or one part of your life in order to focus on another. It is being willing to be engaged with what is in front of you, while not dimming your awareness of everything else. You don’t have to put aside your role as a mother to do well at work, and you don’t have to forget your career skills and abilities in your parenting, and you do not have to exclude your own needs to successfully raise kids or have a career.

Here are three simple ways to invite more moments of presence and avoid losing you as you navigate the challenges of work and motherhood.

Start every day being present with you

One simple yet effective method to begin being more present with yourself is to consciously and regularly give you your undivided attention throughout the day.

This could begin by waking 15 minutes earlier each morning. In that time, give yourself some attention: “check in” with yourself. Take a moment to look in the mirror have a moment of gratitude for you (no judgment or criticism!). Use those minutes to have some fun. Play with what you are going to wear that day, read something that really inspires you, write something in a journal, or take some time to set some personal targets. Whatever you do, the point is to take that time to be with you first instead of rushing into the day’s activities. Use those moments to relax and be fully present with you and see the changes it starts to create in your day.

Choose some fun and lightness in moments throughout the day

When you have activities where you are on your own, where does your mind go? When you visit the gym, go to the supermarket, or drive, why not use those moments to do something for you, in your favour? Instead of repeatedly running through a to-do list, playing a movie of complaints or resentments, or fixating on things that have gone wrong, use those minutes to your advantage. Listen to music you like, take time to breathe and clear your head. Have fun with yourself. Tell yourself a joke or find something to laugh about. Even amid the most boring activity, what could you choose or put your attention on that would create some fun and lightness for you?

Be present with whatever comes your way

When you catch our mind wandering off-task, you may assume the remedy is to push those thoughts aside in attempt to narrow your focus. Rather than focus, be present with what is in front of you. The difference with being present is you can be there for the task at hand, but, unlike focus, you do not have to cut away anything else in your mind not related to that activity. It actually takes a lot more energy to exclude and focus than to be present and allow.

For example, if your child is coming to your mind while at work, allow it to be there. Allow the feelings you have for your child to be there, too. When you allow all of it to be there as part of you and your day, there is no need to put any energy or attention toward trying to avoid it.

What if the different areas of your life could contribute to each other and making you whole instead of split apart?

Losing yourself occurs when you believe you have to exclude any other part of you in the roles you play. By allowing yourself to bring all of you to work and motherhood, choosing to be more present with you in the moments of daily life, and by including your personal in the picture of your day, you will begin to have a greater sense of yourself in all elements of life, and you may find that you have a lot more energy and resourcefulness available to you than ever before.

Norma Forastiere is a business mentor, natural therapist and a self-proclaimed seeker, Norma began practicing mediation at an early age and then went on to study metaphysics and several energy healing and natural therapy modalities. A native Portuguese speaker with a proficiency in English and Spanish, Norma offers workshops and consultations for those willing to explore greater possibilities in life, communication and business. Follow Norma.

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7 Tips to be A Fearless Saleswoman

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sales woman
I had always wanted a sports car.

A few years ago, I finally purchased one. Before I wrote the check for the down payment, my husband cautioned me that the car I wanted was available only with a manual transmission. I had never driven a manual, but I said, “No problem, I’ll learn.”

We picked up the car; the dealer handed me the keys. I turned to my husband and said, “I can’t drive this car, I don’t know how. It’s brand new, I don’t want to crash it.” I handed him the keys.

Only on the drive back home did it begin to dawn on me what I had done. I had purchased a car that I couldn’t drive. That fact made me feel more than a little restless. While I was still in the passenger seat, I vowed to master the art of driving the stick shift.

Over the next few weeks, with my patient husband’s help, I tried to get acquainted with a whole new way of driving. It wasn’t easy. I lacked confidence in myself. I had this belief that I would stall out while climbing a hill, that drivers behind me would honk to get me to move forward, and that I might even roll back into the car behind me. I played the whole thing out – and terrified myself. My fear of this scenario was so strong that I only drove my new car on short, flat road trips! Eventually, I decided that this state of affairs was ridiculous. With plenty of practice and repetition, my fear lessened, and I now enjoy the car’s great ride – even uphill. I could have kept talking myself out of getting the most from my car … but fortunately my desire to drive the car was stronger than my fear.

I liken this experience to following a career in sales. Sales is full of risk: the risk of rejection, the risk of running into a buyer who wants to diminish your stature, the risk of having to decide that it’s time to plant your heels, focus on the real issue, and request a yes or no decision – a process that isn’t easy at first. As women, we can easily talk ourselves out of a very lucrative and rewarding career. We can choose to sell ourselves short, but if we do, we will never achieve our full potential, or enjoy the sales role. Why not?

Because of the pressure we place on ourselves and the way we allow others to treat us.

Everyone experiences fear. A little fear is not a bad thing – it gets our adrenaline going and spurs us to take action. Too much fear, however, makes us opt for bad outcomes like never driving our sports car up a hill. Highly successful saleswomen may not be literally fearless – but they do put in place a number of important safeguards that help them to become less fearful. Here are seven best practices that can help you to do just that.

1. Frame your sales role as a stepping stone to what you want most in life.

One great way to do this is to create a vision board with images that remind you what you are moving toward, what is important to you in life, why you get up each morning to do what you do. Place this board where you see it each day as a reminder of your personal “why?”

2. Recognize you come to the job at an advantage over your male counterparts… and leverage your strengths.

Guess what? Women tend to be superior relationship builders, connectors, listeners, questioners, and nurturers. Don’t those sound like important attributes to use in a sales role?

3. Do the opposite of what a traditional sales person does.

Turn the table and become “outer focused” – as opposed to “inner focused.” In other words, focus the conversation on your prospect and his problems. Stop talking about your product features and benefits when you are in front of a prospect. Seek first to understand!

4. Understand and embrace that being uncomfortable is something everyone experiences.

Learn to put the experience in context. Ask yourself these questions:

  • What, specifically, makes me uncomfortable? Example: Calling on C-level decision makers.
  • What do I fear emotionally about this? That I am not good enough to call at the top levels of a target company.
  • What do I fear that I might do or say? That I won’t know what to say or that I will say something stupid.
  • What’s the worst that could happen? I get hung up on and told never to call back.
  • What’s the best that could happen? They have a need and we schedule an appointment.
  • Will taking the risk kill me? No.
  • What can I do to lessen my fears? Prepare and practice what I will say. Role play with my own CEO. Tell myself, “Some of these people will have a need – some won’t.”
5. Surround yourself with positive, supportive people who will cheer you on.

Support them in turn!

6. Control who you allow into your castle.

Your “castle” is who you are as a person – it’s your self-image. When you let someone get to you personally, you have let the drawbridge down. Realize it is your role, not you as a person, that they may not like! Keep the drawbridge up.

7. Have a healthy viewpoint about what selling really is.

Selling isn’t about convincing anyone of anything. It’s actually about helping someone discover for themselves whether they have a problem … and then helping them discover for themselves that you offer the best solution. That feels less scary already, doesn’t it? Great! Now you’re in gear!

About the Author

Lorraine Ferguson is author of The Unapologetic Saleswoman:  Breaking The Barriers, Beating The Odds. Ferguson is a dynamic trainer and coach who accelerates growth in companies by focusing on the right behaviors, attitudes and techniques that drive success. She has brought the Sandler Selling System to hundreds of selling professionals and businesses.  Companies and individuals have transformed their business development ability by working with Ferguson.

For more information, please visit  https://www.sandler.com/resources/sandler-books/unapologetic-saleswoman

Guest contributor’s views are their own and are not necessarily endorsed by theglasshammer.com

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Defy Conventional Leadership Wisdom to Achieve Breakthrough Performance

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Leadership is experiencing a metamorphosis today.

Its tried-and-true competencies are being tested (and sometimes even crushed) in our chaotic, always-on, hyper-connected, and competitive world. Conventional wisdom simply doesn’t have the same impact in the context of this new business environment.

Sara Canaday In writing a new book called, Leadership Unchained: Defy Conventional Wisdom for Breakthrough Performance, I highlight a bold segment of leaders who were willing to make completely unexpected business moves with extraordinary results. All of these modern leaders had one thing in common: They refuse to allow the conventional thinking and practices that were pivotal in their past success to become the chains that hold them down in the future.

Their strategic choices were oddly counter-intuitive, undeniably successful, and downright fascinating. Here are six behaviors that break the mold.

1. Shaking off the age-old bias for action and perfecting the use of the strategic pause.

Successful leaders in the modern era seem to have adopted a new habit. Instead of making action the default for every challenge, these leaders are pairing that alternative with an opposite response. It’s not about replacing action, which we know is a necessary leadership ingredient. We still need to reach our goals, meet deadlines, and produce results. This is different.

They think of it as developing a companion habit that celebrates being rather than doing. It involves a strategic pause. A mental time-out. Space for their brains to percolate. Whatever we call it, this new habit requires consistently taking some time away from the chaos of business to let ourselves think.

2. Escaping from the prison of their own perspectives and passionately seeking out cognitive diversity.

Modern leaders know that their own decision-making doesn’t come from a mentally neutral position, so they push themselves to uncover other angles. Not a polite, obligatory surveying of the crowd to reach consensus, but a mold-breaking, eyebrow-raising exploration to prove themselves WRONG.

These leaders aren’t just finding success through an openness to new ideas; they passionately seek them out. They value cognitive diversity and invite team members to challenge them with radical alternatives. They let go of the need to validate their own perspectives, and they focus all of their energy on finding the best solution to meet shared goals. No matter where those solutions might originate.

3. Ditching the need to let hard data drive every decision and welcoming the insights of soft intelligence.

Trailblazing leaders today have recognized the tendency to be held hostage by information overload. Even though it feels unnatural, they give themselves permission to break free from their dependence on data. Do they still value the facts? Definitely. They just work to gain a broader context about its meaning. They’re willing to be informed by data but not ruled by it.

Leaders who are open to the idea of Whole Data—a more comprehensive view of the facts— stretch beyond the usual quantitative boundaries to incorporate intangible elements. They better serve their teams and their customers by paying attention to stories and narratives, emotions and attitudes, worries and complaints, risks and vulnerabilities. They search for the qualitative information that paints a more vivid picture.

4. Dropping their dependence on the usual routine and letting go of outdated tasks and deliverables.

Today’s forward-thinking leaders have realized that everything consuming their time must earn the right to be on their to-do lists. To establish that competition, they have adopted a new approach that defies their normal logic.

Most leaders have a competitive streak that pushes them to take on more rather than do less, but they are seeing the wisdom in that concept. Narrowing their focus to expand their perspectives. Minimizing their actions to maximize performance. Doing less to achieve more. Through the ingenuity of letting go, they are finding abundant success.

5. Defeating the drag on their communication and creating positive experiences that expand their influence.

Modern leaders embrace the idea of disrupting their typical approach to communication. They start in reverse. Instead of trying to determine what information needs to go out, they concentrate on the end result. What impact do they want to make? What are the challenges and perspectives of their audience members? What experience would they like to create?

With that in mind, they peel away all the layers of complexity that have been clogging up their communication and get down to messages that are authentic and engaging. They present them in novel ways. They aren’t afraid to open a window into their motives and rationale. And they create a meaningful, compelling experience that communicates in a more powerful way.

6. Committing to metaphorically resigning their roles as experts and approaching tasks with the spirit of a beginner.

Modern leaders are accelerating their careers by breaking free from the expert trap. They no longer allow themselves to remain captives of their expertise. They are finding the courage to change the tired, old narrative with a new attitude, some genuine vulnerability, and the never-ending desire to learn.

Success for these leaders means deliberately putting themselves in positions to humbly learn and grow. Every single day. They have learned to value questions just as much as the answers. And, perhaps more importantly, they work hard to ask the right questions—many of which start with, “What if…?”

While these exciting new principles are remarkably effective, the most compelling thing about them is the way they are applied. It’s a selective process. Not a simple swap of out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new. There’s a firm acknowledgement that the old rules aren’t completely obsolete. The most successful leaders have a knack for knowing when to stick with the traditional approaches and when to break away. They’ve adopted a new brand of wisdom, and they know when to use it.

About the Author

Sara Canaday is a leadership expert, keynote speaker, LinkedIn Learning instructor and author. She works with leaders and high-potential professionals from organizations around the world to expand their capacity to innovate, influence, engage, and perform. Her new book, Leadership Unchained: Defy Conventional Wisdom for Breakthrough Performance, is now available on Amazon. For more information, please visit SaraCanaday.com.

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A 10-Step Guide to Adapting Your Resume for Your Next Job

CV / Resume
Most people have a well-crafted resume in their drawer just in case one day they might need it again.

As time passes, the recruiters are more and more selective, so, exceptional resumes are harder and harder to compose.

For instance, today’s most recruiters are using an ATS software for scanning potential candidates, and only if their resume passes the software they will get a chance. Therefore, a decently-written resume won’t do the job today, especially if you’re applying for an executive job post.

The competition between the candidates is very high as well, so there’s another reason why your resume must be perfect. But if you’re fighting for your dream job, I’m sure that you’ll take all the measures necessary to craft a resume that will get you the interview.

In order to help you with your journey towards creating a flawless resume, in today’s post, we’re presenting our 10-step guide to adapting your resume for a CEO-level job.

1. Present Your Credentials at the Top of Your Resume

Presenting your credentials at the very beginning, right below the title, before your contact information, is a great way to begin the resume. This applies regardless to the type of job post you’re applying for.

Of course, the credentials must be related to your job description. This placement is a great choice in order to ensure that the recruiter won’t miss them.

2. Provide Links to Your Social or Professional Accounts

Most employers are checking their employee’s online presence, so of course that they’re going to check yours too. Social media is a great part of many people’s lives nowadays, so it’s a great place to find out more about the candidate.
Therefore, you must be transparent from the very beginning and along with your contact information, leave the links to your LinkedIn profile, to your website, or to your portfolio.

3. List Your Core Skills at the Beginning in a Readable Format

Skills are always important no matter your experience in the field. Nevertheless, recruiters don’t have the time to spot out your skills from never-ending sentences, so the best way to present your core skills is by listing them. As well, list your skills according to their relevance and according to the job description.

4. Present the Achievement Section near the Top

The achievements section does not only have to be placed at the top of your resume, but it also needs to be selective. I mean, you surely have many things to praise with, but not all of them are relevant or that impressive. You are here to become remarkable, so stick only to your greatest achievements that have a strong connection with the job post.

5. Relate Only Your Recent Work Experience

If you apply for executive positions, it means that your experience dates back in time. Therefore, you can spend days filling pages with all your achievements. Unfortunately, recruiters don’t leverage that time, so you’d better stick only to the most recent experience and achievements, no further than 15 years.

6. Focus on Your Achievements

Words are empty. Action, on the other hand, can talk very loudly. Recruiters aren’t interested in reading stories, they want facts. Therefore, they want numbers. Translate all your achievements in numbers. That’s how they know how valuable you really are.

7. One-Page Length is a Myth

Yes! That’s right! The fact that a good resume should be at tops one-page length is a myth and nothing more. Haven’t you ever wonder how someone with 30 years’ experience is supposed to write all his skills and achievements in just one page?
Two pages aren’t too long, for some may even be too short. Anyway, it is enough space to sum up all your work-related experience and history. But if you encounter any trouble with fitting all your relevant information in two pages, you can seek for guidance at Career Booster or other similar sites.

8. Leave the Education Section at the End

The education section is indeed important, especially if you have recently graduated and your skills list is limited. But in our case, education is barely relevant comparing to your achievements from the past years.

Therefore, while adapting your resume, make sure that you leave the education section at the end. Otherwise, if you let any other section which is more important, the recruiters may skip it as they rarely read a resume until the end.

9. Adapt Your Resume for AST

First of all, what is an ATS? ATS is a software, specially programmed to tailor a resume according to a job description. Thanks to this tool, recruiters can save a lot of time while the software sorts out the “bad” resumes.

You see, throughout the job descriptions, there are certain key-words that must be included in your resume. If you fail to do so, the ATS software will automatically consider your resume “bad.” Simple as that. Therefore, it’s crucial to tailor your resume if you want any recruiter to actually read your paper.

10. Proofread

You’re almost done! Even if proofreading is the last step of the process, you must take it very seriously because the devil is in the details.

You can’t afford to present a resume with simple grammar issues and misspelled words. You’re applying for an executive position, so mistakes aren’t acceptable, especially when the expectations are so high.

Even after you proofread a few times, you can still expect mistakes. That’s why you should ask someone to take a look over your resume too. As well, you can always seek help online.

For example, you can find many experts ready to help you at Superior Papers and Resumes Planet. This way you can sleep well at night knowing that an expert revised and approved your resume.

Conclusion

An executive job post requires an outstanding resume that is able to make a lasting impression in any recruiter’s eyes. If you already have a resume that only needs to be adjusted, well, you’d better think twice.

Adapting a resume is just as hard as composing a new one, so you must take this process very seriously, of course, if you want any recruiter to take your resume into consideration. But that’s why we created this 10-step guide – to help you turn your old resume into an interview-winning resume.

About the author

Guinevere Coulis is a passionate writer, journalist, and traveler. Currently, she is working for Brill Assignment. Occasionally, she writes essay papers for A-writer.com as she wants to help students all over the world. Traveling is a part of her life as she’s always working from different parts of the world where she enjoys connecting with people and experiencing new things.

This is a guest contribution. Guest views are their own and theglasshammer does not endorse guest views, or have any affiliation with any services promoted or offered.

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Taking an Early Career Setback into an Opportunity

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Career setback, opportunity
For many, a career setback does not come strictly by being fired or laid off although.

As a woman in business, there also are subtle ways you may experience bumps in the road. Maybe you were just passed up for a promotion or you are coming back from maternity leave to find the company’s culture has changed for the worse. No matter what kind of setback you’re experiencing, here are a few steps to turn your negative experience into an opportunity for career growth.

Make Financial Independence a Goal

When you experience a setback, start working toward financial independence. To be able to make a move to a new company, city, to work for yourself, or going back to school, you’ll need to have money saved. If it’s possible to stay in your current job for a little longer to add to your savings, do so and bide your time. Even though you may be ready to move on, hold on while collecting your regular paycheck.

But remember, don’t stay too long if you’re not mentally prepared for the work ahead of you. If you’re not operating at your best, those around you will notice. Leave a great impression on your colleagues when you finally depart, because you never know when your paths may cross again in the workplace.

If you’re ready to leave or have been fired, take steps immediately to stabilize your financial situation. Even if you can afford your current lifestyle, cut back on those little expenses that add up. Especially if you have less than 6 months’ expenses saved up, take every precaution to use those savings sparingly until you’re back on your feet.

Keep A Positive Attitude

Just because you’ve experienced one setback doesn’t mean you can’t accomplish your goals. Find some time for yourself to take do a little self-care to put your mind in a healthy place. Operating at your best is an important step to being able to tackle the next opportunity head on. You are your best ally, and it’s key to take good care of yourself.

Find Mentors

Having other driven and successful women on your side is an invaluable resource. Reach out to women in your field who have achieved your goals or that you want to emulate. You would be surprised how each person’s path to success varies greatly. Join a professionals group in your field, especially one for women. There are other women out there that understand the unique challenges you may face in the workplace and how to navigate those successfully.

Remember, you won’t want to ask your current peers or supervisors for recommendations if you’re trying to apply for other jobs quietly. If your employer learns you’re leaving before you have an offer in hand, you may be seen as less committed or lose valuable leverage for negotiating. Having mentors outside of your current company helps you have additional flexibility when asking for references, testimonials, and letters of recommendations.

Add To Your Resume

Find opportunities to collect your resume and portfolio assets while you still work for your current organization. You might lose access to some of these projects when you leave. Take an inventory of what you’ve accomplished and save anything you can legally use for your future. Depending on your current employee handbook and contract, be aware that there may be some proprietary information you cannot leverage for a resume. However, save everything else that you can because you never know what may be useful in a future job.

While volunteer experiences won’t directly benefit you financially, you can learn a lot from volunteering and add valuable interest points to your resume. Employers love seeing that a potential candidate is engaged in the community because they are better equipped to create a positive culture in the workplace. Find a volunteer opportunity that is directly applicable to your career, and you may find connections to other people who are in your field.

Get Organized

If you are working towards specific career goals, break it down into manageable pieces. When you set a lofty goal, it can seem too far away to accomplish in the short term and it may become overwhelming. By giving yourself a roadmap to success, it’s much easier to visualize the path you need to take and show each step with the final intention in mind.

In addition, write a list of what you like and don’t like about your career. How can things be better? What type of company do you want to work for? By answering these questions, you know what to ask your next interviewer to get to the heart of their organization.

When you ask the right questions in an interview, it quickly sheds insight on how the organization operates and where the potential problems may lay. Simply asking “What is your culture like?” doesn’t give you everything you need to know about a new company. Instead, ask questions like “do you feel like you have the resources you need for success?” If you’re looking for a job where you feel more supported, this question will open an honest conversation with the interviewer about those attributes.

Check out the infographic below for some more tips on how to deal with career setbacks from entrepreneurs, investors, and creative minds.

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An Updated Look at Risk Taking for Professional Women

woman typing on a laptop

A new report by KPMG for 2019 called “Risk, Resilience, Reward- Mastering the 3 Rs: The Key to Women’s Success in the Workplace” suggests that women are still cautious when it comes to risk taking in their careers with 69% of report respondents saying they are are open to taking small risks to further their career, but a lower number (43%) revealing that they are open to taking bigger risks that may be associated with career advancement.

Just 8 percent of respondents say risk taking has contributed most to their professional success, crediting task-oriented factors over leadership traits. Instead, women attributed success to good habits such as working hard (73 percent), being detail oriented (45 percent), and organized (45 percent) to their success. Other highlights from the report suggest that women are willing to take risks to ask for new assignments and projects (69%) but less keen to ask for more salary if they deem it to be risky or moving locations for a job (both 35% respectively).

Risk studies that are available on the topic and that we have written about over the years are inconclusive since there are many factors to risk taking, including personality, environment and what is perceived as risky by the taker or even by the system.

However, KPMG’s research is mostly consistent with trends that show women are not as confident as men when it comes to risk taking, including how women think about risk. Research also shows that in some cases, women are more concerned about risk and the impact on a group than men and feel more accountable for the implications of the riskier decision. There are so many factors that correlate and cause women to not want to take risks as well as societal and organizational eroders of even the most confident woman over time, not least the double bind of being “Damned if you do, Doomed if you don’t”. So, knowing all this and still being undaunted, we caught up with Michele Meyer-Shipp, KPMG’s Chief Diversity Officer to discuss this report’s trends and actions for women and men to take in light of the findings.

Nicki (NG): What parts of the report resonated with you personally or otherwise?

Michele (MMS): This report really spoke to me, as throughout my own career I’ve definitely been hesitant at times to take risks. Like the respondents in the report, I thought ‘if I just work hard, everything will happen for me’. It was all about working hard. That’s what I was taught growing up and I truly believed that was all there was to it. It was never ‘go forth and ask for what you want’ – I had to figure that out along the way.

NG: What advice do you have for women regarding risk taking?

MMS: We have to take ownership of our careers, we have to speak up and ask for what we want, and navigate the politics along the way. Don’t assume someone is going to hand you the next job just because you’re working hard; it just doesn’t work that way. Engage your board of mentors, and identify those who are sponsoring you. Your mentors are the people you choose to give you career advice. Your sponsors are the leaders who are advocating for your career. Both are incredibly important.

NG: What role does the organization have in helping women who do take risks?

MMS: Organizations have a huge role to play in helping women who take risks. First and foremost, they must make it clear that risk taking is a welcomed and valued leadership trait. This message has to come not only from the very top of the organization, but also from a woman’s immediate supervisor. From there, when a woman does take that risk, the company must support her in those efforts. For example, a risky new role requires the woman assuming that role to have the support she needs to get the job done. Does she have the right team, the right budgetary support, and so on. These are all factors an organization must consider.

NG: Since most leaders are still men, what role do men have in this?

MMS: Men need to “lean in” and support women on their teams. Some men have hit the snooze button in the wake of the #MeToo movement out of fear and uncertainty, but this is not a moment to sit on the sidelines. It is a great time to decide who we are and what we stand for and to be intentional about it. Whether you are a man or a woman, my advice is to proactively support each other, mentor each other, partner on teams together and advocate for one another. We must ‘assume good intent, until you see otherwise’ as it is a two-way street.

Men must also beware of their unconscious biases as related to women. Let’s face it, if you have a brain, you have a bias. It’s human nature. That said, men need to interrupt stereotypical assumptions they may make about women as that can inevitably lead them to make a bad decision.

NG: What surprised you about the findings in the report?

MMS: I found it really interesting that money remains the top motivator for risk taking. It runs counter to a lot of research and I kind of like that it debunks the notion we are so different. If 40% of women who responded said that they would take risks when there is an opportunity to make more money, then we know that along with the finding that 70% of women tend to be very resilient even in the face of failure, then I have great reason to remain optimistic that we will continue to see women taking smart risks that bring long term rewards.

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