Tag Archive for: Nicki Gilmour

Happy International Women’s Day 2019. Does Change Start Here?

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Nicki Gilmour

Celebrations and recognition of women and women specific issues are being highlighted today around the world and inside corporate offices. Celebrating and making people aware of amazing women and their accomplishments is excellent. Shedding light on social, economic or cultural issues that do not get enough attention is also great. Better to have it, than not have it for sure.

However, does change happen because of it? No, change requires more than a day of talking and a hashtag (which by the way is officially #balanceforbetter which hints at two things, balance of power, not just more balance for women)

But, when all is said and done, it is just a hashtag that means pretty much zero when it comes to actual behaviorial change or any action for anyone whatsoever. Now that we have named the elephant in the room on the sheer vacancy of going through the motions of pretense, perhaps we can talk real talk about change?

Awareness is the first step. But, only the first step in change.

How do we achieve parity. equality, equity or meritocracy?

I like the #biascorrect idea that Catalyst is motioning this IWD (International Women’s Day). Stereotypes limit us. Anyone who has ever been stereotyped will tell you that. Catalyst provide resources to address that bias and in this instance, convey that words matter.

What is less discussed, are the false positive stereotypes and head starts that many women and many men but not all, give to men as leaders and heads of teams, families, power structures generally. That is the balance of power piece we really need to discuss.

What can you do?

Recognize that you probably implicitly have bias. We all do. I coach people to examine their paradigms regularly, as your mental model is formed via your life experiences and their context. That means, you probably are operating off ideas that your family and society told you was the “way it is” and that way it was, was steeped in notions of one gender’s needs being met before others.

Socialization, not brain differences feed into cognitive process whereby we place evaluative meaning on everything. Men are not from Mars and Women are not from Venus. We are all from Earth. The backlash we are seeing is due to people trying to maintain a historically granted place of power and is not surprising. The protection of the patriarchy by women,  is to do with their socialization under men’s rules and women’s place in the structure of society so far, secure but secondary so fear on an unknown alternative prevents change and fuels racism, nationalism, and is why we see sexism by women against women.

We need to educate everyone on the benefits of equality and equity as the patriarchy is a system not a gender or a person and does not serve very many people other than the bad guys ( their reckoning is here, though) in this modern world.

It is only when we stop our bias cognitively, and make efforts to behaviorally change that we can be freed from false expectations around diversity parties, celebrations and hashtags actually changing anything. Stop asking the women to balance for better and start asking everyone to stop believing everything they think to be true. Test assumptions for best results.

Enjoy this satire piece in The NY Times today. I could not agree more.

Enjoy the day, however you spend it.

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Effective Networking for Female Professionals: The Old Girls Club?

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By Nicki Gilmour

It is Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day this week (Friday 8th March, 2019) so tune in for hard hitting editorial on women’s advancement at work, like we do the other fifty weeks of the year also.

According to a new study published last month, women should be networking with other women as well as men if they want to land more prestigious and better paid jobs. This study of suggests women need a women-only inner circle and a larger, well-connected network generally. The study analyzed the peer networks and job placements of 728 students at leading university, representing two class years, from an MBA program in 2006 and 2007. All of the graduates landed leadership jobs, so the (well respected) researchers ranked the positions according to prestige and other factors. The subjects studied consisted of 542 were men and 186 women, which is roughly consistent with the researchers’ findings that women make up about a quarter of business school students nationwide. The conclusion being that a person’s network composition regarding gender split can predict the career success of women. Wired magazine broke down the study and talked to the study authors and interpreted the study with the main message being women and men who are connected to other well-connected peers across their social network do better. In addition, it is extrapolated that women thrive from “gender-specific private information and support.” And men do not need insider information to thrive and advance because, wait for it ‘work is built for them’. Words that interested me from the study’s lead author, Northwestern University data scientist, Brian Uzzi, he goes on to state,

“Quite frankly, most of the jobs are still male-dominated and therefore the kind of private information that’s so important to help women get ahead isn’t as important to men’s advancement,”

Despite Brain Uzzi being possible the leading network expert, a respected expert in social psychology with a very respectable body of work that no one can argue with and some really good advice, it is hard to accept that his conclusion from just final job outcome is the end of the story.

For me, it is very much the opening of the conversation around bias, gender stratification and gender roles, because people decide if the men and women of this study get hired and people negotiate offers for salaries. That is to say, a man and a woman could have made the same connection at the same networking mixer, but the man got hired.

But, if we take this study at face value, then we can conclude that this is not new news as we know women have to work twice as hard at networking just as they do with other areas.

Uzzi shares his opinion on how he feels women should behave via his interpretation only of the results,

“When it comes to networking, women need two things and men only need one, so for every one contact a man makes, a woman has to split her time between the contact that’s going to give her market information and the contact who’s going to give her private information. If you’ve got to split the time between the two, you’ve got to be very smart about the kinds of choices you make.”

It is not a revelation that women have to work harder or are given less credibility for the same thing, or are dinged for same traits. Nor is it a shock to most of you that you do get the scoop from other women, because it could be friendship or a deeper phenomenon involving “out group” dynamics. Call it what you will, because what is real that we pay the same money for those MBAs so we need a way to ensure we get the same Return on Investment as literally the next guy. And for the love of golf, do not ask us to play unless you want to and even then, you are not one of them.

A step backwards?

What this research does not talk about is what men can do to prevent women from having to make choices. You can be a good man yet not be a man who advocates for women to have equal pathways to success.

Then, #metoo comes along with the shouts of “not all men” which of course is entirely valid because we all know some really great caring men who understand consent and respect and where the lines of proper behavior lie. The problem with the “not all men” chant is that it can silence the nuance of useful conservation around “although you do not, but by virtue of a legacy power structure you probably could be you were inclined to, therefore how do we ensure the bad guys are stopped by a new structure so you do not ever have to feel lumped in with them, because you are in fact part of the solution”. Instead, out of fear many men have taken a step back from interacting with women at work. Not helpful. Just actually more indulgent of a privilege to withdraw of a historically dominant group instead of facing the work that has to be done. Some people do not have that privilege to say no without consequence.

Networking past the biases and fear

Most networking information is entirely based on men networking with men with male examples given as an argument for basing your connection on hobbies and passions. Herminia Ibarra’s work clearly delineates the differences between personal, operational and strategic networks and is worth a read.

In this era of strong gender roles still being perpetuated by most people, men and women alike (granted glimpses of hope around understanding the negative effects on boys as well as girls of the patriarchy and toxic masculinity), it no shock that men continue to network with each other in the way they have always known how, excited primal physical arousal states usually with sports and competition. Which is why we have to believe there are physiological differences without believing we are beholden to them. We all have the ability to disrupt our cognitive process with a behavior change. That goes for women too. Start with your own biases. How much do you do love the patriarchy? Odd question you might think, but really look at to what extent do you favor men and boy’s needs over those of women and girls? This question is not about whether you like men or whether you believe in raising strong daughters or whether your husband does the dishes. It is a question about your own value sets, deep, intrinsic ones that are probably buried in your unconscious and then how that affects your conscious and unconscious behaviors.

Why do you go to women for information and perhaps comfort but not for promotion, stretch projects and general greatness? Why do men get immediate credibility and do you give it freely while in parallel asking women to prove themselves?

As we enter the hoopla, ceremony and celebration of International Women’s Day, the question to ask yourself is where are you on this spectrum of consciously and unconsciously endorsing for men because they are men, because it’s a spectrum we are all on.

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Change Your Mindset To Change the World (and Your World)

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By Nicki Gilmour

As we close out our Black History Month coverage this week, and in a direct follow up to my Op-ed on mental constructs regarding Race and how to talk about racism.

I ask how can you ensure your network is not just full of people like you, who hold the same constructs and therefore everyone can easily have confirmation bias? Bad for business with potential ‘groupthink’ coming into play, and bad for personal growth.

I am going to ask you to check whether you walk the talk on having an inclusive network.

Does your network consist of people who look, think and act like you, in every way? I am here to ask what can you gain by broadening your horizons?

How can you ensure you are getting to know perspectives that are different from yours? Equally, how can you explore enough when you are getting to know someone, to find out if that person who do not look like, can actually be very similar? How can you not presume or make assumptions based on stereotypes? It is hard because you brain “goes” there and research from the fields of neuroscience and social science’s “ladder of inference” can be shared with you in one sentence here. Simply put, your brain tricks you into thinking you have seen this before and you know what this is about. Guess what? You don’t know what is coming next, whether it is your brain seeing four red cars and subliminally telling you the next car will be red. Or whether your brain tells you that leaders are always better if they are tall white men even if you don’t know the person himself but in concept only. Or you do know the person and you dismiss their flaws and give unearned credibility to them due to concepts.

My point is, appearances can be deceptive. We are all made up of complex identities, no one is simple or one dimensional and we all have a gender (male is a gender too), ethnicity (maybe we need a new word as it implies white protestant as a benchmark baseline ), orientation (straight is an orientation too), nationality, work position, parent or not parent status, even golfer or not golfer status. Most of us, have had some affiliation to a legacy or current dominant group. We can go through life like that, easily. I had very little perspective for example of what it meant to be a Catholic growing up in Belfast as my class and religion meant I was never really stopped by army or police or had to deal with thugs and gangs and any resemblance of poverty. Bombs yes, they were everywhere and random, but the everyday drag and bias of being in the minority and less powerful group in my society, no. Yet, my mindset was one of scarcity, fear, paranoia and being aware to this day of the so-called “other”. I am not saying I am freed 100% from my sectarian constructs – maybe 99%, but I know that i see parallels in the USA with race and that is why I know for sure that people can take the diversity journey and grow. As Maya Angelou said, “when you know better, you do better.”

So, where do you start?

Step 1: Take the time to understand your values because values are espoused versions of your implicit beliefs. Chances are you are running the same old program that was handed to you in childhood via your direct environment, family structures, institutions such as school and church/temple/mosque, and the overall society you were born into and whatever norms that group had in play.

Step 2: Write out every construct you have been told such as “Trust is earned” or “X, y, z is the way it is”. What do you tell yourself when you are in varying situations as who to hire for the project, who to cut from the project, and who to promote? What do you tell yourself when you are stressed at work and having less than optimal interactions?

Challenge the and every single line by asking yourself simple questions such ‘Do I believe this, truly?’ or an advanced version of this could be ‘How else can I look at this?’ or ‘Is this still working for me now?’ and “how is this actually something that was given to me by my father/mother/granny, and is not actually how i feel at this time?”

If you would like to work with me as a coach on personal and professional growth and renewal, with real insights for you, about behaviors and the context of the operating system you are in. Please book a free exploratory time with me. Life is too short to carry outdated constructs around. Grow! Whether it is individual, or organizational change, it does not happen without awareness as the starting point.

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Want to be an inclusive leader? Create psychological safety for your team

Several years ago diversity became diversity and inclusion with many putting emphasis on the inclusion part.

How can you walk the talk on being an inclusive leader of a high performing team? Because performance and team happiness is the reward of actually doing diversity right.

Why is creating psychological safety the answer?

Studies have been exploring the effects of psychological safety at work for several years now and Google more recently experimented the concept with something they call Project Aristotle. They discovered that just by having genius or two on the team, you are not going to get the best results. However, if you have a team environment where people can feel safe and heard and valued as themselves, then they can think and perform better and the result is productivity. There are many factors to high performing teams for sure but Google’s data indicated that psychological safety, more than anything else, was critical to making a team work. This certainly makes sense if you think about it. Women ( and anyone who does not fit the mold of the traditional legacy work persona /expert) can find space to connect with others talking work and/or any other topic of shared interest.

Where to start?

Tip 1: Recognize the belief system in your team. What is the norm for your team? What are the shared beliefs that you all have? How does that make it easy for people to express ideas outside of the belief set? Is cognitive or thought diversity rewarded or silenced? If an event happens, such as a code problem, then what are the thoughts and actions from this? What emotions are attached and how are they expressed? What happens then?

Tip 2: Social identity diversity- having all types of people on your team is a good start but let people talk, let them tell you about their lives. Find out that diversity is not about noah’s ark and not a collectable set of 2 of each “kind”. People have personalities, traits and behaviors that often not aligned with the stereotypes regarding gender, ethnicity and other identities that so commonly prevail. Let people tell you their interests and likes instead of you presuming who and what they are! You might just be surprised at the results. If people have anxiety over being themselves ( for example, an LGBT person cannot mention their significant other by name or pronoun due to fear of not being accepted equally) then they cannot engage fully in the team as trust is everything. Acceptance and trust are interrelated!

Tip 3: Studies show women are less confident than men. I wonder when people are going to connect the dots on this one. Granted, personality has some part to play but really If women are less confident, it is because culturally, whether its explicitly or implicitly, they have been messaged to not believe in themselves to an equal degree as their male counterparts or simply put others have not endorsed them to the same degree. It is a true fact women experience credibility tests multiple times per day from is that your plane seat to are you sure your budget is right. This tedx tells of a man who became a woman recounting the difference in treatment or we can look to the Heidi Rozen Stanford experiment. Or the 50 year long academic body of work Virginia Schein has done on “think manager, think male”. I have written about this every single day for 12 straight years so the glaring systemic and culture issues that remain unaddressed are getting a little tedious. So, as a leader you have to think about your role in ensuring the women on your team get heard. Tell them to ask, but listen when they do!

If it is done properly however, inclusion is the most powerful tool a leader or manager can have in their toolkit because it can provide something that is the basis for individual and team performance.

Need an executive coach? Work with me on the system and your part in it, why you behave like you do and how you shouldn’t believe all that you think! Email nicki@evolvedpeople.com for an exploratory (free) chat to see if coaching can help you be a better professional, manager or leader.

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2018 Year in Review: Looking ahead to 2019 and Beyond

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By Nicki Gilmour, CEO and Founder of theglasshammer.com

As 2019 is getting underway, I dare to feel slightly upbeat since figures show that there have been gains for women in board seats for the first time in ten years in the US with women making up 31% of newly appointed directors for 3000 companies between January and May of last year. Do not question me too deeply on my optimism as overall, there is still vast amounts of work to be done since there is a tenacious link at best between board and female management progress. And, before we get too excited, the number women on boards is only hoovering around 18%-20% overall regarding female board directors in big companies in the US. The European Union varies greatly country by country with some highlights and low lights which is interesting since culture is the variable element in a legislatively mandated arena. France is leading the charge with almost 35% women on boards with Nordic/Baltic nations (Sweden then Latvia next at around 30%) with Italy, UK, Germany and the Netherlands inching up around 26% female board representation. Asia is deemed to have the lowest female board numbers (around 8%) but higher numbers (40%) for senior female leadership roles than the US or most of Europe.

Why Such Slow Progress for Boards?

As research from Kellogg Insights (Northwestern) points out, the criteria for hiring women for boards puts an unfair standard on women that seems to not apply to men regarding their job title or experience. Also, there is the little elephant in the room regarding why perceptual euphoria is reached when a third of board are women, as opposed to not putting unconscious putting limits on it as what we are really saying is we expect one gender to continue to  dominate decision making. Power sharing is never really that if women are expected to not exceed 30% of board representation, (if that is even reached) whereas men are being implicitly expected to hold 70-100% of it for the near and far future despite the ten year (at least) claim that women are graduating in greater numbers from university.

Back to the Future?

Should we re-read “Men and women of the corporation?” This amazing book written almost forty two years ago seems to be still relevant today Rosabeth Moss Kanter states in an interview to (another favorite) Robin Ely in HBR, via Forbes,

“The main idea in Men and Women of the Corporation is about institutions and self-perpetuating cycles. It’s about the interplay of structure and behavior. If you observe behavior—like a woman seems to be less ambitious in a particular situation—do you conclude “Women don’t go for success,” or do you conclude there’s something about that situation that’s evoking a certain kind of behavior. I looked inside the company, and I looked at the evidence about gender roles outside the company, in society. There was always an interplay. There were women in management, but they tended to be concentrated in the more routinized functions. And if you’re in the more routinized functions, it’s hard to break out, because you’re not being rewarded for independent judgment, and we still have that today, with the notion that women lack “vision” compared to men……. What would account for ambition or a lack of ambition? Opportunity. That’s pretty simple. If the door is open, you can aspire to go through it. If it doesn’t seem to be open, you can’t. In the company I wrote about in Men and Women, a lot of it had to do with the placement mechanisms.”

This book was published in 1977. It is 2019 and frankly we have seen such a fast rate of change in every other aspect of life, but not diversity.

Most corporations despite their diversity programs and networks and sponsoring of gala tables, do not have the faintest notion of what they need to do to see real change. Even Robin Ely’s paper on Diversity and Difference is twenty three years old and her “new” and third paradigm ( and a good one) seems like new news since most firms are bumbling around thinking they need certain groups to sell to same demographics or worse in denial of differences without understanding the real work needed to be done.

Wider Society- Gains and Losses.

Over the years, I have written pieces on how culture affects what happens inside and outside of the office here on this site, even just last year in the review of the 2017 year, and it is the core backbone of how to advance women at work and better this and other societies. We all to a lesser or greater degree have bias  as whether we want to admit it or not, its cognitive process and we can blame our brains. It is what we are going to do about over-ridding our brain that interests me as that will divide the evolved and the unevolved on this topic.

These past two years we have seen the use of backlash as a fascinating mechanism ( not the only one, but one that should be named). The first reflex by some was the whitelash of having the first Black President (I use the word Black over African American because the reflex was based on that definition). The second reflex was the testing assumptions exercise regarding ambivalent sexism when it comes to patriarchy and power of the Presidential US election with Trump v. Hillary. The third reflex of creating the most diverse US government to confront the highest office’s sympathies and policies. The end result means a more diverse government, but it is still worth nothing Congress is still 80% male, 80% white and 92% Christian so there are parallels with the corporate construct of a few is enough, if not too many, while dominant legacy groups never get the same restrictive belief measurement. Double standards still are very much at play and the African writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who wrote “We Should all be Feminists” eloquently talks of this.

Those firms who do understand the whole picture of diversity as a change projects as opposed to Noah’s Ark are seeing the rewards of it, despite a continued backdrop of assumed power and authority by one gender and an overarching air. Yes, we have seen assumed authority and credibility challenged and lessened with #metoo, LGBT and other advocacy efforts creating bottom up change of outdated or inequitable decisions from flawed systems. But, there is still a strong tolerance of unchecked behaviors for one group over all others and it is dependent on which body and skin you were born into and very little else.

Conclusion

The system needs to always be addressed for transformational change to happen. Leaders and people have behaviors that create impactful actions and whatever the intention is, the impact is what matters. Structures and promotional mechanisms are a very important thing to do, start there because let’s face it, people didn’t stop smoking on airplanes because it was the “right thing to do”. Mindsets and incentivizing structures are more closely related than we think!

Read all Year In Reviews here (10 years worth to compare and measure organic change or the lack of it for yourself).

About Nicki Gilmour

Nicki founded theglasshammer.com in 2007 and has published more than 8000 articles on advancing women at work. She has undertaken deep study at Teachers College, Columbia University to understand the systemic cause and effect of power and authority as it pertains to diversity, performance and change in workplace and wider culture. Nicki has a masters in individual/organizational psychology with a specialization in change leadership and an executive coaching certification (masters level) specializing in the neuroscience of coaching regarding subconscious mind and the behavioral implications regarding goal setting and execution. Nicki has clients in Fortune 500 and financial services all over the world and can be reached nicki@theglasshammer.com

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Happy New Year: Tell your story, pass on your wisdom

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Happy New Year 2019
Happy New Year from theglasshammer! Welcome 2019.

Instead of talking about New Year’s resolutions and the very interesting psychology behind them, I will ask you to simply take actions to help yourself and in turn, help others.

Firstly, tell your story. Although it might seem unremarkable to you, others might really be inspired to do more than they thought possible because you trail blazed for them. All of the women that we have profiled (over 1000) have had an amazing amount of experience and wisdom to share and since we are all different, it is always great to hear about different approaches to one’s career.

Secondly, pass on your wisdom and this can be formally as a mentor or a sponsor (by giving access to projects and people) or informally such as over a chat or a site like this one.

Thirdly, be yourself but know what that is exactly. You, according to you can be different to you, according to them. Work with a great coach (we offer coaching services, book an exploratory call here to see if there is a fit) to determine your behaviors, traits and skills and then how you are perceived in the social system you are operating in. How do you show up? What is your impact versus your intention on people and situations?

We are looking to you, the collective wisdom of the readership to contribute more this year. So if you would like to contribute with an op-ed, or a career article or be profiled, please let me know (write to nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com and put “editorial” in the title of the email).

As you know, we do not exist without sponsors, so if you would kindly ask your company to sponsor this site to show the organizational commitment and employer of choice commitment that they espouse to have, we would be very grateful.

Here is to a successful, happy, healthy, productive and stress-free 2019

Best Wishes
Nicki Gilmour
Founder and Publisher

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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year

We would like to wish all our readers a safe and healthy and fun festive season.

Whatever you celebrate, however and whenever you do that, we want to thank you for your continued support of this site.

Gloria Steinem once said to me that we should continue to build the camp fire to let women tell their stories and that is exactly why after 11 years we are still here, telling your stories. Much imitated, we are the longest running publication of this type. Thank you to our sponsors for keeping us alive and to all the hard working people who continue and have in the past written and edited and helped out with their expertise over the years.

Best wishes to you and yours for 2019. We will be back in January to continue to “inform, inspire and empower you”.

Nicki Gilmour
Founder and CEO

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What would you like to change for 2019?

By Nicki Gilmour

Let’s face it, we are always changing, evolving and adapting to survive. Imagine how you can use change to thrive.  

Last week, we talked about themes from 2018 and what was memorable to you. What is your “theme” going into 2019? Is it a new theme? Are you carrying around a theme that you no longer want? Is it even your theme? Or is it what you think you ‘should’ be doing according to other people’s wisdom? Or even due to ‘norms’ for people at your stage of your career or life?  

Think about what you want and then think about what you have to do to get there. Simple right? Sounds like goal setting, right? And it is mostly. But something to also consider is the behavioral piece of achieving goals because if you have a goal and your actual actions are not aligning then it might not be as easy as it looks on paper.  

What do you have to do? And will you do it? What is behind what you tell yourself? 

Who do you have to be? Who do you want to be in 2019?  

Book a free exploratory chat with Nicki to see if coaching will help you get you further, faster.

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Happy Thanksgiving: Career Plans for 2019 can start now!

Happy Thanksgiving to our readers in the USA.

Enjoy the time to rest and be with family and friends.

To everyone else in other parts of the world, have a great week. We are taking a publishing break.

It is a great time to start thinking about 2019.  What you might want to change, do more of or do less of? What are you thankful for? What will you do differently next year? If I wave a magic wand and we are transported in time one year from now, looking back what would you have liked to have achieved?

Career decisions – they are personal, professional and full of patterns.

Time and time again, when coaching I see that people feel that they are obliged to do jobs that no longer work for them. We grow and then stuff ourselves into boxes, we all do it at some point, so why put up with situations that no longer fit? Making decisions depends on your personality, preferences and wherever you are at in your life for sure, but your operating environment matters as behaviors come from how you intersect with the culture around you.

The glasshammer is 11 years old, and very early on in this journey, I was lucky to have a life changing experience for which I am thankful. I was fortunate to be part of a fascinating “big brother house” type learning experience, a residential executive masters in organizational psychological (I/O) with a concentration in change leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. This amazing course taught me the systemic levers of change- whether it concerns change at an individual or an organizational level, one thing is true, it is hard to ensure that you walk the talk and that the talk (self-talk) is not controlled by legacy beliefs- conscious and unconscious about the way things are! Basically we are all a product of what our granny/father/mother told us when we were nine years old.

I learned that change leadership starts with really knowing yourself. You can control more than you think you can but equally important is knowing what you cannot control (the systemic stuff). You can play the game once you know the game, or you can choose a new game.

So the good news is that you can lean in, lean out or lean sideways, but do what is right for you personally and then ensure your strategy works in the context, aka the environment you are operating in. The rest is just general advice!

If you want to explore coaching with me, please book into an exploratory call by emailing me nicki@evolvedpeople.com or booking into this calendar for a 15 chat as I am now enrolling 2019 clients and cohorts. Limited places (and there is a cost, please note depending on session type, length etc).

Make 2019 your year!

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2018 Latina Leaders- Hispanic Heritage Month

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach, Organizational Psychologist and Founder of theglasshammer.com

This week’s column is a nod to our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month series this week and throughout the month.

Latinas at the highest echelons are still underrepresented but we wanted to spotlight the top Latina leaders in business show you the Latina professionals that are making it happen. The future is now, progress is being made and more Latina women are running companies and raising capital for entrepreneurial ventures than before.

Career advice for Latina women may seem on the surface to be the same as for advice for any other woman from any other background. Why? Because it is only by varying degrees of believing and adhering to the patriarchy as an operating system, that makes each woman who is reading this abide or dissent from the cultural norms and gender roles they are messaged from birth.

If you are messaged values of a collectivist society versus those of an individualist society, you may show common traits. This is a more accurate way of actually having a career conversation about the context in which a person is operating in also, because the term “Hispanic” is perhaps something that is so inaccurate and unfair since it assumes that all Spanish-speaking people from over a dozen countries are the same, yet it equally assumes that all English-speaking people are not the same. That is an uneven start and can lead to greater stereotyping.

Beneath the surface, career advice could differ greatly for aspiring Latina leaders, because going against the grain is easier said than done in families and firms alike. This is where collectivism as a theory meets the reality of living in an individualistic culture.

Also, everyone has different personalities and value sets so many women do want to care-take more and play a larger family role, but to reduce it to a binary is a problem. And, many (not all) Latina women are faced with this binary in choosing to comply or dissent against the gender roles set, and dissent against the historical family structure expectations.

My advice is let’s start asking what each individual woman wants, instead of assuming we know that their social identity is all that they are (ditto anyone else for that matter.)

If you are a Latina, a constant strategy is to individuate yourself as a person to remind people who you are and what you want and what you are capable of, not who they think you are!

Nicki Gilmour, CEO of theglasshammer.com offers Executive and Career coaching in Spanish and English. For an exploratory call contact  nicki@theglasshammer.com o reserva aqui.

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