Tag Archive for: Rebecca S. Caum

Idolize Your Boss? Not So Fast.

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team-meeting-in-office-5lNobody likes to work for somebody who doesn’t respect their employees, make fair decisions, or is more concerned with their own professional advancement than the good the whole team. It’s easy to spot a bad boss, but what does a good boss look like? You might picture her being open to your ideas, easy to talk to, supportive of your professional development and excited about your work. These are nice ideas, but sometimes what seems like a good boss at first can quickly sour when you find out that great performance review was rooted in their own desire to be liked. And sometimes, that tough to please boss who never lets you get a word in has the potential to teach you lesson that will grow your career by leaps and bounds.

How can you learn to manage a relationship with your boss, whether they are good or bad? And, when things do go bad, how can you steer the relationship back to healthy?

When Love Hurts

Annie McKee is a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, director of the PennCLO Executive Doctoral Program and the author of Resonant Leadership. In her work with leaders, she often sees the downside of having a boss who grows their leadership style from the root of having a congenial relationship with their employees. Mckee lists three primary issues that can arise from idolizing or loving your boss.

First, strong emotions tend to cloud our judgment, making it more likely that we will be passive when we should be assertive. Probably, having good judgment is one of the reasons you were hired in the first place—you don’t want to leave it at the door when you go into work each day.

Second, a relationship that is based in ‘liking’ one another can often lead to favoritism. This is never a good scenario; as soon as there is a problem, your boss is likely to distance themselves from you, as their likeability is their top concern. You will soon be replaced by the next easy target.

Finally, blind dedication to a leader can actually be truly dangerous as it leaves you vulnerable to making decisions which can compromise your values.

The bright side of a bad boss

While recent research shows that a boss who is truly abusive—somebody who uses public humiliation and personal attacks to impose fear and blind cooperation—is absolutely bad for your health and will most likely have a negative impact on your family life, it is possible to manage the relationship in a way that will benefit you, your team and the your company.

There is a lot of research supporting the negative impacts—on every aspect of business from the employee’s personal health to the company’s bottom line—of bad bosses, but there is not so much research on the positive impacts. Even so, there are many people whom have found that they have learned as much from challenging bosses as they have from those whom were easier to work with. If you are able to take a step back, you will learn what not to do, become more resilient, and self-reliant. These are stellar qualities that can help you become ready for your next leadership position.

A difficult relationship with your boss could be rooted in a number of different conflict types. They could be plainly harsh in their criticisms, irrational in their decision-making process or you could simply have a personality conflict. Either way, how can you find your way through it to the next phase of your career without damaging your personal brand, or your job performance?

Moving onward and upward

According to the American Psychological Association, the best way to manage a difficult boss begins with understanding the reasons your boss’ chooses to behave the way she does. If it seems that the behavior stems from stress due to work overload, it is likely to change in response to changes in the amount of workload or other factors. But if your boss’ behavior seems to follow a consistently hostile or abusive patter of interacting with co-workers and employees, it is less likely that the behavior will change. In this case, the APA recommends seeking the counsel of a trusted mentor.

Once you have determined the reason for your boss’s behavior, you will want to manage your own negative emotions. You do not want to engage in self-defeating behaviors such as counter-attacking your boss or stonewalling them. Remember your purpose at work, do your job, and remain professional.

Third, communicate your feelings with your boss or another trusted supervisor. It is important to frame your concerns in a positive manner. Perhaps this will bring a change, but some experts say this is unlikely. The administration of the company has already expressed their opinion by promoting the difficult boss in question.

In the meantime, the APA advises to try and separate your personal ego from your business persona. When your supervisor is critical, be rational in your response. Is there something for you to learn from the criticism? If so, use it as an opportunity to work with your boss on a play to address the problem. But if you don’t think it is reasonable or valid criticism, then take solace in that. Their lack of judgment does not have to take over your entire sense of self.

By Rebecca S. Caum

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Pack your Bags: Why you might want to get ahead by going abroad

Woman travelling - airportAccording to research by Mercer, the majority of companies worldwide were expected to increase both long and short-term international assignments. The research also told us that men have typically fulfilled these assignments. Global HR consultants Caroline Kersten and Sapna Welsh, the authors of Worldly Women—The New Leadership Profile, affirmed that the need for women to fulfill international assignments still persists in a recent interview with the Society for Human Resource Management. In addition, they say that men are still the first ones put on the list to be considered for overseas work opportunities.

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Most Likely to Succeed: What matters most when you are trying to get ahead

Elegant leaderChoosing the right company is important for everyone, but in today’s job market, it is tempting and more acceptable to move around from one company to the next. Although this kind of job-hopping may not carry the same stigma it used to, according to a new study from the Harvard Business Review, How Female CEO’s Actually Get to the Top, the most common path of the Fortune 500’s female CEO’s is one of long-term employment at one company, moving ahead from within.

The median long stint for these women CEOs is 23 years spent at a single company before becoming the CEO, compared to only 15 years for men. This means that for women, the long climb is over 50% longer than for their male peers. In addition, 71% of the female CEOs were promoted as long-term insiders versus only 48% of the male CEOs.

This means that it is especially important for women in the middle of their careers to find the best possible fit when looking to advance their career at their company or someplace new.

Finding the right company to go the distance with

Sharon Hadary who co-authors with Laura Henderson the book How Women Lead: The 8 Essential Strategies Successful Women Know believes that the importance of finding a company whose values match your own is key. In order to understand just what your values are—beyond the friendly HR language—she suggested women “look for the factual evidence that companies are supportive of women and that it’s not just words”. This means finding out how many women are in senior positions, hold positions on boards, and are involved in company supported networking groups. Hadary is not without cynicism however as it is really important to see how the rubber meets the road beyond programmatic solutions and comments,

“I always worry about women in programs, lots of companies will talk about their programs they have for women, but do they really put it into practice?”

Bonnie Marcus, author of The Politics of Promotion, echoes Hadary’s concerns. We asked her how women can really tell the difference between companies who are paying lip-service to diversity and those that truly support women. In addition to Hadary’s points, Marcus suggests noting whether or not women have P&L responsibility.

“Many companies will boast that they have promoted women to assume leadership roles, but when you take a good look at the organizational chart you may discover that these positions do not come with any fiscal responsibility. In other words, the company may have gendered roles even at the senior level.”

This is closely linked to her next suggestion, which is to make sure you have an understanding of women’s power and influence in the overall operations and strategy of the company. She suggests finding out the role women play in the overall operations and strategy of the company.

“Do they have any involvement in setting the direction of the company? Do women at all levels sit on committees that have a voice with senior management?”

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, this second point is one of the primary reasons there aren’t more women at the tippy top of the corporate ladder—they are not in operational positions that will give them the necessary experience for making the kinds of decisions that impact the company’s bottom line. Instead, they tend to rise to the top of functional departments, like human resources or finance. In fact, their numbers show 55% of the women in senior positions of the S&P’s 500 head these kinds of functional departments. When paired with the fact that 94% of these same companies’ CEO’s were in senior management positions of operations—like the development of product lines—immediately before making that final leap to the top, it seems especially important to find a company that already has women in these senior roles.

Recently, the Glass Hammer reported on how women can best make the transition back to work after taking a break. Business Insider reports that the unconscious bias associated with women who have children—that their commitment to their children will outweigh their commitment to their work—remains a large factor in their overall career progress. So, if you are planning to have a family one day, you may also want to note how many of the senior female executives have children and get a sense of their overall experience. The conversation about working mothers tends to revolve around work-life balance, but there is more to it than just finding time for car pool and illness. It’s about giving mothers the responsibility of projects that have a direct impact on the bottom line.

Finally, Marcus suggests finding out whether or not their programs and networks meant to support women actually have a budget.

“Many of these programs lack any financial support which most likely indicates the company is paying lip service to supporting the advancement of women. Very little can be accomplished without money or executive sponsorship.”

There is no telling the future, and there is no sure fire road to the top. And yes, you may do everything right, follow the rules, be assertive, engage men, find a mentor and take every other piece of advice given, and still not make it. Sometimes, the numbers are just that tough and the intentions that hard to decipher. These hard facts are all the more reason to be focused, be smart and do your research when looking for that next job—it is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. And even though it can be fun to hop around, and even a good idea early in your career, but eventually, your best chances of getting ahead will be found when you commit to a company that is equally committed to you.

By Rebecca S. Caum

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Biotech: Where are the women on boards?

team-meeting-in-office-5lThe biotech sector lies at the center of several different forces shaping the economic landscape: companies originate in the halls of academia, they maintain close relationships with the pharmaceutical industry, and because of the capital intensive funding model associated with the industry, they are subject to a number of influences from venture capitalists as well. As a smaller industry, with approximately 2,300 companies in the U.S., biotech offers sharp insight into how niche industries are seeking to bring about fast changes in the number of women present in their board rooms and directors’ meetings. Since 52% of US biotech companies maintain all-male boards, the numbers are clearly painting a picture; women are not being invited to the table.

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Voice of Experience: Tina Youngblood, CEO of Spencer RE & Vice Chair of Spencer Holdings Company

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Tina YoungbloodTina Youngblood (formerly Mallie) began her career as the first woman professor of accounting, with a PhD, to receive tenure from Miami University. From there, she has carved her pathway to success with the force of lions and a graceful ease. After 7 years at the University, Youngblood took her sabbatical in New York City. During that time, she decided to leave academia for an opportunity to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers as their global chief of staff. When PwC’s CEO, Jim Schiro, left the company to lead the then failing Zurich Insurance Group, he took two people with him—Youngblood was one of them.

“This was definitely a watershed moment in my career”, says Youngblood. She spent two and half years working with Schiro in Switzerland before returning to the United States as Zurich’s Chief Administrative Officer in North America. Again, she was the first woman ever to hold this position, managing human resources, governance and “all functions of the company that were not directly related to insurance.” From there, she moved from one promotion to the next. She became the first woman to run Construction Services, and then head of Direct Markets for Zurich North America Commercial where she was responsible for overseeing the company’s insurance offerings to businesses that service cars, trucks, motorcycles and auto recyclers. In total, Youngblood held 5 different positions in her 10-year run with Zurich, addressing new challenges without pause or consideration of what it might mean to be the “first woman” over and over again.

“This was definitely a watershed moment in my career”

With a diverse set of management experiences, Youngblood moved on from Zurich to become US CEO of Cunningham Lindsay. She has served as Vice Chair of Spencer Capital Holdings since 2013 and has recently been named CEO of their subsidiary, Spencer Re in December of 2014.

Youngblood took her time when looking back over the years to find her proudest moment, “This is a tough one for me because I have had an incredible career with lots of opportunity.” But once she has decided, she is clear. While head of the Direct Markets group at Zurich, Tina was responsible for putting together a team of people who would turn around the company’s bottom line in only a couple of years. “Putting together that team and building a culture of transparency and turning the company around from the employee engagement perspective, making it a place that people were proud to work, and leading them through the process was a very proud and gratifying experience. It was a tough decision—to save 600 jobs we had to get rid of some—but because we were honest, we transformed the business from a financial and cultural perspective as well.”

Listen before you leap

If Tina could pass a bit of advice to her younger self, she would counsel her on the art of communication, “It is 90% listening and 10% talking.” Luckily, she learned this lesson early in her career when she was a professor. “I had a student ask me a question, and I answered her. She stared back at me blankly and I knew I hadn’t gotten it right. When she asked me for the third time, I repeated her question back to her, and when I did that, it was wrong. We got though it and it was a great lesson for me then as it still is today. Every single day of my career and my life, I see how active listening is the most essential part of communication. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a board room, listening to a discussion between two people who are talking about two completely different things. I say, ‘Hey, do you guys even realize you are talking about two different things?’”

Breaking from tradition

Not surprisingly, Tina sees a lot to be excited about in her new position, “we have a tremendous opportunity that will allow us to make a real difference in the company and the industry.” For customers, she is excited about the unique options that Spencer Re will be able to offer as a result of the ongoing consolidation in the insurance industry. “We are in a unique place right now that will allow us to have new conversations with stakeholders who haven’t previously been at the same table. There are a lot of new options outside of the traditional offerings when we think of the reinsurance industry.”

“we have a tremendous opportunity that will allow us to make a real difference in the company and the industry.”

It is with this same good business sense that Youngblood approaches the many challenges facing women in the workforce today. “As a woman who has been in a male dominated industry for my entire career, I think it is always possible to overcome the barriers. A lot of times the barriers are because of expectations—there are expectations of women with a particular role that they will succeed in, there are lots of them. Some of them are self-imposed and some are imposed by the industry. There are jobs traditionally held by women and those that people expect to be held by men. I’ve never felt like there was anything I couldn’t do if I set my mind to it. It’s never really occurred to me that I’m the only woman or the first woman. It’s more about how I can contribute, this is how I can add value. I just look at other people as people.”

Value integrity

Obviously, this perspective has served Tina well. She advises her mentees and other young women in her industry to remain true and just be who they are, right down to their haircuts. “I used to have longer hair, I was given advice to cut my hair, and wear my glasses. I thought, ‘Why would I do that, and what does that have to do with anything? At the forefront of everything is your integrity – when you put your head on the pillow at night, you sleep on your integrity, and that’s all you have. If there is something that you don’t think is right and it goes against your belief system, then you shouldn’t do it. Don’t forget your core, your purpose, as they say.”
Youngblood feels that Spencer has a culture that supports her own sense of integrity. “One of the reasons I took this job is because of the culture that we are building is all about retention, advancement, education and values.”

Tina served as the head of women in leadership group at Zurich and says that mentoring is still her favorite part of the job. Finding young people to mentor is an essential part of her plan as she works to build and grow Spencer Re.

Share your blessings

As the surviving sister of a younger brother with special needs, Mallie has found great satisfaction in working with the St. Michael Special School in New Orleans. The relationship began while she was with Zurich. The school serves children of all ages; giving them the education and support they need to be their best selves. “There are opportunities to serve everywhere. If you are blessed, I believe you should share.”

In her free time, Tina “sincerely enjoys” the game of golf. Still a resident of Kansas City, she spends a lot of time traveling for work, but still loves to travel for fun as well.

By Rebecca S. Caum

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Will Gender Equity happen because of Millennial Professionals?

working on a computerThere has been much written about Millennials and the impact they are bound to have on the workforce in the next decade.

Many senior women have talked to us at theglasshammer.com about the challenges of understanding and motivating younger team members. Since there have been academic and anecdotal studies noting the differences in approaches to work between the generations, it is easy to see that our readers are not alone in their experience.

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Intrepid Women: Moira Forbes, EVP of Forbes Media

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Moira ForbesMoira Forbes, EVP of Forbes Media, grew up in a family with almost a century of experience in the publishing industry as part of the Forbes family. She clearly bears the wisdom of her ancestors yet has the incisiveness and insight of a woman who knows how to make her own way.

Forbes says, “We were always involved in the business from the time we were young.”

After graduating from Princeton and the Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development, she joined the marketing team of Forbes Europe in 2001. After a few years in London, she returned to New York in 2013 where she had the opportunity to work with Forbes Life, a division of the magazine that has more to do with the best ways to spend your money, rather than how to make it. Forbes comments,

“It was really important for me to start on the sales side of the business. It allowed me to get to know my clients and understand why our brand was so compelling to business leaders from around the world.”

After proving herself as more than competent in the cut and dry game of sales’ quotas where “success is evident in a very transparent way”, Forbes was named the Associate Publisher of Forbes Life. In 2008, she helped launch ForbesWoman, a section of the online magazine meant to look at the experiences of female leaders.

Forbes talks of the mission of ForbesWoman. She adds,

“The stories weren’t always about women, but I think women were looking for community with other people who had taken a similar path. Now, ForbesWoman is one of the highest traffic sections of the site.”

In addition, Ms. Forbes serves as the EVP of Forbes Media, helping to build new strategies to grow Forbes Life.

Redefining power as a pathway to change

2013 saw the first time occurrence of one of Forbes’ proudest accomplishments: the Forbes Women’s Summit. There are many conferences that can pass like weddings. People gather—in this case, 250 of the most extraordinary female businesswomen, scientists, artists and groundbreakers from around the world—for a couple of days. They make new friends and reconnect with forgotten loved ones. There are hugs when it’s time to depart and promises to get together again, but those promises are rarely kept. Moira Forbes did not want to plan a wedding; she wanted to ensure this Summit would plant seeds that could grow conversations forceful enough to last 365 days a year.The summit seeks to find lasting solutions to the most critical issues facing the world today. Forbes asked herself how she would scale the conversation beyond the 250 women in the room when she found herself thinking about power. She has come to the following conclusion,

“Power is the ability to shape dialogue, and use our influence to effect change in all areas of our lives. When you define power as influence, you must look outside of your industry and approach the issues from unique vantage points.”

The summit strives to represent women from a variety of backgrounds in order to bring together as many different eclectic ideas as possible. When asked who she invites, she comments that she tries to find the people who are doing extraordinary things in their field, and ‘those who would be really cool to talk to’ she adds with a smile.

Perspective is everything

With all of the pressure, and excitement, of surviving and growing in the publishing industry today, Forbes feels that it is important to stay as relaxed as possible by trying not to worry about the small things. On success she comments,

“We are our own toughest critics. If we are lucky we will have many chapters and experiences. There will be bumps along the way, but you will get through them.”

Forbes acknowledges that social media and the online media landscape brings an exciting opportunity for the publishing industry that comes with many challenges and even a few “sleepless nights”. But the ability to “feel the pulse of the audience, in real time, through social media is a powerful opportunity to create relationships with our readers.” Despite the fast rate of change and disruption, the strength of the brand anchors her work in a strong sense of purpose.

Goals and benchmarks are useful for achieving more than we think

Forbes has a somewhat unique vantage point for considering the different barriers that face women in the business world today, as her own work allows her to interact with women from several different industries.

“I think women are challenged to really plan and think about their careers. We set benchmarks and define indicators of success in our professional lives, but we fail to do it in our personal lives. I talk to so many women who are afraid to set a plan and say, ‘This is where I want to be in 3 years’, and then back track from there to figure out what they need and how they might get there.”

For this reason, she is a strong believer in helping women develop career plans—and that this is something that needs to be hardwired into the company culture. There are many times women will assume they have to hit the pause button because they just aren’t sure how to navigate the dual obligations of work and family.

“The cost of losing such high potential talent is too high. Transparent conversations about how the organization can help bring their employees to the point they are looking to get can remove the stress that sometimes leads women to taking themselves out.”

It is easy to see that Forbes is a product of her own good advice.

She says, “Nobody else is thinking about you twenty-four hours a day. You are the only one who knows what you want. People aren’t mind readers. If you don’t ask for what you want, you won’t get it.”

She encourages women to raise their hand when it’s time for a promotion or a project lead, even when they don’t feel 100% ready.

“There are so many lessons that are learned on the job; experience is the greatest teacher.”

By Rebecca S. Caum

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Voice of Experience: Beth Paul, Assurance Partner with PwC US

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Beth PaulBeth Paul made partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) after she was with the firm 13 years. A graduate from Pace University and a skilled accountant, she is guided by a quiet pragmatism and sharp intellect. These qualities give Paul a confidence and sensibility that remains down to earth despite her great success.

Paul began working at PwC directly upon graduation in 1992. Her career began in the auditing practice working on companies in the industrial products sector. After spending seven years in that sector, she joined the national professional service group for what was supposed to be a two-year tour in PwC’s SEC services group. Instead, she stayed in that group and was made a partner in 2005, a feat she acknowledges as her proudest professional achievement. “That day created a memory that will last forever. It has been 10 years, but in some ways, it feels like yesterday.”

Use feedback to build your brand

After 22 years with PwC, Paul feels that young women coming into the profession will benefit from understanding the importance of building their brand as well as some of the barriers that can prevent them from doing it most effectively. Essentially, Paul believes that your professional growth is built upon being able to hear what your co-workers, supervisors and mentors have to say about their impression of you and your work.

“You have to get candid feedback early and often. You will get different feedback at each stage of your career—but in order for you to advance, people have to be able to see you in the role. You need to be able to build a brand that allows you to project that image. That is why the feedback is so important; we can all have blinders on as to what we are really like. If you don’t get feedback, you won’t know how to progress—you can’t fix what nobody’s telling you need adjustment.”

Accessible accounting practices are best

In 2012, Paul was asked to join the firm’s accounting services group within the national professional services group as the strategic thought leader. In this role, she works with other leaders in her firm to determine the firm’s position on emerging trends in auditing, accounting and financial reporting. Paul is now deeply engaged in her new role and one of her primary goals is to help the firm share their insights and perspectives on accounting developments through new mediums, such as videos and new distribution channels such as the use of social media and PwC’s CFOdirect e-newsletter and website.

“I am most excited about the fact that we are trying new and different things, like social media, to distribute our content. We are also looking to expand our audience by tailoring the message to a variety of audiences.”

She says that one of the most interesting trends in accounting today is the Financial Accounting Standard Board’s simplification initiative.

“Thinking about ways to change the current standards to remove complexity will help reduce costs, minimize the possibility of inconsistent or incorrect application, and ultimately make it easier for all stakeholders.”

You won’t ever be in the locker room

In terms of barriers for women in her industry, Paul loops back to the importance of being able to receive feedback, and using this feedback in a productive manner instead of dwelling on it or letting it get you down. She reflects about some great advice she was given as a new partner that helped her understand this process and how it can affect women differently than men.

“I was a brand new partner, and a very seasoned female partner said to me, ‘when men are in the locker room together, they can tell each other what they did wrong, then slap each other on the butt and walk out of there with insight into what they need to do better next time. You aren’t going to be in the locker room so, you are going to need to be more proactive in how you get the feedback you need to succeed.’”

This advice helped Paul see how important it was for women to find an advocate who would not be afraid to speak openly with them about their performance. Paul is clear that women and men are definitely different, but she lays part of the responsibility to see that difference—and do something about it – with women.

“You can’t just ignore it; you have to do something about it. You have to be willing to listen to the feedback constructively because the more you are willing to listen, the more people are going to be willing to give you that feedback and help you.”

And, for the women who share a seat at her table, she believes they owe it those who are less tenured to reach out, mentor them and be engaged with the younger women making their way up the ladder.

A calm focus wins over fast and busy

Paul believes that PwC provides a very supportive working environment, for men and women alike. PwC offers flexibility programs to help women and men accommodate their family life and navigate the many decisions between balancing life and work. “I’m proud that we have a very inclusive and collaborative culture.”

Outside the office

When not at work, Paul enjoys her daughter’s competitive cheer competitions. To help balance out the busyness, Paul started practicing yoga three years ago and finds it tremendously beneficial.

“Yoga is really about being in the moment and having that clear focus. I think there is a real place for that. It has impacted me greatly, and not just in a healthy, get-fit way, but from a broader perspective. When you apply that focus to work, you can really get a lot done in a short amount of time.”

By Rebecca S. Caum

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How much do people need to know about you to trust you as a leader?

female leaderYou cant be a leader without having followers, and to have people trust you they may want to know about your life outside of work as well as your five-year strategy plan. The benefits of authenticity for the individual seem pretty straight-forward; most of us feel better when we are honest about who we are, but we also have good reasons for keeping our personal and professional lives separate. Human beings are judgmental by nature, and ‘fitting in’ is often a prerequisite for ‘getting ahead.’ It seems however that revelations are not created equal.

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The Little Engine that Could: Believe in yourself, and others will too

happy-groupLeadership Self-Efficacy & Gender

Similar to a sense of confidence, self-efficacy is the psychological term used to measure a person’s belief in their capacity to achieve their goals. Research shows that a person’s degree of self-efficacy has a significant impact on the kinds of goals they choose, and the amount of effort and persistence they put toward achieving those goals.

The most interesting aspect of leadership development models that use self-efficacy as the meter for determining a person’s success, especially as related to the glass-ceiling, is their shift in focus from external barriers—like sexism and stereotyping—to internal factors, like our own personalities. Whereas none of us can control the world around us, we are all masters of our own perception. This means that what we believe about ourselves, as women, what we are and aren’t supposed to do, has the primary influence over our ability to lead and achieve. A 2003 study on the influence of self-efficacy on the glass-ceiling phenomenon, reveals some evidence that it is women themselves, and their own self-confidence, that is holding them back.

Interestingly, the study concludes that a majority of senior managers gave the reason that women were not ready for advancement because they lacked the necessary confidence when they chose not to promote the female candidates.

Wells (2001) reported that the only competency on which women managers scored lower than men was self-confidence, and that this lack of confidence was self-limiting. When asked about their career aspirations, the women were looking only about two positions up from their current one.

The researchers are clear that it is not their intention to blame women, as the external barriers are real. And, sex-identity is determined largely by the ideas and messages we receive as children, but once we are adults, we do have the capacity to determine our own thoughts and feelings about who we are and who we want to become.

Lisa Falzone: A model of confidence

For Lisa Falzone, co-founder and CEO of Revel Systems, the rise to the top was a natural progression from the gender-neutral environment of women’s athletics to leading a brand new tech-company.

As Falzone was only three years of out of college when she began the work of designing an iPad point of sale system used by some large chain restaurants, she says she “never realized sexism” and was “oblivious to it, in a sense.” As a college athlete, Falzone was used to competition, and she felt that her team worked and played just as hard as men. She says that she never questioned that the business world would be any different. While she acknowledges that the venture capitalist landscape needs to change, and that the only other women she sees there are “super models” at the secretary’s desk, she also says that, “women just need to try” if they want to be more successful. She comments,

“Women are more prone to fear because they need to be encouraged more. I think it’s just a matter of time before women can see themselves as leaders and entrepreneurs—they haven’t seen other role models. The investment landscape has to change as well; the VC’s like to invest in people who are more like them. For some reason, VC’s are not getting women into being partners.”

Falzone, on Forbes’ 2014 list of the Top 30 Under 30, is young enough that finding her own identity, as a leader, was a natural part of her personal development. Falzone’s story is an inspiring representation of how much a woman can accomplish when she is not bogged down by worrying about how others might view her, or how she is supposed to act.

Increase your self-efficacy today

Anthony Bandura’s original research defining self-efficacy offers a variety of exercises for increasing a person’s sense of their ability to achieve their goals. Some of these are:

Evaluate your success as you go

Each time you achieve a goal, take the time to acknowledge how you got there and the fact that you actually did what you set out to do. Even small accomplishments count in getting you further toward your final goal.

Visualize success

When we see ourselves as successful people, we engage our brains in the process of helping us get there, instead of wearing us down with negative thoughts or insecurities. Allowing ourselves to imagine what we want to be also helps us plan the smaller steps we need to take to get there.

Insecurity is okay

Everyone experiences feelings of self-doubt. The danger comes when we allow these feelings to define who we are. When we view insecurity as a natural part of the growth process, we are better able to accept them and move on.

Be Happy

Honing your ability to determine your mood is key. Remember that song that used to have you singing in traffic when you first got your license? Put it on your morning playlist. Do you love chocolate but limit your indulgence? Maybe it’s time to step up your exercise and feel happier by allowing yourself to have more of the things you enjoy.

Ditch the downers

You know that friend who always was to remind you of that time in middle school when you didn’t get asked to the dance? Or, do you have a hard time saying no to that work colleague who loves to invite you to lunch and complain about how nothing is every working out for her? Well, these people are not likely to send you the encouraging messages you need to be your best self. Let Negative Nancy find a new friend while you are out with that new mentor you’ve been meaning to find.

By Rebecca S. Caum

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