annrajaram
As part of my Leadership Experiment, here is my journal entry of steps to boost and refine my leadership skills.
Executive Coaching:
Attended the first session for an Executive coaching group that I recently joined. The group is mentored by a leadership coach who is a 3X TEDx speaker and one of the founder coaches at Chief.com, a think tank that I’d love to get into! (Not eligible due to the 15-year experience barrier). Being part of this group allows me to get the benefits of that group, without the high cost. The first session was mainly focused on networking and crafting brand narratives and I enjoyed meeting a curated cohort of other talented and ambitious women who also want to accelerate their career paths.
Lean-in Circle Leader:
Led the second monthly meeting for my Lean-in circle at my employer. One of the notable insights I got from the group was that all of us were shrugging off accomplishments that sounded super impressive to the others.
Made me think – how many of us reject opportunities because we don’t think that we are capable enough? How many women unnecessarily downplay our strengths? Basically, hide our light under our own Shadows!
Professional but Assertive:
Participated assertively but courteously in a discussion that can only be called aggressive by the most euphemistic standards. I stood my ground and responded firmly but politely to some belligerent comments. After the meeting, I got positive feedback from multiple attendees about my professionalism and for sticking to my guns despite the fact that the person on the other end was being rude and outranked me by 3 levels!
Crucial and often unpleasant conversations are part of moving up the career ladder, and I am glad to be getting opportunities to build my “persuasion” muscles.
Missed opportunity
The post would not be complete if I only wrote about my successes. I had one major missed opportunity. On International Women’s Day, I debated sending a message to a local women’s group I am part of. I even drafted a quick email (inspiring but not too verbose) but chickened out just before sending it. I was hesitant the email would be ignored or worse, viewed as spammy!
Yet, 2 hours later, a male peer of mine spoke very similar words in a much larger group setting! He was NOT the senior person in the room, the meeting was for discussing deliverables regarding a looming deadline, but he totally did not ask permission or seem perturbed about using meeting time for something unrelated. Worse, I could see people viewing him as a leader for bringing the limelight to the amazing women employees in the group! I felt both impressed and wretched for not having done it myself!