You're More Than Your Corner Office and Other Advice for Women in Leadership
You’re more than your corner office, your role, your title. I want you to consider that for a moment. When was the last time you really took the time to think about who you are outside of your professional identity and accomplishments?
(Waiting on standby as you ponder…)
It’s easy to understand how top women in leadership, such as yourself, can forget who they are beyond what they do.
32% of women in technical and engineering roles are typically the only women in the room. And as far as corporate America goes, there’s only 1 in 4 women in leadership within the C-suite. Unless you’re a woman of color and then it’s only 1 in 20. (You can find a lot more in McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace report from 2022.)
To reach the C-suite probably felt like a miracle. In other words, you’ve busted your ass to get where you are. It’s no wonder then that women in leadership hold tightly to the reigns they’ve worked so hard to acquire from their male counterparts. Which manifests in long working hours, little time for play, and even less time for matters of the Self.
But I want to offer a little advice for women in leadership…
Advice for women in leadership: #1 Loosen your grip and come back to center.
You’ve got to let go a little. Loosen your grip now that you’re sharing the role of steering the horse and buggy. I’m not saying quit or resign. I’m not saying spit in the face of the company you’ve worked so hard to prove yourself to. Not unless a good spit and a walk out the door serve your higher good and a better opportunity awaits you elsewhere.
What I am suggesting is that women leaders today need to come back to their center. That women in leadership are going to end up doing themselves, their teams, and their companies a disservice if they continue to operate the same way they have been–putting their career, their teams, and their families all ahead of themselves. Being the first to arrive and the last to leave the office. Carrying the weight of employee support and fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Juggling the caretaking responsibilities as a wife, mother, or daughter caring for aging parents.
This doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for you to be you. For you to be rooted in what you’re about, what you believe, what you want, or how you want to lead your life. What would it be like to leave the office a little earlier or arrive a little later? What would it be like to delegate more at home or among your team? To carve out more time for you to be more than your work or what you do for everyone around you?
Advice for women in leadership: #2 Reclaim your human being-ness
In all this effort to “be” a better woman in leadership or a better parent or a better spouse or a better caregiver, there’s not a lot of “being.” There’s a whole heck of a lot of “doing.” Doing this, that, or the other thing according to the role’s requirements or what we’ve been taught about ‘said’ role.
You must reclaim your “being-ness.” We are human beings. Not human doings. You must shake yourself awake and recognize you are more than the role you hold, the position you are in, the title you’ve been given, and the latest achievement you’ve accomplished.
Advice for women in leadership: #3 Preserve your effort by preserving yourself
It’s not that women leaders should forget the efforts they’ve made or turn their back on them. No, no. There’s more to be done. There’s always more to be done, right? But we can’t advance our initiatives or the industry if we have nothing left to give.
Burning the candle at both ends will lead to your burnout. Maybe you’re already on your way. Not only will you be in a world of hurt, but so will all the people around you that you work every day to care for. This means that preserving you is preserving your efforts, hard work, and achievements. You are the ultimate resource or asset. You’re brilliant. You’re amazing at what you do and what you bring. If your light is snuffed out, what then?
Now’s the time for self-care. Truthfully, it’s always time for self-care, but if you haven’t yet established that as a part of your daily or weekly routine, it’s time to start. The only way for you to preserve yourself is to spend time caring for yourself–in whatever way resonates.
Advice for women in leadership: #4 Trust that you can be a leader
in a different way
Just imagine what kind of leader you would be if you were more in tune with who you are and what you want from life. Or if you were more rested and had more time for some of your interests that didn’t have to do with anyone else–they were just for you.
Believe me when I say that you can step away from the desk and clock out and the world won’t fall apart within your office walls. Trust that you have everything it takes to keep your position and thrive in it even while choosing to operate differently. You can be a leader who isn’t married to your work or sacrificing your quality of life for the sake of the company’s bottom line.
Advice for women in leadership: #5 When you trust you are more,
your team will be permitted to believe they are more, too
When you start trusting yourself, trusting what you can accomplish even while you put yourself first or choose to work less, you give everyone around you permission to want more for themselves and know they can have it. You can illustrate that life doesn’t have to be a grind every single day to get ahead in the workplace.
You can change the culture of how work and life co-exist. You’re already a culture-shifting-badass anyway, so why not shift it a little more? Be the change you wish to see in THE world, they say. But I say, be the change you wish to see in YOUR world.
Trust that you’re more than your corner office.
You are so much more and so much greater than your impressive resume. If you could accomplish making it up the ladder to be a top woman in leadership, then trust that you can change the way you show up in that role and every other role.
Trust that you can leave work at a reasonable time of day. Trust that you can find more time for yourself. Trust that you matter. When you recognize that you matter and you’re more than your corner office, even BIGGER things will present themselves to you.
Let’s infuse your early days of the new year with more trust in yourself and begin to empower your leadership to new levels. Start by taking my Great Leadership Assessment. This assessment is your tool to unearth your personal leadership journey. Your results are your beacon, illuminating the path toward those leadership breakthroughs you seek.
