Chapter Action Summaries
This section is your cheat sheet for what you need to do to begin digging your heels in and thriving in your company.
Chapter 1: The Case for Digging Your Heels In (Everybody Wins)
Think about what representation means to you. How would it have changed your career path to be exposed to more women in leadership positions in your earlier years?
Reflect on the skills, institutional knowledge, and relationships you can leverage to begin planting the seeds of change in your company.
Consider the benefits of digging your heels in and building the company you deserve right where you are:
• To your career
• To your company
• To your community
Resources
www.pharmavoice.com/pdfs/2014/pv-1014/HBALeadershipPublication.pdf?tracker_id=1538430302#page=18
http://fortune.com/2017/06/07/fortune-500-women-ceos/
http://fortune.com/2018/05/21/women-fortune-500-2018/
http://fortune.com/2018/05/22/fortune-500-companies-women-boards/
www.catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workforce
www.pwc.com/sg/en/diversity/assets/female-millennial-a-new-era-of-talent.pdf.
www.vitalsmarts.no/uploads/9/4/6/7/9467257/women-in-the-workplace-ebook.pdf.
Chapter 2: Making the Decision
Diagnose your company culture to get clear on its current and future ability to empower women in an equitable, inclusive environment.
Respond to the DYHI Reflection Questions to help you make this very personal decision.
Before you make a move, take some time to acknowledge the emotions and thoughts that come up from your decision. Then evaluate the situation and your next moves before rushing into anything. Trust your capacity to reflect and listen closely to your thoughts.
Be confident in your ability to use your natural judgment and critical thinking skills—you’ve got this!
Resources
www.pnas.org/content/114/18/4637
Chapter 3: Setting the Stage for Success
Get clear on your unique career vision. You can start by thinking about the people inside and outside your company who inspire you.
Take the initiative by filling in the gaps at your company that only you can fill.
Begin to create your future with these seven steps:
1. Take a personal inventory
2. Map your goals
3. Reimagine your company
4. Identify resources
5. Invest in content and connections
6. Seek out other women to learn about their vision
7. Make the case for your company (use the stats in The Business Case for Change section as a start!)
Be vulnerable with your vision and compassionate toward yourself along the way. You are enough.
Resources
The Business Case for Change section of this book
Events and organizations to explore:
• Alt Summit (www.altitudesummit.com/)
• Black Career Women’s Network (https://bcwnetwork.com/careeressentials/)
• C2: ColorComm (www.colorcommnetwork.com/)
• Create + Cultivate (www.createcultivate.com/)
• Diversity Inc. (www.diversityinc.com/)
• Ellevate Network (www.ellevatenetwork.com/)
• Summit 21 (https://21ninety.com/summit21/)
• Forbes (www.forbes.com/forbes-live/)
• Fortune: The Most Powerful Women & Most Powerful Women Next Gen (www.fortuneconferences.com/fortune-mpw-next-gen-2018/)
• GirlBoss Rally (www.girlbossrally.com)
• Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (https://ghc.anitab.org/)
• HBA (www.hbanet.org/)
• ICAN’s annual Women’s Leadership Conference (http://icanglobal.net/our-events/conference/)
• Influence Network (http://theinfluencenetwork.com/)
• Makers (www.makers.com/conference)
• Massachusetts Conference for Women (www.maconferenceforwomen.org/)
• National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. (www.ncbw.org/)
• National Congress of Black Women (https://ncbwinclac.org/)
• Pennsylvania Conference for Women (www.paconferenceforwomen.org/)
• Powerful Women’s Weekend (www.thepowerfulwomen.org/)
• Propel Women (www.propelwomen.org/)
• S.H.E. Summit (https://shesummit.com/)
• SXSW (www.sxsw.com/)
• TED Women (www.ted.com/attend/conferences/special-events/tedwomen)
• Texas Conference for Women (www.txconferenceforwomen.org/)
• WIN Summit (http://winsummit.com/)
• Women in the World (https://womenintheworld.com/)
• Women of Color Leadership and Empowerment Conference (WOC) (https://colormagazine.com/women-of-color-2018/)
• Yellow Conference (https://yellowco.co/)
Chapter 4: Big Bold Moves
Keep each of the following eight big bold moves in mind, identifying which action is appropriate to take when, within the context of your life and professional situation. But, do something.
1. Model inclusive leadership: Show them how inclusive behaviors deliver better results for everyone.
2. Take control of your growth and development: Map out the developmental opportunities you want to pursue and proactively discuss them with your direct leaders.
3. Engage your employee women’s network: Use it as a tool to increase the talent pipeline of women, and foster relationships and a stronger sense of belonging and community.
4. Lift as you climb: Pay it forward by mentoring younger women.
5. Ignite an industry-wide conversation: The conversation about achieving gender parity and building a more inclusive workplace culture is one that everyone in your organization (and industry) needs to be having.
6. Get to equal representation: Start with your own team and get specific on your goals for achieving 50-50 representation of women.
7. Get pay straight: Do the homework. Initiate salary discussions with your supervisor. Continue to review your pay and remain aware of market comparators.
8. Advocate behind closed doors: Get in the room where talent decisions are made.
Resources
www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/About-JPMC/women-on-the-move.htm
www.ey.com/gl/en/issues/business-environment/women-fast-forward
https://hbr.org/2018/02/dowomens-networking-events-move-the-needle-on-equality#comment-section
https://womenintheworkplace.com/Women_in_the_Workplace_2016.pdf
www.rachelsimmons.com/books-and-advice/articles-and-girltips/
Nonprofits that focus on female empowerment to pursue volunteer opportunities
• Girls Hope of Pittsburgh (www.girlshope.org/)
• Girl Scouts of the USA (www.girlscouts.org/)
• Step Up for Women (www.suwn.org/)
• Girls Inc. (https://girlsinc.org/)
• Girls Inc. of NYC (www.girlsincnyc.org)
• Girls Leadership (https://girlsleadership.org)
• Girls on the Run NYC (http://gotrnyc.org)
Chapter 5: Overcoming Obstacles
Gain an understanding of the following self-limiting behaviors that hold women back:
• Imposter syndrome
• Stifled authenticity
• The myth of meritocracy
• Good-girl thinking
Use the following strategies to overcome them:
1. Own your success
2. Reframe the negative
3. Call a friend
4. Cultivate your personal brand
5. Speak up
6. Take a vulnerability inventory
7. Help others find their voice
9. Unleash influential sponsors
10. Bring men in as allies
11. Navigate the politics
12. Pause and then engage
Resources
https://diversity.ucsf.edu/resources/unconscious-bias
www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/IJBS/article/view/521
http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-01509-016
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538103418/The-Meritocracy-Myth-Fourth-Edition
http://time.com/3666135/sheryl-sandberg-talking-while-female-manterruptions/
www.nytimes.com/by/jessica-bennett?module=inline
Chapter 6: Relationships Are Everything
List all of the people in your network and categorize them as Sponsor, Mentor, Ally, Role Model, Mentee, and Protégée.
If any one category is blank, consider whom you can begin developing a relationship with to fill that hole.
Establish and grow relationships with influential people by supporting them as much as you want them to support you.
Use the Power Positioning exercise to evaluate where and how you are spending your time in relation to your goals.
Seek constructive feedback from the members of your network to increase their investment in your success.
Resources
https://hbr.org/2010/05/when-female-networks-arent-eno
www.vitalsmarts.no/uploads/9/4/6/7/9467257/women-in-the-workplace-ebook.pdf
www.pwc.com/sg/en/diversity/assets/female-millennial-a-new-era-of-talent.pdf
Chapter 7: Life + Work Hacks
Determine the types of flexibility you want to prioritize for your life.
Use the following work + life hacks to increase your flexibility without sidetracking your career:
1. Identify three nonnegotiable nonwork priorities and your tactics for fulfilling them.
2. Map out whom you can call to help with which personal and professional responsibilities before you need them.
3. Make time with nonwork friends official by scheduling it in your work and life calendars.
4. Find the dead time in your schedule and use it efficiently to allow more space for your priorities.
5. Channel your inner entrepreneur to champion a new initiative that aligns with your long-term goals.
6. Once you have your work and life priorities clear, make sure the people who matter are aware of them so that they can support you.
Know that life as an ambitious woman who also has non-work priorities is not easy, but when you assume agency in regard to your time, goals, and priorities you can work to your highest effectiveness over a much longer term.
Resources
https://hbr.org/2006/12/extreme-jobs-the-dangerous-allure-of-the-70-hour-workweek
Conclusion: Be What She Sees
Know that you deserve to work in a place that values you as a whole person, not one in which you have to hide the parts of you that don’t fit into a male corporate mold.
Leverage the blood, sweat, and tears you have already put into your career at your company to create the roles and the workplace that you deserve. It will inspire others.
Let your story of dealing with gender bias become a model for others, planting the seeds of transformation far and wide.