SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

Wednesday's Woman: Resolutions For The New Year

Posted by Gayle Kesten Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008, 10:30 PM ET

I rarely break for lunch. I haven't cleaned out my e-mailbox. I continue to use an old-fashioned calendar to keep my schedule straight. And, yes, Dad, my nails are still short.

But I've made other changes in 2008, mostly in perspective and self-talk (a special thanks to Wednesday's Women for helping me along).

Ready for some mind shifts of your own? The following list of rules for women in business read to me like worthwhile resolutions, as well. They come from Womensmedia.com's Michelle Brailsford, who pulled together "lessons learned by women like Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon Products, Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson Publishing, and Meg Whitman, former President & CEO of eBay, the advice of high-profile female entrepreneurs like Barbara Corcoran, Bobbi Brown, and Muriel Siebert," in addition to her own experience as a business coach.

Read on, then let me know which ones are on your to-do list for 2009.

#1: Trust Your Instincts
Women, in particular, are adept at integrating all the data perceived by our subconscious mind, processing it quickly and often times non-linearly and spotting the trends, relationships, and connections. A woman is good at putting her finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist.

#2: Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway!
Women need to manage their self-talk so it doesn’t paralyze them and keep them from taking calculated risks. Leading behavioral researchers have stated that up to 77 percent of everything we think is negative. Women, in particular, need to reprogram the voice so it realistically supports them and allows them to choose to take action even in the face of fear.

#3: Gain Confidence Through Failure
When women fail, the tendency is to attribute the bad result to some personal inadequacy. Recognize that failures do occur, take responsibility for your part, reflect and identify the factors that contributed, take inventory of any behavioral shortcomings, forgive yourself and move on! View failure as an opportunity to learn. With learning comes wisdom. With wisdom comes confidence.

#4 Watch Out For The Glass Cliff
Exeter academics Michelle Ryan and Alex Haslam have been investigating what they call the "glass cliff" phenomenon, which shows that women are more likely to accept high risk opportunities that their male counterparts avoid. Women need to be politically savvy about how they respond when opportunities are presented to them. Don’t be too quick to say "yes" when a challenging assignment comes along. Take some time to assess the situation carefully.

#5 Be Yourself, But Be The Best Self You Can Be
Know your unique strengths and leverage these to support your success. Many women try to emulate a masculine style -- which is not their authentic way of leading. Be courageous enough to be yourself.

#6: A Good Idea Alone Is Not Enough
You must also know how to brand, market and sell the idea to others. Often, when we fail to get our ideas heard, we assume it must be a faulty idea. It isn’t that the idea is bad (it is often spot on!), but that we don’t do an effective job of pitching our ideas to our stakeholders.

#7: Leverage The Feminine Management Style
We are in the relationship era: It's all about getting close to customers, striking up joint ventures, and partnering with suppliers. Today's business environment calls for feminine traits, including being great communicators, consensus-builders, community builders, collaborators and connectors.

#8: Be Willing To Take A Step Down To Move Up
Brenda Barnes shocked the business world in 1998 when she left PepsiCo to spend more time with her family. She had been pegged as PepsiCo's first female head and her move seemed foolish to many. She is now president of Sarah Lee.

#9: Reframe The Way You View Power
In order to make a difference in business, you must be seen to be influential and part of the inner circle of decision-makers. If you reframe power as the ability to get things done, being powerful becomes palatable.

#10: Find Yourself A Publicist
Experiments have demonstrated that when women highlight their accomplishments -- that’s a turn-off. This creates a huge challenge for ambitious women. The answer lies in finding subordinates, colleagues, and mentors who will promote your successes for you. If you nurture subordinates, they will become your biggest supporters. If you make a special effort to speak about the accomplishments of your colleagues, many of them will return the favor . And, of course, we all know how important it is to find mentors in the business who will not only advise us but who will actively promote us.

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• Hard Times, Creative Measures
• Identity Theft Assistance Center's Anne Wallace
• Four Female Ex-Dell Execs Sue For Discrimination
• Shades Of Serendipity
• Archives

Women in Business