It's Not Perfect

Where do I begin? My professional career has been both adventurous and eventful where I have had the opportunity to see many different regions of North America as well as cultures. During my twenty years of leadership I have moved to five different states, bought five different homes, built one home, sent my children to three different schools, had many great friends, but my story isn’t about my life experiences but my experiences as a female leader in a male dominant environment for two large companies, General Motors and Amazon.com. My goal in writing this book is to provide other leaders regardless of gender a realistic approach to achieve all you have dreamed about. Basically, if you can think it, you can do it has always been my mantra. But, you have to be true to yourself. You have to know your passions and have great conviction in order to accomplish what you set your mind to. Too many times I see women trying to behave differently so they fit in better when working mostly with men. Doing so not only dilutes the diversity a woman leader offers to the organization, but also changes her diversity within her core group. Not only is this not effective as a leader, but alters her strengths that come from her life experiences. It’s these experiences that makes her the woman she is. Hopefully my story helps guide you through your journey, learning some of the struggles and obstacles I had to face. For example, have you ever been accused of being too direct when interacting with a team? Or feedback that you don’t listen to new ideas? Maybe that you have been very influential in someone else’s success and they thank you for that. Or you have successfully completed a very complex, technical project that paved the way for you to achieve things you never saw yourself doing before. What I have learned over the years as a female leader in a male dominant environment is sometimes you lead a team who believes in your abilities and sometimes you don’t and struggle from day 1 earning your team’s trust. This isn’t a bad thing but a learning experience where every leader should reflect on what changed either in your style or what type of leader the team needed. I don’t think it’s gender specific, but I do think women struggle more with this because in this environment we are normally leading men. Sometimes men don’t want to have a woman leader and that’s just a fact. Also, sometimes women think they need to try harder because they are a woman leading men and that’s just a fact. Regardless, these are the questions you need to ask yourself so you better understand your most effective leadership style. Let’s begin.