Innovative Influence (Suzi Pomerantz's Blog)

Great article on women and what ambition looks like for us!

Suzi — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:08:59 +0000

My friend Marcia Reynolds wrote this great article for Huffington Post and I had to share an excerpt! You can read the full article here: WHAT AMBITION IN WOMEN LOOKS LIKE

Why do women quit fighting for higher positions or quit their jobs altogether, moving on to something else?

1. Women are not motivated by the traditional “carrot and stick” approaches that business counts on. From my experience and research, many women are not motivated to achieve because they want money and titles. They are motivated by “motion and meaning.” They want frequent, new and significant challenges and they want recognition for their contributions. They are restless and often disappointed. This may frustrate their ambition, but the drive remains. They just have to recreate their vision to get their needs met. Instead of climbing up the corporate ladder, they drive themselves out the door. They take their ambition elsewhere.

As a result, women bounce around jobs and companies more frequently than men. Eventually, many bounce off the corporate ladder all together. According to MBO Partners’ Independent Workforce Index, some 8.5 million women are choosing to fly solo when it comes to work in the United States, making up 53 percent of all independent workers.

You can find the research that explores the reasons women “zig-zag” in their careers instead of staying the course in my book, Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction.

2. Young women often don’t realize the barriers to their success are still so strong. Shelby Knox, committed to reviving feminism as a way of helping women feel sane as well as strong, says women enter the workforce thinking they are equal and there are no barriers. Then they face the truth. Many have early successes, but most hit a wall along the way where they are given less challenges and recognition. Knox says that many young women blame themselves for this plateau. Either their confidence suffers, keeping them from pushing forward, or they give up the battle along the way. They don’t lack ambition. They lack a sense of reality.

We need to encourage girls to achieve their dreams. And we need arm them with the confidence and skills to deal with the realities they will face. We can encourage while being pragmatic.

3. Women are told to act like men and are then chastised for this behavior. In her famous TED talk, Sandberg discusses the structural restraints in companies that could make it hard for women to stay on the leadership ladder. Ambitious women are often judged harshly. Jennifer Berdahl of the Rotman School of Management says women who achieve are often seen as less likable. This negative social reaction can deter other women from climbing the corporate ladder. Yet this doesn’t mean women aren’t ambitious.

Unfortunately, frustrated women often leave the system instead of trying to change it. “Often, women decide to leave jobs because they don’t believe they’ll be able to improve their situation,” said Emily Hoffman, vice president of development and delivery at VitalSmarts in an article by Little Pink Book on Why Women Quit. “Bottled resentment and anger that women may feel towards colleagues or managers eventually manifests itself in simply quitting.”

The sad truth is that if women keep leaving, nothing will change. Who else will stand up to the unfairness that is still keeping women back? Anger might not make us likable, but being political and polite will only maintain the status quo.

It’s easier to change a system from the inside than it is just talking about it from the outside. Although I don’t agree that you need to play golf, Julie Steinberg wrote a good article for the Wall Street Journal on what women need to do to get ahead. Most of all, we need to stand together. A crowd of angry voices is harder to ignore than one courageous “complainer.”

4. Women shy away from important career-defining conversations, such as negotiating how and where they do their work, asking for promotions and letting people know about their accomplishments. In her new book, Pushback, Selena Rezvani teaches women how to speak up for what they want, whether for a promotion, a new challenge or a raise. If people keep misunderstanding women’s motivations and desires, they will continue to be labeled negatively. Women have to know how to speak and ask so they will be heard.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on the Ambition Gap in the world regarding women

Suzi — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:28:09 +0000

This is a brilliant series of comments by Sheryl Sandberg speaking in Davos Switzerland recently at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting; her comments are particularly interesting on the likeability and success correlation between men and women…fascinating:

I’d love your thoughts!

Another Free Webinar from Mari Smith, Facebook Expert: 10 tips for making money on new Facebook Business Timelines

Suzi — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:08:34 +0000

I just got a big-news announcement from my friend Mari Smith that I had to share with you!

Here’s the scoop – Mari is super-excited to tell you about her great big FREE webinar: “10 ESSENTIAL Facebook Money-Making ‘Techie’ Tips” you need to be using today, to extract the dollars your own growing Facebook community wants to send you! May 15th at 3pm Eastern…

On this 75-minute webinar, Mari will be showing you exactly how she has created the Facebook “sales funnel” she uses in her own business. Of course, as the “Queen of Facebook”, Mari maximizes the built-in features of her new Business Timeline to ramp up her income… and in her entertaining, super-simple style, she’ll show you how to use the same revenue-producing tactics Facebook designed into their own multi-billion-dollar money machine!

https://marismith.infusionsoft.com/go/10fbtips/a2804

You’ll be happy to know that you can attend this event from anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own home or office. All you need is your computer and internet access to attend.

With all the changes in Facebook’s new Timeline for Business (now it’s mandatory, you know), it may seem like Facebook is sabotaging your business with a complex and challenging layout. Well, that’s not the case… actually, Mari will show you how Facebook has designed the Timeline specifically to increase their OWN revenues as automatically as possible, as they prepare for their upcoming mega-stock-offering IPO.

That’s good news for you… because when you join Mari on her new webinar on May 15th, you’ll be able to watch over her shoulder as the Queen of Facebook shows you the simple-ninja tweaks you MUST put in place today to create your own Facebook money machine! Even better, I know she’ll make things as simple and “tech-free” as possible for you to follow along… because that’s just the way I like things, too!

https://marismith.infusionsoft.com/go/10fbtips/a2804

Be sure to register right away to save your seat on Mari Smith’s ESSENTIAL Facebook Money-Making ‘Techie’ Tips webinar before it fills up. If it’s anything like the others she’s done so far this year, I’ll bet this webinar will be full to overflowing (and you don’t want to get locked out!)

Let’s get Mari to show you her best Facebook tech tricks for generating a big boost to your social marketing revenue this season!

https://marismith.infusionsoft.com/go/10fbtips/a2804

See you on this “tech-easy” Facebook webinar… I’ll be right there with you!

Juicy Free Learning for Leaders & Coaches this week!

Suzi — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:26:45 +0000

THIS WEEK! My WBECS talk and lots of other great complimentary sessions for you to choose from!

As an official partner of WBECS 2012 I am delighted to be able to invite you to attend the second week of complimentary sessions from many of the industries true thought leaders. Last week’s sessions were exceptionally high value with 100% content and no pitches being made by those presenting them and this will continue to be the case this week.

Feedback from the first week’s taster sessions was fantastic and there is a new theme this week so be sure to come and enjoy as many as you can fit in.

The sessions include:

To Be or Not To Be? Coaching Presence – Joseph O’Connor, Andrea Lages
Mon, May 7, 2012 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM NYC Time
Mon, May 7, 2012 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM London Time
Mon, May 7, 2012 9:00 PM – 9:30 PM Beijing Time