From the very moment I decided to jump headfirst into an industry nontraditional to women, I was always clear about needing to show up with my full self. There was never a time when I believed in not giving my very best in pursuit of professionalism and skill mastery. Because of the intrinsic nature of wanting to be the very best at whatever it was I was doing, there was never … [Read more...]
How to Deal with Being the Only Woman in the Room
As women over the years achieved more and more success in male dominated worlds, it has become more common that they face the associated challenge; that of being the only woman in the room or the team. This can present challenges around getting yourself heard. As a young woman in a senior position, I have certainly experienced this on many occasions. While sometimes the … [Read more...]
How to Celebrate International Women’s Day Throughout the Year!
At the beginning of March, across the globe International Women’s Day was celebrated. The day is an opportunity to reflect on the progression that has been made over the years to advance the rights of women in all areas of society. However, it is also an occasion to consider and put into action the changes that undoubtedly still need to happen. The message is clear - to … [Read more...]
Women Lead Differently to Men But Leadership Diversity is Key to Success
According to a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, women display a more collaborative leadership style, listen better, and encourage more participation. This is backed up by evidence from other studies which show that having a transformational, collaborative model of leadership is highly effective in large organizations with women-led companies … [Read more...]
Media Bias: A Leadership Barrier For Women
In this day and age, we absorb media constantly, and the messages it gives us skew our worldview and perceptions of important topics. As I've gotten older and more observant of media messages, I've noticed distinct trends in how the media talks about leaders. I believe the media we consume has a direct impact on how we're viewing our leaders and their leadership styles … [Read more...]
Why AI Spreads Gender Bias and How To Change It
AI is permeating the business world today the way electricity did at the turn of the last century. We can already see that businesses that put AI at their core can reach more people, more quickly and make more money. As Harvard Business School professors Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani show in their book, Competing in the Age of AI, Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms And … [Read more...]
Overcoming the Female Confidence Gap
Only about 12% of undergraduate women are STEM majors. STEM is a commonly used acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; which are fields that are imperative in our society today. There are a lot of reasons why this number is so ridiculously low, however an often overlooked reason is the confidence gap between men and women when pursuing education, jobs, … [Read more...]
Why Business Women Shouldn’t Depend on Historical Statistics
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. In other words, 70% of people dedicated to science and research are men. This data seems to be reflected in the historical development of humanity. Without going any further, if you search on Google for the "10 greatest scientists,” between the names of Einstein, … [Read more...]
Why Women Have Thicker Skin – Insults and Stories
There has been a lot of news recently about how women have been treated by executives, investors, and management. This is why women have thicker skin! Women have thicker skin -- it's a fact! The sad part is as a female founder, I was not shocked at all but thankful that there were some brave women that got tired enough of it to speak out. This happens more often than you … [Read more...]
Women in the Construction Industry: The Low Down #NotJustForBoys
It goes without saying that construction is an industry which is primarily male-dominated. Up until recent years, it was almost unheard of for women to be working in the construction industry, and even nowadays, the number of female workers are scarce; so scarce that heads are turned when a female worker is seen working in the sector. Presently, less than 10% of workers in … [Read more...]