If you listened to the last 100% Jodi episode you know coming in the Fall is the “On Air Coaching” calls. I’ve already got 6 volunteers for these calls and the feedback has been incredible. Thank you all for always letting me know when I’m on the right track and when you’d like to see some changes.

This podcast definitely has an element of promoting myself as a business and leadership coach for Type A women but it’s meaningless if I’m not providing good and relevant content to you. I look at this podcast as a partnership between you and I so always reach out to me if there’s anything you want to ask or share.

Speaking of which, I put out feelers in the past which didn’t get a lot of traction but this time I’ll ask more directly. If you have questions you want to ask and have answered on a future episode of Women Taking the Lead, send them to me. I would love to do a Q&A episode but need your questions to do it. You can comment any post you see on social media or send an email directly to me at Jodi@womentakingthelead.com.

This episode was inspired from a recent workshop I did for a local company but let me be clear, I have this type of interaction with women several times a year.

We were doing a roundtable exercise and one of the participants brought up a situation where a new position was created in 3 separate divisions. In 2 of the divisions a male was selected and promoted to the new position but in her division, where she had a strong edge, they were taking applications to interview for the new position. Although she had been given an explanation for the discrepancy, she felt wronged and treated differently from her male counterparts.

The group felt for her but this was a savvy group so they didn’t stay on the surface of the situation. They began asking really good questions about the dynamics of the office, experience, etc.

Then I asked her, “How often to you advocate for yourself?”

She looked confused and responded that she didn’t understand the question.

Although this did not blindside me my heart broke a little bit. Too often I see women getting overlooked because they are afraid to appear to be bragging, grabbing for attention or being a bother.

The reality is those who are in positions of power, the people who can hire us, promote us or advocate on our behalf have a lot on their plate and so they are focusing on the end result and not always paying attention to how things done and by whom.

This is why, even if you are uncomfortable tooting your own horn, you have to do it anyway and work on getting more comfortable as you go.

This is true whether you are an employee or you own your own business.

Many business owners struggle with the About page of their business, they have a hard time asking for testimonials. Because they are not able to make clear declarations of “I am awesome at X and have produced these results for my clients,” they blend in the background with their competitors who are all saying the same thing.

In the office, your boss might be thanking you and congratulating you on a job well done today but will they cumulatively remember all your contributions 8 months from now when senior leadership is identifying top talent in each division?

You don’t want to blend, you want to stand out and there is a way to do that without looking like you’re not a team player.

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Resources

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Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.

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