Ambitious women are emerging in our modern world and leading with influence and power. They are inspiring a generation of young women to think big and boldly chase their dreams. But there are still hurdles to overcome. How can we get more women to thrive and become successful women in business?
First, we need to understand the challenges and misconceptions. We share real-life women’s struggles and experiences, and revolutionary insights.
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In her famous Ted Talk, Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Facebook, says there are still not enough women at the top. She shares stories that she noticed during her wildly successful career. She observes a confidence gap and ongoing stereotypes. We will explore them and other challenges that ambitious women have revealed on their journey.
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Here are some of the top challenges that ambitious women face:
1. Stereotyping
People will make assumptions about you. Women are taken less seriously than men and often have to go the extra mile to prove themselves.
Loes Daniels, a successful female entrepreneur, was a manager at Ernst & Young (EY) working on a major acquisition with her own team of 3 EY team members, and the security guy at the gate of the parking lot of the client asked if she was the new intern. But, Loes was working with their board on a secret multi-billion deal.
Working as a relatively young female consultant in mergers and acquisitions she was not taken seriously and says women always have to prove themselves first. But these attitudes never deterred, they only made her more determined.
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2. Double Standards
Ambitious men are put on a pedestal, and seen as attractive, determined, and destined for success. Ambitious women are often labeled as loud, bossy, or over-opinionated.
Sara Blakely, one of the top women in business, has encountered a lot of stereotypes while building her iconic brand, Spanx.
She says, “Those who doubt women or think they are incapable of doing something will always exist. That’s always been the case. Hitherto, I’ve determined that if you truly concentrate on your work in addition to what you’re undertaking and disregard the critics, you can truly do pleasing things.”
Concentrate on your work and disregard the critics.
3. Building a Family
The age-old question of whether women can have it all still exists. The career landscape is changing but Sherly Sanberg points out that the same is not true in our homes.
Women are still expected to be caregivers and often have to work twice as hard to fulfill multiple roles meaningfully. When children are young, they need love, attention, and extra care. This can be especially challenging if you are building a business.
Grace Carter, the founder and managing director of brand agency Aphra expresses this in a viral post on LinkedIn. “I’ve navigated my business through the pandemic, inflation, global recession, and the one thing that nearly broke me and made me give up on everything I’ve worked so hard for was having a child,” says Grace.
Female entrepreneurs don’t benefit from maternity leave programs from a corporate career and don’t have a safety net. And working moms run into similar problems when they juggle demanding work schedules and return home to young children who need your undivided attention and energy. There is no balance and many women and mompreneurs find themselves verging on burnout, overwhelm, and exhaustion.
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4. The Cost of Ambition
Lastly and most importantly, women need to assess the cost of ambition. A lack of ambition or ambition itself is not the issue but the cost of trying to achieve success. Does it mean giving up your dream of having a family, not getting to live in a sleepy, remote village, or you miss out on a fun, life-affirming social life? The cost of ambition for women is greater than for men because societal standards are different. This means many women opt out of an exciting career before they truly begin because they understand or foresee the costs involved.
Sheryl Sandberg urges us to sit at the table and lean in. We should not opt out until we are truly ready. We also should not give less of ourselves because we see our business aspirations as temporary. Keep your foot on the gas.
And understand and define your own version of success.
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