[April 4, 2020] Can you imagine a woman leading a company in the 1900s? That time seems a long way back when women were considered to be weaker when it comes to leading in opposed to their male counterparts. But surely, that’s not the case anymore.
These days, the women are a mile away from where they were a century back. Women are doing very great as leaders and quite convincingly so.
According to Fortune 500, Mary Berra of General motors ranked 13 in their list of top CEOs. Besides here, 32 more women are in the list of top CEOs.This only makes the statement of women being successful in leading stronger.
But to be a successful leader, a woman needs a few things to keep in mind. They are:
- Patience
- Confidence
- Approachability
Let’s go over each of those points while describing them.
Patience
You can’t expect success to appear overnight. The biggest challenge women face in their road to success is failure
Leaders, particularly women in the business must be patient if they face any failure. You need to learn from our mistakes. Rather than thinking of them as failures, think of them as learning experiences.
Patience is critical in day-to-day situations. You’ll face a lot of situations as a leader where you’ll want to throw everything out. But you have to learn to control yourself.
As a woman, you’ll need to have patience, you’ll have to learn to walk away from different hard situations. Give yourself the space to think in hard times, you’ll find a way out for sure.
Confidence
Regardless of gender, a leader needs to take risks to become successful. You’ll need to be confident about every step you take.
Feel confident about your win, it doesn’t matter if they are big or small. Every win that you achieve will eventually lead off to something big.
Any experience, win or firsthand knowledge you gather will position any woman in a place where everyone would want to follow their lead.
Another important thing is to not avoid your emotions. Most of the time women find obligation in their workplace. You’ll have to learn to leave that out.
Take care of your staff and they’ll return the favor with loyalty.
Approachability
As a leader, you need to be approachable. You can’t be the woman in cannabis who can read magazines all day. You need to remember that you have a support system beneath you.
Ladies with leadership have to keep in mind that they are part of others’ support systems too. To rise above in the ranks, a person needs to be supported. And you’ll only receive support if your staff feels comfortable working and talking with you.
You need to make sure that you’re approachable. Don’t be that person who lives inside of a bubble. Be proactive. Get to know your staff. Know what’s happening daily.
Being approachable makes you a leader that people would love to work under.
Wrapping Up
Being a leader isn’t easy. But at the same time, it’s not hard either. Women are leading various companies all over the world. If you keep a few things in mind, you can be a fantastic leader in your business.
Good article, thanks you Kathrin.
Thank you, Ms Garner for a great article to start my day off. Keep up the good work and keep writing.
? I agree with you Tracey. Good article.
Interesting and worthy article. I too think you have to have the’confidence’ to succeed. That confidence is gained by doing things right, not by people giving you something (like a leadership position) just because you are a woman. I see many women who expect special treatment and then when they fail, they blame those same people for not pushing them to prepare properly.
I liked your article. Do you have a website? Or other articles that I can read?
I was thinking the same thing. I’d like to read more.
Yes, good article that helped make my weekend start off in a positive light. Glad that Gen. Satterfield accepted this article.
Yep, enjoyed it….. positive, to the point, short, and concise. Just what I like to read in the morning with my dog and my cup of hot coffee.
In college today, they teach us that women don’t have a chance because of male chauvinism. That is, naturally, a bunch of malarkey (Bull Sh** for the rest of us). If women want to make it in the workplace, in the military, or anywhere, then we have to face up to the fact that we have to do those things that Kathrin has listed here plus a lot more. Importantly, we have to never make excuses for failure nor should we blame others. Just get up off our asses and get to work.
Kathrin, I like your idea of approachability. Leaders need to be seen as someone you can approach and speak to. Otherwise, what is leadership anyway? Great article. Thank you.
Well said, Greg. I think, just my opinion of course, is that it matters not who you are but what you can do as a leader that makes all the difference.
I agree with Kathrin.
Hi Kathrin, I enjoyed your article. Well written and informative. Right, it’s not easy being a leader no matter who we are but by focusing on what is important and following your advice, it makes it easier. I know from my experience in the US Marines, that anyone willing to step up, they will be supported by others. It takes willpower, intelligence, and a good attitude to succeed.