Unconscious biases, prejudices and the shadow of guilt have been, are, and will be very present in our lives. Whether we're mothers or not, whether we take care of ourselves, whether we work too much... Even the self-demanding standards we women hold ourselves to.
The true power of women is to help one another. I've been crystal clear about this for a long time.
One of the unwritten rules that has helped many men reach success has been: networking.
Networking: The term making contacts,1 or the anglicism networking, is commonly used in the business world to refer to a socioeconomic activity in which professionals and entrepreneurs meet or get in touch to form business relationships, create and develop business opportunities, share information and seek potential clients.
Wikipedia
However, the term Networking is much broader, since it refers to building networks of contacts in general—because it concerns the relationship between people, whether or not it's in the professional sphere. That is, you can do personal Networking without any professional or commercial transactions involved, for example in the personal, sporting, or spiritual realm, among many others.
I've even heard a phrase that stuck with me: "you are who you know." I wouldn't be so extreme, but it is quite true that personal/professional relationships can make the difference between closing a project or a deal—or not.
So, if it's clear that Networking is key in most businesses...
why don't we women quite manage to do it well?
In my opinion, we women juggle so many things in a day—professional and personal—that we get straight to the point; it's enough for us to push our projects forward and manage the day-to-day. The familiar phrase "I don't have time" is one I've heard from few men... whereas we're hounded by life, our day is a race full of obstacles, so in the day-to-day or in our strategic planning we forget about networking.
Women make up only 16% of management committees and 3% of chief executives at large Spanish companies
Cinco Días newspaper. 7 March 2021
"Make friends when you do not need them", make friends when you don't need them—this was one of the pieces of advice from a successful senior executive I appreciate and admire a great deal; I'd never have thought of it on my own. We women have the sense of "wasting time" if we don't have a specific objective in every business lunch, but no, friends... you have to sow in order to reap.
But I'll go a bit further... it's described in the literature: The Queen Bee Syndrome or Queen bee. It's defined as a situation in which high-ranking women in positions of authority treat the women working under them more critically than their male counterparts.
We can say, then, that on top of doing little to foster Networking, when we women are the bosses we're also "harder" on our female colleagues... we may agree more or less, but that's what the literature tells us. This has changed; fortunately, we women help one another more and more.
I want to introduce you to the project I feel proudest of: Croma Cares.
My goal with this meticulous project, Croma Cares, is to help women and society in general break down taboos and prejudices. This project came about in part thanks to the networking we cultivated before having any specific objective—simply to help one another.
The two protagonists of the documentary, @officialnievesa @ysacristan, are women who represent a whole generation of fighters. They've managed to reach the very top of their professions, but they're also real women who have their insecurities and fears, and who at times have been judged for being too pretty, too thin, or even too intelligent for what was expected of them both.
By raising awareness of the mental shortcuts that lead to snap judgments, we'll manage to develop empathy and make a commitment to ourselves.
I hope you like it. Here's PART I.
TO BE CONTINUED :)
If you liked it, leave us your comments.
Cargando comentarios...