Posts

#CareerAdvice : #WomenCareer – 5 Successful Women Give Advice they Wish they Would Have Taken in Their 20s. Got Daughters? Great Read!

/in /by

Our 20s are a time of tremendous career growth and learning. But this doesn’t come without some hurdles and hiccups, even if you ultimately end up as a successful professional or entrepreneur. We spoke to successful women about their own regrets in their 20s.

Everything may happen for a reason, but if they could rewind time and change their approach, they could have fine-tuned their journey to the top. From taking advantage of having no strings attached and seeing the world to raising your hand and asking questions, here is the advice these women business owners wish they would have taken.

“GO TRAVEL AND EXPERIENCE THE WORLD”

In her 20s, Amanda Bradford, founder and CEO of The League, was busy. By the time she reached 29 in 2014, she was building her now uber-successful dating app. To date, The League has a 1.5 million person waitlist across 60 cities domestically and internationally, and has grown 100%  year-over-year since its launch. Now 34, Bradford is happy with the success she’s found and the connections she’s been able to foster, but she wishes she would have taken the advice of her former boss at Google who urged her to go see the world. “Anyone who takes that leap of faith and moves abroad to continue education or work rarely regrets it. For me, global work experience and travel are key contributors to business and personal fulfillment. I wish I had invested more in global exposure during my 20s,” she says.

Launching a company didn’t allow her the time or flexibility to pack a bag and go:

I wish I had traveled and forged my own global experience in my 20s because now it’s just too hard. I’m devoted to The League and its rapid growth. As the app expands into international cities–already in London and Paris–it would be helpful to have firsthand knowledge of each market and a network of people on the ground.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network:   www.linkedin.com/in/fscnetwork

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/115673713231115398101/posts?hl=en

Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & type(#career, #leadership, #life) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Continue of article:

“DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS”

In a world that’s ripe with farm-to-table options, Suzanne Simon had a different idea: farm-to-taco. In 2013, she created Chaia Tacos in Washington, D.C., at the White House Farmer’s Market. At the time, First Lady Michelle Obama had launched the “Let’s Move” campaign, and it inspired Simon (and her business partner) to source local vegetables and develop seasonal recipes, honing in on sustainability and healthy eating. Though her 13-year-old daughter was skeptical of squash tacos, they’ve sold more than 1 million to date.

Growing her business, Simon wishes she wouldn’t have been afraid to ask questions. As the oldest child of two younger sisters in a divorced family, her mom worked long hours, leaving her siblings to care for themselves. When she reached adulthood and took her first gig at an environmental consulting firm in Washington, D.C., she felt like she still needed to have all the answers without posing any questions:

I remember worrying about a project, and my sister said, ‘You know, you don’t have to solve every problem and know everything.’ If I had taken her advice at the time, I think I would have been more focused on solutions and would have gone into making mistakes with more confidence. It has taken me many years to learn to let go, accept mistakes, and realize that I can’t control everything. Take advice—and outsource.

Much like not being able to ask questions, the best advice from Ali Grant, founder of Be Social PR, to twentysomethings is to, well, take advice. “I thought I could do it all and knew it all. Turns out, I didn’t. I made a lot of mistakes in leadership and large business decisions that ultimately caused a lot of unnecessary stress,” she continued. Even with early hurdles, now that she’s more than six years into business, her company has grown from barely hitting five figures to a multimillion-dollar business. And in the past year alone, she’s seen 51% growth.

It’s because she’s been able to listen to others’ wisdom and outsource areas she’s not an expert in that she has met and exceeded objectives. She didn’t listen right away, though, to people like her uncle, who encouraged her to hire a payroll company or hire a bookkeeper:

Hiring someone that specializes in bookkeeping is essential. Now, our accounting team is one of the most valuable parts of the business. You can’t know it all, especially at 24 years old. I wish I would have absorbed more advice from a strong mentor and other seasoned business leaders, so I could have avoided the mistakes I made. Change your attitude and you’ll change your income.

After high school, Ronda Jackson was working for a door-to-door sales company selling multipurpose cleaner. Every day, the “car handler,” as she called him, would repeat this mantra: “Change your attitude and you’ll change your income,” as they went from neighborhood to neighborhood. She wasn’t making sales–or having a good day–and didn’t listen. Now, as the founder and chief workplace stylist for Decor Interior Design, Inc., she wishes she would have listened:

I later learned that limiting beliefs inhibits your capacity, ambition, prosperity, relationships, health, quality of life, and ability to make a meaningful impact on the things you care about most. Looking back, it was a brief life lesson not about selling soap, but instead not letting your current circumstances get in the way of who you want to be.

Her outlook definitely changed for the positive, since what once started as a one-woman show has grown into a multimillion-dollar firm that is in the Inc. 5000.

“GIVE YOURSELF SOME GRACE”

When you’re such an overachiever that you decide to audition for American Gladiators on your wedding day, you know you’re the type of person who doesn’t slow down. After six weeks of filming, Ally Davidson became the Grand Champion but had to wait three months to spill the beans. She took that prize money and turned a lifelong dream into a reality, launching the first Camp Gladiator in Dallas. As the cofounder and co-CEO, Davidson’s brainchild is on track to exceed $60 million this year, and has an impressive 950 partner trainers that provide more than 4,000 locations across North Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, and Florida. This equates to around 90,000 campers attending Camp Gladiator in any given month.

If it sounds like a fast-paced, bootstrapped business, that’s because it is. Now in her early 30s, Davidson wishes she would taken the advice of her business coach and given herself more of a break instead of pushing full throttle:

When you’re constantly going at 100 mph, you will make mistakes and lose focus along the way. Every year, your priorities will continue to shift, and all of a sudden you don’t have the same time, energy, or focus you once had. But that’s okay. You have to learn to let the little things go, pick a few things to really focus on, and always make sure you have good harmony in your life to give yourself the breaks you deserve.

 

FastCompany.com | February 19, 2019 | BY LINDSAY TIGAR 5 MINUTE READ

#Leadership : Dos and Don’ts: How To Use Your Girl Power In Corporate Culture…The Corporate World Changes so Fast that Your Employee or Colleague of Today can Become your Leader of Tomorrow, so it is Important that You Build Relations at Work.

/in /by

There’s no shortage of women entering the travel industry — but men dominate when it comes to senior management, especially in the hotel industry. According to a 2015 white paper produced by the Hospitality Industry Pipeline Coalition, women hold less than 40 percent of all managerial positions in hospitality, less than 20 percent of general management roles and just 5 to 8 percent of board positions.

female-employee

Laura Salles, a millennial employee on the rise at the Hotel Arts Barcelona, shares her tips for getting ahead. (Courtesy of Laura Salles)

Ritz-Carlton aims to change that: the hotel company is putting an emphasis on equal opportunities for women, in alignment with the UN’s goal for equality in the workplace by 2030. Through Community Footprints — its corporate social responsibility arm —  Ritz-Carlton has announced a mission to promote the rise of female employees into management positions by encouraging mentorship and other positive reinforcement.

The goal: “keeping women inspired to not only enter the workforce but to remain in the workforce and to then progress into opportunities for leadership,” says Nicki Allen, manager of Community Footprints.

 One Ritz-Carlton employee whose career is being fostered as a result is Laura Salles — the perfect example of girl power in action. The 24-year-old was recently named manager of international and domestic communications at the Hotel Arts Barcelona, a Ritz-Carlton property in Spain. After starting in 2013 as a trainee at the front desk, Salles has had a meteoric rise through the ranks — from pool supervisor to club lounge manager to her current role as public relations manager, which involves overseeing the property’s image and traveling around the globe to promote the property.

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

Originally from Brazil, Salles says she has consistently been encouraged and mentored within her various roles. She wants to encourage other young women to pursue and follow their dreams, too. And yet, she recognizes there are unique challenges to navigating corporate culture, especially as a woman.

This go-getter reveals the top Dos and Don’ts that have helped her achieve her career goals — and that other young women can follow, too.

Dos:

1. Build genuine relationships (as opposed to kissing up to those you may assume could one day benefit you personally).

The corporate world changes so fast that your employee or colleague of today can become your leader of tomorrow, so build relations at work. Besides making your work environment more fun, this will cultivate good future connections.

2. Ask for responsibility, and believe in yourself.

During your career, not everyone will believe you should be promoted and might have thoughts like: “She is too young, she doesn’t have enough experience.” No matter how young you are, you need to demonstrate your capabilities by projecting confidence, and give your leader confidence to entrust you with new opportunities. Most importantly, believe in yourself and others will believe in you, as well.

3. Focus on balance: Cultivate a personal life, in addition to prioritizing work responsibilities.

Your personal life is as important as your professional life. You don’t want to look back with regret in a few years, saying: “I did not live in my 20’s.” You can work hard, but you can also play hard. Having friends and social life after work is vital. With breaks and fun time off, you’ll come back to work with even more creativity.

4. Maintain a positive attitude.

Young people are naturally positive, so play this up. Energy is contagious, as is empathy; you can impact your work environment and connect with your colleagues by behaving as you’d want others to behave.

5. Smile — always.

This simple act will help you in every interaction with others. Be approachable. Remember that this is an exciting journey, and there are endless opportunities to learn and grow.

Don’ts:

1. Don’t compare yourself with others.

Everyone has a different career and life. You are not better or worse than anyone — you are YOU. And that should be your point.

2. Don’t forget to breathe.

Allowing insecurity, anxiety or emotions to hold you back from accomplishment is you hampering your own potential.

3. Don’t talk too much; listen more.

Understand that many people have experienced more than you have. So give a chance to listen before you impose what you think. This is particularly important when you are young and starting out.

4. Don’t mix your private and professional life.

Everyone has personal problems but you need to try to control them when you are at work. Don’t let your emotions dominate you. You don’t want to transmit an immature or uncontrolled image.

5. Don’t take no as a stop sign.

Don’t get tired, don’t give up. “No” should be gasoline for you to continue and work hard to finally get to “yes” (opportunity). You will achieve your objectives when you strategically plan them. Running without a clear destination will not drive you anywhere.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram and check out more of my work atlaurabegleybloom.com.

 

Forbes.com |  September 27, 2016 | Laura Begley Bloom 

 

 

#Leadership : How Women Leaders Emerge From Leaderless Groups…Women are More Likely to Take Command in Collaborative Work Environments—Including Those that are Predominantly Male.

/in /by
 In spite of a significant imbalance between male and female leaders in business, new research from the University at Buffalo’s School of Management suggests that in collaborative work environments where women are outnumbered, they often emerge as the natural group leader.

smileprofessionalwork

The findings fly in the face of the reality of the U.S. workforce, where many fail to recognize the extent of the female leadership gap. Women represent just 3% of new CEOs in the U.S., 5.1% of Fortune 1000 CEOs, and 4% of Standard and Poor’s 500 CEOs. A recent survey by the Rockefeller Foundation also found that nine in 10 respondents thought there were more female business leaders than there really are, and further research by the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University found that those women are more likely to be targeted by shareholder activism.

“We tend to see the man as more leader-like than the woman,” says lead author Jim Lemoine, in a video interview by UB School of Management. “What we were interested in in this research were exceptions to the rule.”

In the study, researchers assigned nearly 1,000 participants to small groups and asked them to complete a series of tasks, later polling them on who emerged as the natural leader of their group. The study was replicated with participants of varying ages over both long and short-term periods.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

When the groups communicated a lot, or were more “extroverted” in Lemoine’s words, women were more likely to emerge as leaders. They were also more likely to emerge as leaders when the groups were predominantly male.

“When a group is composed of lots of extroverted people, they talk more,” he says. “They’re actually getting to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses and who may be the better leader beyond this diversity demographics stuff.”

 

This getting-to-know-each-other phase is key to gender leadership balance, says Lemoine. “It makes the environment less masculine, more balanced, and gives everyone a chance to play on equal footing,” he says.

Lemoine adds that when he advises companies, he often encourages them to ignore strategy talk at first and instead spend some time getting to know the other people in the room.

“When we think of men, we think independent, aggressive, competitive risk takers, which is for a lot of people a stereotypical view of a leader,” he says. “When we think of women, we tend to think—true or not—more helpful, more cooperative, more caring.”

Lemoine explains that in spite of centuries of gender imbalance, he finally sees the tide beginning to turn in favor of female leaders. That is because when people are asked what kind of leader they want to work for today, the typical answer has evolved to describe stereotypically female characteristics. As he puts it:

People tend to answer this more now, ‘I would like to work for someone who is ethical,’ ‘I would like to work for someone who really cares about me, who understands me, who trains me, who puts me first, who’s very authentic. As our ideas of what a leader is changes, so do our ideas change of who a leader can be, so really the future is looking bright for more gender equality for who becomes a leader.

In other words, one of the key strategies for breaking the gender leadership gap in the workplace could be simple conversation between team members, in a setting that gives every member of the team a level playing field.

 

FastCompany.com | JARED LINDZON  | 09.12.16 5:25 AM