We’re proud to see so many women taking charge in industries that have previously been considered male-dominated. Hoping to dig a little deeper into this, Rajapack, a packaging company (themselves founded by two women in 1954), spoke to ten women currently working in male-dominated environments. Focussing on inspirational women from the construction, packaging, engineering and manufacturing industries, they wanted to find out what advice these women would have for others looking to get into. Check out these experiences from women working in male-dominated industries.
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I have two options, both fantastic: I can attend a business conference dedicated to empowering women in advertising… or my daughter’s school presentation. It’s an age-old case of conflicting work and family events.
At first glance, it was a no-brainer. I would go to my daughter’s performance. But then I started researching the conference. It was dedicated to women in leadership and covered topics I’m incredibly passionate about. I could listen to others who have been in my shoes, discuss how to rise through the ranks, and learn more about supporting diversity both in advertising and the world around me. It looked awesome.
Suddenly, the choice felt impossible. I could spend time learning from other empowered women in my industry and advancing my career, or I could choose to celebrate my daughter and support her on her own journey to becoming a strong woman. Both were important celebrations of women, but ultimately, I still had to decide between doing something for my career or being there for my family. While it was important for me to celebrate women in my industry, I had the feeling that in my daughter’s eyes, if one person needed to be at her performance, it was me.
I’m not alone in this struggle. Working parents have been trying to balance professional and personal demands for decades. Do you choose to stay late and miss family dinner? Do you get to the office early and miss doing morning drop-off? Or do you stretch your timeline at work?
Instead of letting these decisions eat away at us, we should allow them to empower us. After all, just having, and owning, the ability to make these decisions is empowering in itself. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when you have to weigh your personal versus professional priorities:
Go with your gut when choosing between work and family events
You usually know the right answer. What feels right is usually just that. But if your gut isn’t talking, take a beat. Find a quiet space and think. What will make you happiest and most fulfilled? Go with that one. And if that means family comes first, so be it. Or if you choose to stay for a presentation with your team, so be that, too. As long as your co-workers feel supported and encouraged and your family members know that they are number one, it will all pan out.
Be resourceful
While you can’t be in two places at once, your support can. In fact, your resourcefulness is probably one of the reasons you are where you are today. Use technology to help you be present when you can’t be. Or tap into the best resource of all: your support group. Work or family, there are people with whom you share a mutual trust and respect. Who better to ask for help?
It’s all too easy to tell yourself that having to choose between work and family in the first place means you’re failing. Instead, think of it as an opportunity to shine in both places — just in different ways. And sometimes, at different times.
Don’t waste time feeling guilty
Make your decision and stick with it. Feeling guilty will only prevent you from benefiting from the decision you laboured so hard over. Don’t spoil it. You make the choice to be somewhere, and you make the choice to enjoy it.
If you choose work, you’re not saying work is more important than family. If you choose your family, it doesn’t mean your career suddenly doesn’t matter. Those are extreme labels people might like to impose on you, but it’s more complicated than that. You’ll have the opportunity to make another choice in another situation, and if you find some semblance of balance in your choices, you’ll find balance overall.
Separate and conquer conflicting work and family events
Wherever you choose to be, be there 100%. Dedicate work hours to work and family hours to family. For example, let’s say you chose to go to your kid’s basketball game and leave work two hours early. So what? Deadlines are met, and the team knows you’ll be there to support them the very next day. And if you have to be absent at home one night, your family will rest easy knowing that the time you spend at home is dedicated to them.
Carve out time just for you
Ah, that impossible task of finding me time. The reality is, if you don’t invest in self-care, these decisions will be way harder than they need to be. Rather than approaching them with a calm, clear mind, your fears may take the lead, making it difficult to stay on task or be totally present with your family.
Just remember, your decision doesn’t mean one aspect of life is more important than the other. Make sure your family knows they always come out on top. They may lose a few battles, but they win the war. Meanwhile, you may find that these decisions make you a stronger leader at work by building empathy and time-management skills. If you can successfully balance family and work life, at least most of the time, you’re probably a much better leader, personally and professionally, than you’re giving yourself credit for.
So back to the original dilemma: You’ve got two options, both centred on empowering and supporting the women in your world. Which one do you choose?
About the author
Lexi Harper, associate creative director at RAPP, embraces her passion for fusing ultimate precision, relevant tonality and an intimately understood target to craft break-through creative and lasting, memorable experiences.
The glass ceiling might be shattered in places, but plenty of shards are still there. According to research from Carta, despite women founding roughly 13 percent of companies, they hold less than half that percentage in equity. It’s a gap just begging to be addressed.
Perhaps the best way to attack this equality disparity is for female entrepreneurs to take charge of their own destinies with personal branding. Women are in a unique position to brand themselves and the companies they start. It all boils down to firmly knowing who you are and forging ahead without fear of barriers.
Earning a Place in Any Field
Ruth Bader Ginsburg knew all about pushing the boundaries and creating her own brand.
As a female lawyer in a man’s world, she rose through the ranks by ignoring the status quo and doing her job on behalf of everyone she served, including minorities. We all know what happened as a result: She received a coveted spot on the U.S. Supreme Court.
While I could only hope for Ginsburg’s recognition, I’m devoted to being just as stubbornly tenacious, and I encourage other women to do likewise.
My world is venture capital (VC), which is also traditionally male-dominated. Except it’s changing by quantum leaps — the industry has been shaken up by public sexual harassment claims. Add to those accusations the fact that 74 percent of VC firms don’t have a woman partner, and it’s plain to see the field is ripe for disruption.
This is an exciting opportunity for anyone willing to flood the venture capital realm with gender diversity. Forty-three percent of people think female corporate leaders create safer environments for everyone, according to Pew Research. It’s an awakening of massive proportions, and it’s fueling great innovations.
Of course, you don’t have to be in venture capital to make waves of your own or develop a strong personal brand. Almost every field is trending toward diversity. If you can create your own story and path, you can own a piece of your industry’s real estate.
If you’re ready to wake up and leverage your unique perspective as a woman in the business world, solidify your story (and your brand) by following these four tips:
Be consistent and persistent
Your company’s brand and your personal brand must work together to effectively support your messaging. This is especially important when you’re recruiting and bringing other people into your business.
Instead of hoping for confluence, construct a plan to ensure your business becomes an extension of you as a leader. Neelima Jain is a great example of a powerful leader who understands this point: As the regional head of Energy Efficiency Services Limited, Jain believes a woman’s personal brand is enhanced by unwavering persistence.
“Doubling the effort to achieve the organization’s objectives has enabled me to neutralize the gender divide in a technical field that is still predominantly male-dominated, even in mature markets,” she said in a recent Entrepreneur article. “Commitment to this belief has enabled me to grow as an individual and a professional, today leading the establishment of my company’s operations in the UK toward making this organization a formidable force for change in international energy efficiency markets.”
Make a memorable first and lasting impression
Many professionals — especially women — often mistake pride for cockiness. However, if you don’t sing your own praises and share your expertise, no one will realize your value. To avoid getting left in the dust, solidify your personal brand and highlight your strengths.
Creating content, for example, can boost your reputation as a thought leader by strengthening people’s overall impression of you and establishing your mettle. Case in point: I’ve written a guide to help other business owners take initiatives and avoid pitfalls, which allows me to help others while also putting my name out there.
Another method to establish your personal brand involves speaking at prestigious, cutting-edge events. To cement my role as a VC player, I’ve talked at events like Slush, Collision, APEC CEO Summit, and Davos World Economic Forum.
I have built my overall reputation and track record from the ground up, and holding these talks is just an added bonus. But securing these coveted speech spots did land me a place on Forbes 30 Under 30 and the 2018 Young Global Leaders by World Economic Forum. People recognize my work, my name, and, above all, my brand. And it’s because I’m deliberate in making impressions about what I’ve done and can do.
Achieve results that matter
You can’t talk your way into street cred; it comes directly from the outcomes you and your business generate. Your personal brand affects collaboration with your team and what your team can accomplish, which in turn spurs innovation. But how do you get closer to innovating?
Several studies suggest diversity can be a key. No wonder organizations across the country are adding people of all backgrounds to their teams. Perhaps they’ve read the North Carolina State University research, which reveals that diverse workforces have higher productivity averages and ingrained cultures of resiliency.
When recruiting, hire people who offer differing perspectives while supporting the company’s core brand. That way, your culture will become richer without losing the principles it’s grounded in.
Execute and deliver
From a client perspective, what could be better than working with a firm that offers consistent branding and predictable results? At Fusion Fund, our team works hand-in-hand to raise the bar and collaborate. For instance, we don’t babysit founders. We look for founders with clear solutions and wait for them to ask for resources when they need assistance.
Having this kind of reliable energy and operational foundation means a great deal to our clients. Even founders we’ve rejected have referred us to their friends — that’s the power of the credible brand, both corporate and personal, that Fusion Fund and I bring to the table.
Women are continuing to make the tech and VC industries their homes as rulemakers, not rule breakers. Those that find, explore, and embrace their individual brands early will no doubt shine brightly as they rise through the ranks.
Lu Zhang is the founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund, a company dedicated to promoting early-stage venture capital for entrepreneurs. She is also a member of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and was nominated as World Economic Forum (Davos)’s 2018 Young Global Leader.
Upon entering a new leadership position, the skills that you have developed to attain your role may seem sufficient enough, however there are countless skills that you can refine to improve your leadership style. A greater emphasis on workplace diversity and inclusion, mental wellness and technology advancements has changed the communication and interactions between clients, partners and teams. As a result, leaders will need to be more flexible and develop a higher emotional intelligence to manage these changing workplace relationships. Here are seven transferable skills that you should develop to become a sustainably successful leader.
Taking initiative
As a leader, you will not simply just wait around and expect results to occur – you will take action! By taking initiative, not only are you pushing forward your team and yourself towards success, but also demonstrates your passion and effort. Set clear vision and mission statements of what you wish to achieve and set a path for your team to follow.
Display your company’s statements on a physical poster or on an online board that allows yourself and your team to be inspired to every morning they walk into the office. Set goals and objectives to achieve that vision without putting unnecessary pressure on your team. Ensure that your team is capable to take on new tasks that you are planning to set for them and that they agree with passion.
Taking initiative does not necessarily involve the simple delegation of tasks. Give the opportunity for your team to be creative and brainstorm new ideas that you can integrate into future projects. Use an online or physical pinboard to encourage your team to formulate ideas and topics through accumulated sticky notes.
Motivating others
Although you may be highly motivated and driven by your passions, you must also ensure that your team maintains the same drive. Motivate your team through demonstrating your enthusiasm for the project and achieving its goals. As the leader, you serve as the role model where your team will look to you as an example, as a person they compare against. Become the influence and aspiration for your team to reach higher goals.
Recognise your team’s individual capabilities and their combined strength as a team to take advantage of their strengths. Provide your team with resources to remain motivated, sustain their engagement and be empowered to make their own decisions. Provide incentives such as healthy snacks in the office, allowing a pet-friendly environment or offering team sporting activities that can improve employee morale. Another great way to motivate your staff is to award them of their achievements through recognition titles, trophies or stickers and paying your staff for what they are worth.
Negotiation
A critical skill that must be developed as a leader is knowing effective methods to handle and resolve conflicts. This issue may arise among team members, clients, partners or even between yourself and a co-worker. The complexities of workplace conflict can be difficult to navigate, especially as they differ from workplace to workplace. Ensure to remain an impartial and unprejudiced actor by equally acknowledging all sides to the conflict.
Managing workplace relationships requires high EQ and is greatly required to be a successful leader within the team. You must first listen to both sides of the conflict as well as the comments of witnesses and other involved staff. Before making your own judgement, ask whether each party can suggest their own solutions to the issue. This is where you can then combine the needs of both sides and come to a mutually agreeable solution.
Management skills
A leader requires various management skills that not only limits itself to scheduling. People and relationship management is another skill that is greatly required when leading work teams. Organisational skills are also critical to enabling effective leadership, specifically when completing tasks and project within a particular time frame. Develop your management style through taking an online course that will allow you to develop knowledge and skills on how to manage people to optimise performance within a team. Ensure that all your staff arrive to work at the specific times and that they will be able to makeup for the work time that has been lost if they have arrived late.
Depending on your business, you may choose to manage in a highly supervised and guided approach or rather allow your staff to take initiative of their own work. Regardless of the approach, ensure to allow your staff with flexibility in work times that align to their personal lives for them to work at their optimal capacity.
Learning attitude
Develop an attitude that allows you to continuously seek education and learn new things. By actively communicating with your team, you will be able to gain greater insight into the various perspectives, advantages and criticisms of the project. Ensure that you are continually striving to look for new ways to foster new ideas through being open to new opportunities and methods. Admitting to and learning from failures and weaknesses will enable continuous to improvement to success as a leader.
Another way to develop a learning attitude is by keeping updated with the latest industry news by actively sharing useful information to your team via email or workplace forums and encourage them to do the same. You may also invite your team to industry workshop panels, conferences and networking events.
Communication skills
It is important to be able to communicate thoughts both verbally and also through actions. Ensure that you effectively explain to your team about changes or new initiatives and keep them in the loop. Be transparent to develop trust and bond so your team can trust you and openly convey information and thoughts to you. Provide the opportunity for your staff to communicate to you through the avenues that they are most comfortable with expressing information and conveying ideas.
You can create a workplace chat group where you can foster ideas and discussion on an online platform. Communication and collaboration platforms such as Flock and Slack are effective online tools that can. An anonymous survey or question box is also helpful to express workplace concerns or issues. You can also learn greater communication skills by developing your skills outside of work. Take on team sports and take a leadership role, such as team captain to engage in teamwork and communication skills that are essential for both competitive sports and also in achieving effective workplace morale.
Positive attitude
A skill that is often overlooked is the ability to maintain a positive attitude. As a leader, you will experience stress and pressures from deadlines and expectations that can be overwhelming. However, a positive mental state and perspective will allow you to effectively progress from your current situation. Regular words of encouragement and praises to your team will boost your employee morale as well as productivity. In the event a team member seems to be struggling, rather than criticising, offer further support through development programs or training, to enable improvement. For a task that has been completed successfully, reward your team with an outing such as a work dinner and drinks or you may even have extra funds and splash out on a corporate cruise!
No matter which industry or context that you are leader, being empowered to become one is only the first step! Which skills are you looking to refine to become a successful leader?
Cassie Phillips is an experienced In-house Editor at Upskilled. With a background in online marketing, Jade runs some successful websites of her own. Her passion for the education industry and content is displayed through the quality of work she offers.
In Australia, statistics show a significant increase in women in business operating as leaders at all different levels – running organisations, starting their own company (self-employed) and in prominent Government positions, for example. They are determined, courageous and successful.
Whilst there has been a steady increase in women in high ranking positions over the last 20 years, with the number of women running their own show increasing at a faster rate than men (although men still dominate the business sector) there is a long way to go. And many hills to climb.
So, what are the pitfalls this dedicated army of entrepreneurs might meet along the way that may prevent them from enjoying a long-term income, future-proofing old age, contributing to the economy and getting on-going job satisfaction?
Eventually we should aim to stop referring to ‘women’ entrepreneurs, but simply note there are segments of people within the population who are entrepreneurial and whose gender is no longer of interest.
Source: (www.pmc.gov.au)
Am I good enough?
Self-doubt, uncertainty, trepidation and a lack of up-to-date awareness of the challenges one might face, are all part of the business culture, particularly in the early days when your working world isn’t full of clarity, and goals are hard to reach. These feelings are natural when we launch into the unknown. Too many women allow them to determine what they do, on a day-to-day basis.
Inequality has left women on the back burner, and often our greatest inhibitor to success is fear. We allow ourselves to be plagued by thoughts and ruminations that keep us disadvantaged. The huge gender pay inequality (recently estimated at 15.3% by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency) and the general slow career progression of women, exacerbates this fear. The current trend is to attempt to reverse this issue for a range of critical reasons, not withstanding that it is now generally acknowledged that in the workplace, women make fantastic leaders.
Ways to investigate inequality
- Investigate what is meant by discrimination and explore your own prejudices
- Look at values and how they influence prejudices
- Explore how we can embrace and understand ‘diversity’ and define difference
- Challenge assumptions and stereotyping
- Research and obtain a real understanding of what inequality means (under Equality Legislation) and how it impacts daily life
Fear is the greatest enemy of confidence
A strong emotion, fear manifests in many different forms and can be both liberating and disempowering. Fear can present physically – for example, in the form of a headache or a sore back; emotionally, in the form of depression or anxiety; or mentally, causing confusion, memory loss or forgetfulness.
The fear of outcomes, the unknown and change often prevent women from achieving our goals and dreams. The key question we must ask ourselves is – why? Why is fear stopping me from doing what I really want? What thoughts, emotions or feelings are preventing me from striving to take actions that will help me achieve my dreams?
Reflect on your success. Look at what you achieve. There is so much you do well already. Appreciate those things, discuss them with close friends or family, and start to believe in YOU! These small changes and realisations will, over time, build confidence, courage and self-belief, and leave fear behind.
There is very little you cannot achieve if you put your mind to it.
What does it mean to be empowered as a woman?
The words ‘empowerment’ and ‘empowered’ feature regularly in everyday discourse. They’re used in government, in the office, in the media, in conversations with friends – but what is empowerment? What does it mean to be empowered?
Empowerment is all about confidence and strength. Being realistic about your strengths and areas for improvement. It’s about knowing how to set realistic goals and fulfil your potential, and to make intelligent choices, so you can be in control of your life. It’s about knowing yourself and the positive impact you can make in your life and those around you in everyday decisions, situations and actions.
Personal empowerment is about being the best version of ourselves, so we can achieve the goals that are most important to us, on an individual basis, and feel good about who we are and what we do. It is a sense of personal contentment and the ability to ‘back yourself’ with confidence.
Key factors to becoming personally empowered as a woman
Know yourself
We all have strengths and weaknesses. By recognising your strengths, you can amplify them to work in your favour. In the same way, by acknowledging your areas for improvement, you can identify how to upskill or improve in the areas where you don’t naturally do so well. With a little help, advice and encouragement, everything can be learned.
Be confident in your abilities
Confidence can be selective with its appearances. Many successful business women appear to be confident at work, but aren’t always in their personal lives, or vice versa.
Confidence can be developed in both situations with training and practice – for example, a nervous public speaker will build confidence with every presentation they give, as their skills improve and they see their audiences’ response. Similarly, a person who shies away from conflict can learn skills to deal with challenging situations and conversations, go into them prepared and come out feeling a sense of accomplishment, which in turn, builds confidence. A person lacking confidence in their abilities at work, but pushes themselves to speak up and make suggestions in meetings, will grow in confidence as their ideas are positively received by their colleagues.
Confidence starts with belief in yourself and grows by ‘doing’ – putting yourself out there, travelling alone, standing up and saying what you think, doing things you may initially not be comfortable with – these all help to build the confidence that you can do anything you set your mind to.
Set SMART goals, design your plan and stick to it
Empowerment comes from first knowing what you want to achieve, either in business or in your personal life, and making the right choices to be successful. Setting SMART goals can help. SMART is a well-used goal-setting acronym in business coaching. It means getting Specific about what you want to achieve, making sure your goals are Measurable and Attainable, that they are Relevant to you and Timely for what you want to achieve. Once you’ve set your goals, develop a clear strategy to achieve them and stick to it!
Stand your ground
Be assertive in how you communicate with others – at work, home and in life overall. Don’t back down when you believe in something. Learn the difference between being aggressive and being assertive; they are fundamentally different. Assertion is when you confidently stand up for yourself and what you believe in, without attacking or disrespecting others.
It’s easier to stand your ground if you learn good communication skills – active listening, being empathetic and asking open-ended questions are a good start. Build resilience – strive for your goals and don’t be discouraged when setbacks arrive (as they always will), but instead learn from them, stand up and keep going. Don’t worry about what other people say about you – listen to constructive feedback, but only action those which will have a positive impact on your journey and fit with your goals and plan.
Stay positive
Be optimistic. Research indicates optimistic people tend to be more successful in life overall. Love your life, love yourself and enjoy the ride. Claim your successes and enjoy your achievements – little or big, claim what you do well and be proud of who you are and what you achieve.
Finally…
Becoming personally empowered is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. Allow yourself to make mistakes and celebrate successes. Remember, nothing great in life is achieved without passion and courage. Passion, to have the raw energy to achieve what it is you want, and courage to understand that fear, uncertainty and trepidation will try to stop you and make you falter.
Strong women go out and get what they want in life. They are brave and courageous, and are dedicated to their cause or belief.
Caryn Walsh is a renowned international leadership and team development specialist, psychotherapist and executive coach. She develops boards, leaders and teams at all levels across three continents. The Empowering Women to Thrive initiative helps women gain the skills and opportunities they need to thrive, through women’s retreats, seminars, monthly webinars, training programs, an annual conference and a soon-to-launch 9-stage online ‘Empowering Women to Thrive’ Program for women to access anywhere, anytime.
I was honored to interview Rania Hoteit the CEO of ID4A Technologies, which was named “Best Entrepreneurial Company in America” by Entrepreneur magazine.
She has an impressive bio including being “an award-winning serial entrepreneur” with “recognition from the White House”. She was also among “55 global leaders to speak at the United Nations Global People’s Summit during the UN General Assembly”.
I have been following her work for a few months and am continually amazed by the example that she is setting in her leadership for women across the world. She was generous enough with her time to share with us about leadership, success, and how we can empower the next generation of women.
How do you personally measure success?
I personally measure success by the levels of self-realization, actualisation, and development. When you have the deepest level of understanding yourself, the highest level of desire to achieve your greatest potential in life, and the highest level of commitment to growth, then you seek experiences and knowledge, challenge your mind and beliefs, learn new skills, implement and constantly strive for the next level of awareness, competence, and achievement. That’s how real success is made.
Whether someone fails or succeeds can only be truly measured against one’s greatest potential and ability to actualise it. It’s not about who others are, what others do and achieve for themselves, or what society’s expectations and definitions are. I don’t judge myself according to anyone’s definitions of anything, let alone my success. I create my own standards to follow and measure my progress in the ways that are meaningful to me. I envision my own dreams, then I set strategies and practical plans to reach them. My goals are not rooted in ego, nor are they driven by external influences and symbols such as money, recognition, status or anything that requires validation from others.
I don’t judge myself according to anyone’s definitions of anything, let alone my success. I create my own standards to follow and measure my progress in the ways that are meaningful to me.
Even though this happens to be an added outcome; they’ve never been my sole motivators. Before I take major actions, I evaluate my true motivations to ensure that I am creating intrinsic goals that are centered around my personal growth, inner fulfillment, and alignment with my identity, vision, passion, and purpose, all while adding value and making a difference in other people’s lives.
It’s very easy to set extrinsic goals and slip into disillusionment by what defines success and how to achieve it. When you depend on external symbols or try to be like someone else, you’re already taking the wrong motivational path, and you have no ‘real’ metrics to measure your own success. Real success can only be achieved when you follow what is true for you. Because as soon as these symbols dissolve or get replaced by new ones, you become irrelevant along with everything you built on this faulty basis. That’s one big lie of a life. It’s very important to recognize this early on to live with integrity and have a fulfilling human experience in the long run.
What leadership advice can you give to those who aspire to be leaders in the future?
For those who aspire to lead in the future, it’s important to understand that becoming a leader is not a “job”. Not every individual who starts a business or holds a managerial or authoritative position of some kind is a great leader. Becoming a great leader is a rigorous and continuous process of self-development and growth that you must commit. Successful leadership is also about influence and the willingness of people to adopt your vision and follow your lead.
You must have a sharp character and clear vision, along with a broad set of practical, intellectual, social, and communication skills in order to create such influence and assert great leadership. But you can’t lead others when you are not sure who you are yourself and when you lack the competence. Start with defining your unique identity, motivations, values, beliefs, strengths, goals and vision for the future, and how can you improve on weaknesses and learn new skills to become the best version of yourself.
…you can’t develop a wider set of leadership skills or broaden your capacity if your practical experiences are not varying or if you continue to do the work that you are already good at.
As a leader, your development will mainly occur through learning and extracting insights from day-to-day practical experiences and responsibilities, and applying this knowledge to the next phase. But you can’t develop a wider set of leadership skills or broaden your capacity if your practical experiences are not varying or if you continue to do the work that you are already good at.
Push yourself to consciously step into new roles, activities, and situations that test your abilities and challenge your mindset and beliefs. Never lose enthusiasm in the face of challenges. Be curious to explore fresh approaches and perspectives. Never stop learning. Have a winning spirit. That’s the only way you can successfully take on higher levels of risks and reach leadership excellence.
How can we best empower this next generation of women?
Women face more complex consideration sets and societal pressures throughout their lives, in addition to gender barriers that are still contributing to increased disparities on many levels. To best empower the next generation, we have to make radical changes to alleviate pressures and dissolve all barriers across all areas of society. From a very young age, girls can be surrounded by expectations that are destructive to their self-worth due to all kinds of implied undercurrents that are embodied by traditional gender stereotypes related to their intelligence, stamina, appearance, courage, strength, and even careers or paths for success that they are expected to conform to.
It is crucial to nurture self-confidence in girls from an early age by encouraging them to develop independence of mind, to express themselves freely and debate their views openly, to stand up for themselves, and enjoy challenges. Positive cooperation and partnership with men is also key to the transformation, along with having more female role models from different social and professional spheres for the younger generations of women to lean on and be inspired by.
We also have to examine the current social climate and state of the economy, and what women will still face in the future if gender barriers remain unresolved. Based on the latest Global Gender Report issued by the World Economic Forum, the gap between the achievements and well-being of men and women widened in the past year. The data estimates that at the current rates, it will take 100 years before women achieve equality in political empowerment, economic participation, health, and education.
Economic data on gender imbalance also revealed that women’s numbers are not at parity in leadership in any industry, hiring women hasn’t increased along with the number of women earning degrees in areas such as technology and manufacturing given that a large proportion of women are choosing not to go into those fields. And I can speak from my position being in both industries, technology and manufacturing, and one of the world’s few women leaders in these male-dominated fields who refused to accommodate gender role stereotypes. My experience has been full of challenges and obstacles since I started my career and entrepreneurial journey over 10 years ago.
…we need to take the responsibility of creating entire organizational structures and cultures to support women’s advancement in leadership within companies to ensure that they have the best chances to do so.
Breaking through gender barriers and biases turned into a full-time sport, especially in the early stages of growing my business and establishing my thought leadership. Yet staying the course and forging ahead full force have also been incredibly rewarding because I was determined to build a successful business and an impactful brand, and was unapologetically ambitious when it comes to achieving my own goals.
Ultimately, if we can teach girls the courage to break their own stereotypes, and the value of developing her own independence, sense of identity and definition of success, then our next generation of women will be empowered with self-confidence, resilience, and adaptability to navigate new paths, seize opportunities, and to become leaders and shapers in our societies who enable the same sense of meaning and purpose, not only for other women and girls, but for everyone around them, regardless of gender.
At the same time, we have to facilitate their advancement and success by integrating them fairly and efficiently in the global economy. Talented, driven and intelligent women deserve opportunities to lead, and societies do need their leadership in order to thrive. Therefore, we need to take the responsibility of creating entire organizational structures and cultures to support women’s advancement in leadership within companies to ensure that they have the best chances to do so.
In your opinion what is one of the most valuable skills a leader can possess, that most struggle to develop?
Leadership is both an art form and a science and requires creativity as well as knowledge of human psychology to establish healthy and productive connections amongst people and with them. The problem is that most leaders emphasise developing their visionary, practical and strategic thinking skills, and often fail to master interpersonal skills and struggle to effectively interact, communicate, listen, and empathize with others.
While empathy has a major impact on the ultimate success or failure in leadership because it builds character traits of trustworthiness, relatedness, respectfulness, caring, and fairness. It’s the most critical driver of any leader’s overall performance. We’ve seen many examples in recent years of leaders who raised to fame due to their great business schemes, while their people’s leadership failures were ignored. When leaders have the ability to empathize, not only do they only involve and engage their people more effectively, but they also lead their teams and organizations to the most business growth and highest levels of innovation.
Empathy isn’t only fundamental to elevating the quality of human interactions at a societal level, but it’s also critical for business growth and leadership success.
There is plenty of substantial evidence on the correlation between empathy and performance. If we look at the companies that were top rated on the Global Empathy Index, including Microsoft, Facebook, Tesla, and Google, we see that they’re generating 50% more earnings per employee than those at the bottom. Empathy isn’t only fundamental to elevating the quality of human interactions at a societal level, but it’s also critical for business growth and leadership success.
Would you share with us an example of a challenge that you have faced in leading and how you overcame it?
Becoming a boss who is leading a global company and initiatives was an extremely demanding adjustment. Specially that I defied conventions and took the risk of launching global operations and partnerships from the beginning stages of the business. Most entrepreneurs focus on local growth before they consider entering international markets. I did the exact opposite; which proved to be a winning strategy for us. But the process was a major learning curve that came with many demands, and expedited personal growth and leadership skills development. Within one year, I went from managing 2 people to leading collaborations and negotiations between teams, clients, partners, sponsors, investors, suppliers, manufacturers, and other organizations around the world, and these interactions got highly complex over time.
My character and leadership abilities were being tested at every level so I really had to adapt, learn and implement very fast. The key challenge that I faced within my organization and with external partnerships as we started to grow, was managing the diversity of disciplines and the differences in cultural backgrounds; both equally significant in localized and in cross-border negotiations and collaborations because they heavily influence how people operate, interact, view their roles as individuals or within a group, as well as their attitudes towards the importance of time and building relationships.
Decision-making processes were also very arduous as a result; not just in terms of technicalities but also in terms of behaviors and core beliefs. Overall, it took numerous failures, and a lot of strategy and mastery to build a robust infrastructure to effectively lead my team, manage our clients and affiliates in different parts of the world, and adapt to all differences in processes, disciplines and cultures to accomplish such complex collaborations successfully.
Today, ID4A Technologies is a trusted global company that is innovating at the cutting-edge of design technology and recognized as one of the best entrepreneurial companies for mastering leadership, innovation, impact and growth, and for fostering the development of advanced manufacturing in the United States, and the world.
What is the best way to introduce innovative ideas to a team that is stuck in an old method?
It really depends on the larger context within which ideas are being introduced, what methods are we referring to, and what is one’s position in relation to the team. In general, any time you are introducing a new idea, you are creating change. Supposing that being “stuck in an old method”, the context is a traditional corporate environment. In such cultures that are not innovation-driven, big ideas are more likely to be perceived as risky propositions than as potentially rewarding opportunities. Hence, you must be strategic and have the conviction to successfully introduce innovations into your organization and get your ideas to be understood and implemented by your team.
The best way to start the proposal process is:
1. Align your innovative ideas with the leadership’s vision and goals
2. Combine multiple communication tools and skills by creating appealing visualizations and analytical frameworks to convey the value of change and its transformative potential. Also, navigate through negotiations to influence your team and other key decision makers in the direction of your goals.
To what or who do you attribute your success?
As I reflect on where I am today with my life and career, I can’t possibly attribute my success to a single factor but rather to many qualities, talents, and skills along with conscious efforts and genuine desire to constantly learn, evolve, implement and succeed. At a core level, my integrity, optimism, independence, initiative, resilience, creativity, strong self belief, determination and devotion to reach personal excellence have been vital for my success, and gave me the courage to fight, bounce back from many failures, setbacks and disappointments to refocus on my goals, win and strive harder.
I also attribute my success to the haters, naysayers, deprecators, and rivals who put me down and tried to sabotage my efforts along the way.
In tandem with innate characteristics, mastering communication skills, public relations, passion for quality, innovative problem solving, effective leadership skills, collaboration, and successful team and partnerships building, as well as my commitment to help others, all were critical drivers for the global growth of my entrepreneurial and social impact initiatives, and the and expansion of my influence as an industry innovator and thought leader.
I also attribute my success to the haters, naysayers, deprecators, and rivals who put me down and tried to sabotage my efforts along the way. Those who didn’t support me are the ones who made me stronger. On another note, maintaining a sense of humility and humbleness is key to continuous growth and ultimate success. It’s the acceptance to learn more, to seek farther and reach higher, and remain open to all the knowledge that is yet to be discovered. For me, I always remind myself that I am only at the beginnings of what I know and what I ultimately want to achieve, and this fuels my ambition, drive, and curiosity. There is so much more work to do, and more growth and success to look forward to in the future.
What do you do personally to grow as a leader?
The richest source of growth and learning in my life have been real-life challenging experiences and problems. I take a proactive approach to seek out challenges and activities that provide me opportunities to develop new repertoires of skills to improve on weaknesses and practice new behaviors. It’s an intentional, gradual and continuous process that I am absolutely committed to, and I make it a priority to step into new situations that test my abilities to be effective in a wide variety of leadership roles.
I re-examine my responsibilities thoroughly as I expand on my vision further, structure new plans, and strategize to reach new goals, in order to identify what new competencies I have to master to successfully take on higher levels of risks, and what changes I need to make to enhance my leadership skills so I can manage these new responsibilities efficiently.
Specifically, with the work that I do, I have to stay on the lookout for new ideas to stay ahead and maintain constant, ongoing innovation. We are constantly faced with open-ended questions and complex problems with many variables to be calculated and accounted for, and frequent experimentations and failures, so resilience and agility are critical skills for us. We have to fail fast, learn even faster, and find solutions really fast as well.
As a leader, I work very diligently to build enabling strategies that cultivate these skills and create a positive atmosphere to boost idea generation, innovative problem solving and creativity both at an individual and at an organizational level within my team.
What is one mindset shift that needs to take place to be the most effective in leading change?
Years ago I read The Prince, a political treatise by Niccolo Machiavelli in which he wrote: ”There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” And this statement can’t be any more relevant. The one mindset shift that needs to take place is to step away from the control and the hands-on approaches and assume a leadership role. Whether the objective is to create change in society, industry or within an organization, it’s critical to realize that the path forward doesn’t revolve around “I” but rather around “We”.
One visionary leader can have tremendous individual power to bring awareness and initiate movements. However, real change at a scale of significance can only occur when you harness the collective into decision-making and engage others to actively participate in the service of a greater purpose.
…real change at a scale of significance can only occur when you harness the collective into decision-making and engage others to actively participate in the service of a greater purpose.
Hence, your effectiveness in leading change will be determined by your success to turn strangers into passionate believers, inspired supporters and empowered individuals who will participate in bringing your vision to life and making the change happen. The focus needs to shift from being at the center of it all on your own to becoming the power source that drives other people by providing energy, direction, vision, inspiration, motivation, and a system to follow; which fundamentally requires your communication mindset to shift as well.
You need to develop the ability to clearly communicate your goals, expectations, expertise, knowledge, and instructions in ways that are pragmatic and practical, yet articulated in the language of an idealist and visionary leader who inspires action and mobilizes people from deep within.
Rania Hoteit is the CEO of ID4A Technologies which was named “Best Entrepreneurial Company in America” by Entrepreneur magazine under her leadership. ID4A Technologies is a global design technology specialized in the design and development of platform solutions that leverage exponential technologies such as Ai, 3D printing, machine vision, and industrial robots to build manufacturing automation software for robotic technologies. Rania is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, an expert judge on global startup competitions, international speaker, advisor, author and social impact leader in gender equality, women empowerment, education and industry innovation with multiple recognitions from the White House, and other awards.