MONEY & POWER : CAREER ADVICE “Then ask yourself, Would I want that person to take care of herself? If so and you’re not doing it, ask yourself why not.” You’ll quickly see you’re just as deserving of the nurturing you’d want for others. Now go make time for it. Be the CEO of you. You’re the head honcho of your career, says Courtney Sanders, founder of Think & Grow Chick, which helps women reach their personal and professional objectives. Keep this in mind if you’ve hit the six-year slump at work. “I see this all the time—you’re moving into year six at your job and are starting to think, Man, when I was younger I thought I wanted this role or that position, but now that I’m here it’s not all that interesting or fulfilling. And part of that feeling is the misplaced expectation that companies will provide the experiences you’re looking for on a silver platter. That simply won’t happen, so take ownership of your professional advancement. The longer you’ve been at your job, the easier it is to lose sight of what originally brought you joy.” But you’re not as stuck as you might think. Sanders says, “I always recommend that my clients take on extracurriculars, like helping with a one-off project, in different divisions in their company to create the experience they want.” Don’t let a layoff define you. It’s hard not to take a pink slip personally. But once you give yourself a few days to let your emotions settle, Beirne says you have to separate what really happened from how you’ve interpreted the situation. “It’s easy to collapse things that are undeniably true with the feelings that we have about those truths,” she says. “Find someone you trust who can help you identify what the facts are. Then ask yourself, What am I making these facts mean? The reason people can’t move past a low point is because they unintentionally decide that the layoff means something about who they are, and that’s almost never true.” Ask for what you want. It’s Seard’s number one piece of advice for her female clients: Just ask! “You are responsible for your success,” she says. “You need to find out what you want, and determine how you’re going to get it. Ask a mentor. Ask for help. Women don’t ask and are often looking for other people to define their world. If you see someone out there you want to be like, call them or investigate what they did, and model it. This has worked for all my clients.” Add value outside of your job description. Sanders says one secret to rising through the corporate ranks is to think like the leaders. “It’s the biggest gap I see a lot of women in the workplace missing,” she says. “They’re not understanding how the decision makers are thinking about the business as a whole. So if you network by doing those coffee breaks and going out to lunch with higherups from different departments, you’ll get to hear what they consider is important and where the organization is going. After lunch you can go back to work and make sure that you’re keeping an eye out for ways that you can contribute to the business’s bottom line. People who have demonstrated an ability to produce visible results in a way that helps a company get to where it’s going are promoted faster, they’re more valued and they tend to get laid off less.” Remember that going into business for yourself is not everyone’s cup of tea. “As much as entrepreneurship has become this glamorized kind of one-size-fits-all body-con dress, it’s not,” says Kike-Lola Odusanya, who established the business and personal development firm My Boss Is Me. “While entrepreneurship is a gift that, if explored, can change the trajectory of a woman’s life, it’s not for everyone. And the only way to determine that is to try it. I believe that entrepreneurship is one of the best personal development experiences a woman can have because there’s so much that you realize about yourself. I believe you can be a boss in any area of your life. A boss is somebody who is decisive, and a boss is somebody who knows what they want.” Even if you return to a 9-to-5 job, you’ll almost always feel more satisfied with where you are. By eliminating the what-ifs, you can make a plan that’s more aligned with who you truly are. º 78 ESSENCE.COM FEBRUARY <strong>2018</strong>
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