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Excerpt From Skirt Strategies

249 Success Tips for Women in Leadership

Volunteer to be a conference speaker. You will be surprised at how it strengthens your business acuity.

A formal speaking engagement means you must prepare something. And when you are required to put something into a “package” it forces several beneficial outcomes.

The early payoff is an inventory of what you know that others may find interesting. This will build your confidence, because, believe it or not, we rarely assess this outside of that rare family dinner where Aunt Mary sweetly asks what you do for a livelihood.

That is a good thing – a grasp of what you know and what you can accomplish.

When you find the topic, and match the forum, prepare. As you create this content, you are defining your business in a way that you do not do it in the workplace. Your presentation gives you the opportunity to look at the business from a different perspective and prepare to defend it.

And the pièce de résistance, the thought-provoking Q&A that you may get from an audience.

This is a terrific exercise for you!

Dress smart and professionally. Never sexy.

Dress for the position to which you aspire.

Take advantage of your feminine side? Absolutely.

Go too far and you’ve become a distraction instead of a pleasant asset to have around. This is a grey area and open to interpretation based on your personal background, what is suitable to you, and the culture of your industry. Heels just a little to high or a skirt just a little too short send a completely different message.

Inappropriate appearance can come at a high cost so err on the side of safe. Check yourself before walking out the door. Bend forward in front of a mirror and see whether you are revealing too much cleavage.

Keep leadership and teambuilding books on your shelf. Use the good ones as reference when you need ideas.

Encourage your employees to check out any of your books.

You are responsible for creating the environment where others should thrive. When you design your surroundings around what you value, it permeates to those that live there. Consider how knowledge and intellectual growth will contribute to performance and how it will make the work environment a place of learning.

Judge your workplace by the number of smiles and degree of laughter.

Use a team meeting to select a local non-profit project and decide on a plan to support it over the next year.

Grow your credibility. Get certifications when you can.

In a man’s world, you are better off with irrefutable credentials. This won’t get you all the way there, but it will help.

Try to fit in, but not to become one of the boys.

There is a line that a woman should never cross. Once you do, your feminine individualism goes adrift. I am talking about women that feel they must act like a man to get accepted by the men.

Relate to men? Yes. Understand men? Yes. Conform? Hmm, depends on how you define that.

You are undeniably you, and that includes being female, including the assets and liabilities that accompany the gender. Burying those qualities is robbing others of the opportunity to appreciate them. Stick to your guns.

Laugh at yourself when you screw up. Humor is an anti-depressant.

Keep in mind that the biggest growth in your career probably resulted from a challenge..

When going by your female intuition, don’t feel you have to justify it to your critics.

Donate a few hours to a local classroom, visiting them or letting them tour your space. Teach them about your business.

As a wholly balanced leader, you have a community realm. Contribute to the world outside your business walls.

It’s okay to hug in business.

I love that we can do this. See how many advantages we have? Men do not really have this as an option … well, kind of. ..

Good approaches to being a great leader are easy to find. Don’t tour the world looking for the best. Find a decent, simple one and live by it.

Do not whine. EVER.

Teach your employees how to report problems as opportunities for improvement, not as whining or complaining.

Whining gets tuned out quickly. Often there is a something constructive in the middle of the moaning, so too bad it is lost in the complaining.

Senior leaders get weary of hearing grumbles, especially when emotion is attached to them. Instead of passing the negatives up the ladder, position issues as a business need for change. Teach employees to translate their issues into statements that outline the problem and underline the cost to productivity. Have them report the problems without emotion, along with possible costs and solutions.

Find three Italian words that you think sound beautiful. Use them in everyday language.

Must be said with flair:
Bella             beautiful
Matto            mad, insane
Gustare         to enjoy or relish
Maestro         expert
Lavoro           work
Dolce            sweet, pleasant
Molte grazie! Many thanks