No matter the year, choosing to challenge will always be a key goal for any International Women’s Day and beyond. If there’s one thing the pandemic taught us, it’s that we have to challenge antiquated systems now more than ever. As we think about how we want to live now, we have to challenge convention. In discussion with audiences I meet as part of International Women’s Day and beyond, I see we don’t want to go back to our old definitions of what matters. Those vales and definitions just didn’t work for far too many of us.
If there is one thing I learned when writing ‘The Con Job’ it’s that we have to challenge the idea that certain groups just ‘need more confidence to get ahead’. The reality is that when the ‘non-status quo’ – that is people who don’t look like historic leadership do demonstrate confidence, we unjustly label t
hem. Confidence when they show it is all too often interpreted as bossy, strident and pushy or angry, aggressive and uppity. This inequity is an issue that has huge implications for the workplace and is something I cover in ‘The Con Job: Getting Ahead for Competence in a World Obsessed with Confidence’.
After the book came out last summer, this message in 2020 was well-received at organisations like Shell, ARM and Hymans Robertson – certainly across a range of male-dominated sectors! If you think these messages would resonate with your audience, get in touch or check out the video below on the front page of our website.
Let’s all #ChooseToChallenge and call out gender bias, discrimination and stereotypes. Want to know more? Get in touch #IWD2021 #internationalwomensday2021
In the meantime, Happy IWD- enjoy!
