Jan 6, 2021
Julie and Casey sit down with speaker, author, top LinkedIn
Learning instructor, and expert in how organizations can support
women at work Selena Rezvani (who they met while working with her
on her award-winning TEDx Talk “Interrupting Gender Bias Through
Meeting Culture”) to talk about the necessity of bringing the
“full color” version of yourself to work, dealing with Imposter
Syndrome, and deeply practical strategies to make your presence
felt. Along the way, they talk about the necessity of knowing what
is and what is NOT the individual’s work in creating more inclusive
work culture, and rewriting the prevailing “hero narratives” at
your office.
TOP TAKEAWAYS
- Selena spent lots of time in rooms where she was one of the
few, or the only, woman of color. So often, the response to this is
either to try to Rubik’s Cube ourselves into fitting in, or step
back and disappear. Selena finally realized that to make the impact
she wanted to make, she had to SHOW UP.
- Who is a leader? It doesn’t depend on your title, age,
seniority, or experience. Are you bringing your full spectrum of
contributions to solve problems?
- Especially because we know that the pandemic is
disproportionately affecting women’s careers (caregiving, etc), we
need more than ever to make sure we’re not “muting” our presence in
an organization. Where are the decisions being made? Am I in those
meetings? What is important around here today, and how can I tie
some of my voice, my contributions directly to that?
- The better you know your environment, the easier it becomes to
ask “what are they craving right now? What’s at the top of their
minds?”
- As long as we’re all isolated working from home, we have to
CONSCIOUSLY reach out to connect with people.
- The cultures where people can truly show up and do their best
work are “low-assumption cultures” - where we remain curious and
don’t assume that we know what other people want, need, or
think.
- High assumption cultures often reward certainty as a leadership
quality, which tends to lead to over-confidence being adopted as a
path to leadership. What if we adopted a beginner’s mindset
instead?
- Individuals can show up with awesome, progressive leadership
values, but the culture ultimately decides what is valued. What are
the hero stories in your workplace? If companies want to
incentivize particular behaviors, those behaviors need to be part
of the narrative too.
- Imposter syndrome can feel like driving with a nervous,
doubting passenger who is constantly second-guessing your every
move and decision. Sometimes, that can lead us to never take risks
at all—but what if instead, we valorized the “face-plant” moments
as an integral, beautiful, necessary part of the journey?
- “You can’t overestimate what everyone else can do, and
chronically UNDERESTIMATE what you can do."
- There is no question that, for many people, it can feel or BE
unsafe to be fully authentic at work. This is part of what makes
the “Diet Pepsi” (diluted, small, safe) version of ourselves
seductive—it makes us feel like we can’t be punished or fail. But
if your presence isn’t felt, it also won’t be MISSED.
- The work of finding and implementing that “full color” version
of ourselves requires self-knowledge and continual exploration—like
cultivating a garden, it’s never “done”.
- Connect with what REALLY lights you up, and evaluate whose
opinion matters and on what scale it matters.
- You don’t always have to be the “inconvenienced one” in order
to keep the peace or be the good girl. Look at those sub-optimal
situations and ask yourself what would make it better. Asking may
be easier than you think!
- Power comes when you feel like your 400% belong. Selena
believes in creating those conditions in herself: “I know this. I
prepared. I can do this.”
- Even for someone as poised and polished as Selena, she believes
that the moments of vulnerability onstage are usually the most
powerful.
- Lesson: Creating a ritual around showing up with your full
presence - what to do before, during, and after a big presentation
or other presence-intensive moment.
Selena Rezvani is a recognized author, speaker,
and consultant on leadership. Her debut book, The
Next Generation of Women Leaders: What You Need to Lead but Won't
Learn in Business School (Praeger, 2009) identifies the
need for Generation X and millennial women to be seen as a viable
talent pool and leadership pipeline.
Her newest book, Pushback:
How Smart Women Ask — and Stand Up — for What They
Want (Jossey-Bass, 2012) focuses on the unmatched power of
negotiation skills in women's career advancement, and was
recognized with an Axiom Business Book Award.
She is a Philadelphia
Magazine and Forbes.com blogger
and former commentator on NPR's nationally syndicated 'The 51%
Perspective'. In addition, Rezvani wrote an award-winning
column on women and leadership for The
Washington Post. In 2018, she gave a TEDx talk
entitled Interrupting Gender
Bias Through Meeting Culture, which was recognized with a Croly
Journalism Award.
Rezvani's professional speaking credits include the following
organizations, among many others: SAP, Microsoft, Harvard
University, The Clinton Foundation, eBay, Accenture, Johnson &
Johnson, GoDaddy, Princeton University, and the Forte Foundation
Conference.
Selena also provides strategic consulting for clients who
want to implement inclusion strategies with a focus on the
advancement of women. She received her Bachelor of Science and
Master of Social Work degrees from New York University, and has an
MBA from Johns Hopkins, where she received the Edward Stegman CPA
Memorial Award for Academic Excellence.