My client Erica*, a 30ish woman with cropped blond hair and a sweet southern drawl, has been working since she was a teenager. In high school she did an internship program at a software company in Houston, doing simple data entry. After a few months of this mind-numbing work, she asked for a meeting with the company’s VP of sales, to see if he would be her mentor and help her find a new direction. Under his mentorship she transferred to the sales department, and thrived there for four years, eventually accepting her first full-time position.
You can see how much spirit and fire Erica has from this simple story of her 16-year-old self. She skipped college and went straight to work in various companies, becoming a sales expert who could be counted on to raise revenue everywhere she went. Eventually she moved to LA, where she is employed in the sales department of a movie studio, leading sales of video games derived from the studio’s movie characters.
When Erica came to see me she was tired of feeling stalled in her career, but uncertain of what the problem was. Her work was regularly praised, and she’d recently project managed a big upgrade in her team’s software, which had led to a 20% increase in sales. She wanted to rise up the company ladder and become a Senior sales project manager. There were already some women in those positions, so she knew it was possible. But despite her hard work and best efforts at networking, nothing was panning out.
Erica was willing to try anything. I asked her if she’d ever worked on speech and presentation skills before, and a lightbulb switched on above her head. She told me that her mentor had always considered them to be “soft skills” not worth investing in. This sparked my own lightbulb moment. I asked her about her mentor’s career background. She said that he graduated from an Ivy league college where he was very active in his fraternity, and was proud of how those connections had led to his first few jobs. Eventually a former frat buddy, the VP of a Texas tech company, hired him as his replacement, where he remained until retirement.
No wonder her mentor didn’t think public speaking was important! This man’s privileged connections had been driving his whole career. He hadn’t had to worry much about speaking up for himself, because he’d always been bolstered by the recommendations of his friends (it’s also important to keep in mind that white men are, by default, seen as more competent than everyone else, leading to even greater advantages). Erica hadn’t been to college, or joined an elite club. She’d relied on her own steam to get her where she was, inside a global company. All she needed now was a way to stand out from the crowd.
Erica and I made a 3-step plan. First we worked on her Power Voice, to make sure that she had the skills to speak confidently in any situation. We also created some Power Communication strategies, so she could demonstrate a high degree of both competence and warmth in all of her professional communication. Then we examined the schedule for her company’s conference, and Erica applied to speak at one of the events. She was accepted, and we prepared a PowerPoint that outlined the details of the project she’d so successfully managed, so that other teams in the company could adopt the same practices.
That was last Spring, and since then Erica has been invited to present to many other teams. She just completed her annual performance review, which included not just a promotion but a substantial raise. When I asked her how it felt to take a big leap forward, she said, Better than I ever imagined!
*name and some details changed for privacy
On September 13th I'm going to help 12 women take their own leap forward. Want to be one of them? Grab your ticket HERE.