By Leslie Grossman
Super-successful women leaders have learned to eliminate the good girl habits which rewarded them in their teens but stalled them in their professional lives. From research, executive coaching and experience I have identified the new habits that propel women forward to achieve their personal visions of success without abandoning their values.
With an acknowledgement to Stephen Covey for his 1989 book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, here’s a brand new version I created for women which compares the antiquated good girl habits with their transformation into habits that level the playing field for women leaders.
Habit 1: Focus on Your Vision
Good Girl: Be Patient. Take what comes your way. People will recognize your hard work.
Woman Leader: Identify where you want to be in the future; Go after what you want; even if you believe you are not quite ready.
Habit 2: Effective Communication
Good Girl: Be lady-like, quiet and polite; speak when you are spoken to. let people come to you; don’t be assertive or bold
Woman Leader: Speak up and speak out concisely; influence and assert your leadership with a leadership voice
Habit 3: Leadership Presence
Good Girl: Take a back seat at the table; be modest and exclusively a ‘we’ manager
Woman Leader: Look, walk and talk like a leader; take credit with ‘I’ when it is you who achieved it, without forsaking the ‘we’ moments as well; engage and inspire your team to achieve their goals and yours
Leslie Grossman, an executive leadership coach, is the co-founder of the Women’s Leadership Exchange; author of Link Out: How to Turn Your Network into a Chain of Lasting Connections; and Senior Fellow and Faculty Director, Women’s Leadership, at the Center for Excellence in Public Leadership at the George Washington University.