Dear Friend,
For every mountain there is a miracle
Robert Schuller
We are going to take a week long departure from Benjamin Franklin's virtuous life to discuss a ground-breaking study done by McKinsey & Company and published in The McKinsey Quarterly. For those of you not familiar with McKinsey & Company it is one of the premier consulting firms in the world. This month they published an article based upon the McKinsey Leadership Project an initiative founded four years ago to advance professional women. One goal of this project is to learn what drives and sustains successful female leaders. My newsletter this week will summarize the findings; however, I encourage you to read the full report. I believe men and women alike can learn from the findings within this research. McKinsey's findings lead to a five dimension leadership model comprised of broad yet connected categories:
Meaning
Managing Energy
Positive Framing
Connecting
Engaging
Meaning
Meaning is what takes something from simply a job to a calling. Yet it is important to recognize that in various points of our life our 'meaning' may be driven from different places of our life. For example, many young mothers are happy to simply have a job because they derive meaning from their children. What is essential is that you understand what you enjoy doing and what you are good at and allow meaning and purpose to flow from there. Positive psychology has also connected happiness to meaning. Happiness is achieved as the progression from pleasure to engagement to meaning. Simply stated we derive more meaning from teaching a child to read than we do from eating ice cream. Therefore, the greater the meaning in our lives, ultimately the greater the happiness.
Managing Energy
This concept addresses having flow in your activity. As many of you working mom's know work-life balance is a joke. However, you can manage the energy that you expend on various activities. Successful people by and large spend a large portion of their day doing activities that keep them in the flow and give energy rather than zap energy. Researchers also found that the more time spent in activities that provide flow the greater our productivity and our satisfaction.
Positive Framing
A glass of water is filled halfway - do you see it as half-full or half-empty? Those who can see situations from a positive vantage point more easily manage difficult situations.However, there is an important distinction between positive framing and positive thinking. Positive framing is characterized by taking an inventory of positive and negative and taking action. In contrast, positive thinking relies on replacing a belief rather than taking action.
Connecting
According to Louann Brizendine, author of The Female Brain, people with strong networks and mentors experience more promotions, higher pay, and greater career satisfaction. We are wired to be connected beings. As an emerging woman it is important to cultivate advocates who will teach you, guide you, and if necessary stick up for you. Ever heard the phrase, "make it personal?" This was advice that I received from my first boss. It is true, people connect with individuals, people buy from individuals, people promote individuals, and people do business with individuals. Show your true self - your human side and you will open your door for connection.
Engaging
Engaging isn't about bragging; it is about being excited about and proud of the work you do and sharing this with others. Have you ever heard the phrase "create your own luck?" Well in a sense this is very true. Working hard and toiling away without speaking up and celebrating your work with others isn't going to get you noticed. Creating your own luck is about being genuine, but also recognizing the opportunities where you can share your results with others. This research by McKinsey provides a window into creating your most powerful personal and professional life. Again I encourage you to read the full report!
Take Action Challenge
This week I invite you to explore one of these five areas of your life. Select one area and commit to finding a couple of ways you can grow and evolve. If you are in the beginning of your career perhaps you examine which part of your job makes you surge with energy and which areas make you feel like your energy is zapped? If you are a more experienced woman, perhaps now is the right time to spend time helping a young woman develop her career? Perhaps you are in a place of transition (as I was last year) and you want to consider what type of work will provide you with both meaning and purpose?
May all of your mountains become miracles!
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