by Madeline Bell | Nov 8, 2016 | Confidence, Networking, Professional Growth, Skills, Starting Out
I recently had the opportunity to meet two very impressive women at an event (as I often do!). During the course of the conversation we began to discuss the events surrounding the Presidential election. One of the women told me that she had the opportunity to follow the family member of a Presidential candidate on the campaign trail. When I asked her how she able to do that, she responded by telling me she was a producer for a major network. I again responded with great enthusiasm and she said, “oh it’s really not a big deal. I just do it part-time…I’m really just a warm body, a hired hand.”
I was so disappointed to hear her response. I was very honest and told her that she really needed to develop an elevator speech that was not so self-deprecating. Her friend replied, “You’re right, she has won two Emmy awards for her work on national news shows! ” Clearly, this woman was accomplished and had built an impressive career. I suggested a few key points to add to her elevator speech so that in similar situations she would be more prepared to respond with a few key points highlighting her competencies and accomplishments.
I often talk to mentees about how to construct and practice their elevator speech. The speech should be about 1-2 minutes, start with a clear articulation of name, your role and a bit about the company you represent. In this story, the women I met could have said:
“I’m Sue Jones, producer at _____ network, where I have worked for ____ years covering such stories as ______. I’ve had the pleasure of being called into action when needed for some of the most interesting stories such as _____.”
Now obviously that can be tailored to feel more off-the-cuff, casual or less structured. Just please be sure to steer clear of self-deprecation or minimizing your real accomplishments, as tempting as it may be to appear humble. If you don’t have an elevator speech, write one today and practice it in the car, or even in an elevator while alone!
by Madeline Bell | Aug 16, 2016 | Confidence, Skills
One of the topics I’m asked about most often by younger women is confidence — how to gain more, project more, BE more. There are tons of articles on confidence — everything from body language to visualization techniques and more. A lack of confidence seems to be something that affects almost everyone at one point or another and I’ve written on my thoughts about the “Imposter Syndrome” I see so many women experience. I came across this article in Fortune by entrepreneur Beth Monaghan and it spoke to me. It’s her attempt to teach confidence, which I do believe is possible, and I found her advice to be spot on and extremely applicable in a workplace setting. I’d love to hear your thoughts after reading it – do you think successful women can help teach other women to become more confident? What is the best advice you’ve received to help build confidence?
“This Will Make You Make You Appear Less Confident” By Beth Monaghan, Principle & Co-Founder of InkHouse
by Amy Hou | Apr 22, 2016 | Confidence, Leadership, Professional Growth, Skills, Women in the Workplace
A recent article in the Philadelphia Business Journal offers “2 ways women can develop their leadership presence.”
Want the thumbnail? 1) Tout your accomplishments, and 2) use technical/numerical terms to discuss the impact of your work.
Read the article, then re-visit my thoughts on how to establish your executive presence here.
by Amy Hou | Mar 14, 2016 | Leadership, Leading Teams, Skills
I recently received the same question at two different post-speech Q&A sessions and during an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer:
What about your experience as a nurse prepared you to be CEO?
Well, firstly, that question kind of makes it seem like I was a staff nurse one day and the next day I was appointed CEO. In fact, my career journey took several turns from my start as a pediatric nurse in an infant and toddler unit to my current position. Still, I appreciate this question because it gives me an opportunity to talk about empathy.
As a nurse, I learned the importance of having empathy to do one’s job well. When you’re trying to teach a family how to care for a child with a new diagnosis, you want the best possible outcome for everyone involved. You try to understand how the family is coping emotionally as they recover from a health crisis in their child and are beginning to accept a potentially life-changing diagnosis. You need to try to understand their family dynamic, their knowledge and systems of childcare, their culture surrounding children. Challenges to good health are often multi-faceted, and no two families are exactly alike. Nurses regularly use empathy skills to know how an individual patient and his or her family will hear and respond to the healthcare provider’s message and use that to determine what the patient needs going forward.
Empathy and effective performance as a leader go hand in hand. As a leader in my organization, I try to put myself in the shoes of not only CHOP’s patients and families but its staff as well. I ask, how can I better enable them and support them to do their best work? Part of my mission is to get out of my office and hear from CHOP’s front line employees so that I can better understand the challenges they face and work to improve how we function.
I can also use that opportunity to tell them about important issues I see and bring the big picture of the organization to them. Together in these conversations, we figure out how they fit into that big picture and what we both need to do to get better. In order to make these effective discussions and not just opportunities for glad-handing, you have to start with empathy — an ability to listen and learn how people hear your message.
So many executive leaders don’t think about how their message will be received. They perfect their stump speeches and leave it at that. But understanding what your employees are going through is essential. When I give a talk, I do my best to find out who the audience will be, why they are coming, and what issues are important to them so I can bring nuance to my message. If I’m to give a talk on quality and value in healthcare, I’m not going to give the same talk to medical students as I do to senior medical staff. I will try to think about what the students know and what their world is about.
Put simply, I try to connect with them. And I learned how to do that as a nurse.
