Find Your Strongest Life

Find Your Strongest Life
Marcus Buckingham as written several books on the topic of strengths. The first one I read was Now, Discover Your Strengths. It is easy to recognize the value in working from strength. We work stronger, longer and with more passion when we are in the zone. We admire people who are fortunate enough to have jobs that seem to be an exact fit for them. It isn’t that we want their job it is that we want to be doing something that reflects who we are and what our passions are.
Most of us would be hard pressed to list five or ten people we know personally who are doing a job that fits them perfectly. Many of us have our days filled with meeting the expectations of others, trying to develop in areas we feel weak in. Our energy is zapped and we have so little ‘creative energy’ left that we can’t break out of the cycle.
Wow! What a downer this blog is! Actually, there is a way to break out of the cycle. Written for women, Find Your Strongest Life – What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently is full of helpful ideas for creating a strong life.
One of the most helpful suggestions is to pay attention to where you feel strong. I’ve started doing this. I coached a woman yesterday and I was so energized by our meeting. I did a report for a board this week and the dialogue with these articulate and insightful people charged me with creative energy. As I plan my weeks and months I can intentionally begin to say no to those things that drain me and yes to those things that energize me.
Is this selfish? No – why spend time doing things I’m not good at, passionate about or motivated to do? Why not free those things up for someone who is?
Is it easy? No, especially if you are self employed. It takes courage to live a strong life. Maybe that’s why so many of us fail to do it.
I am already thinking about 2010 – and I can tell you one thing – I want to live my strengths, celebrate them and see what happens when I start saying yes to the best. I suggest reading Buckingham’s book if you want to join me in this journey.
Be strong!

The X and Y of Buy

I just finished reading The X and Y of Buy written by Elizabeth Pace.  It is the kind of book you find yourself bringing up in conversations with colleagues and friends alike.  It is full of interesting facts and anecdotes on the differences between how men and women shop.

You may be wondering why you need a book to tell you about those differences.  After all any man and woman who have shopped together know that our approach to the mall can lend itself to a stressful evening or afternoon.   What makes this book stand out for me is that the author gives some very practical suggestions on how to market and sell to each gender.  Anyone in leadership knows that strong sales skills are a great asset.

While the author of this book focuses the second half of the book on GenderCycle Selling which has to do with B2B sales or D2C sales there are less formal ‘sales’ that leaders are involved in.   A lot of our communication has to do with trying to get people to buy into an idea or vision.

And although the second half of the book was helpful I found the first part which focused on how each gender is hardwired to be very informative.  I know that it has helped me in one area that I just didn’t get in the past.  Suddenly as I read, I realized that what I was struggling with was largely a gender issue.

Gender issues aren’t new. I’ve attended workshops on creating a climate of inclusiveness in the workplace that dealt with gender differences.  This book was a good reminder that gender differences go beyond how we work together but also include how we sell and market.

This is an easy read, makes for good discussion and certainly worth your time.

Have you encountered any gender differences in your business?

Gender Discrimination Starts Early

I read an interesting article on Workforce.com today.  According to the article gender discrimination begins much earlier than at executive levels.  Based on responses from 12,800 leaders in 76 countries women face gender discrimination from the very beginning of their careers.

We simply have not been given the same opportunities as men right from the start.  It is an interesting article and I see it all the time in organizations.  My observations are that women have to prove themselves as leaders before being identified where men will be identified as potential leaders based on minimal demonstration of leadership capabilities.

I’m not sure what your experience is but whether your are a male or female reading this post look around your organization and see how many women are being developed as future leaders.   Could you be doing more?

Women Wanted

I just read that the blogosphere is heavily male dominated. That makes me want to figure this out and keep with it.  I’m going to narrow my focus so check back here soon for some inspiring discussions!