Member-only story
Women, let’s stop hiding
Yesterday I had a networking lunch where there were 9 women and 1 man.
We worked our way around the table, introducing ourselves.
The guy took up at least twice as much time as anyone else, talking at length about what he did in a way that was interesting and compelling. He didn’t seem to mind that he was taking up more time. He just spoke until he felt satisfied that he’d said all he wanted to say before passing the baton onto the next person.
The way the women spoke was in stark contrast.
They spoke as if they couldn’t wait for it to be over. They rushed through their intros, minimised their work, downplayed their accomplishments to the point that a couple times someone else who knew them had to chime in and shed a more positive light on them.
When my turn came, I deliberately took my time, spoke louder than I usually do and made an extra point to infuse more confidence in how I presented myself. Doing that took effort, because I too, had gotten used to rushing whenever I spoke, making sure that I wasn’t taking too much time or space or that I wasn’t coming across as too sure of myself.
Collectively and individually, there are about a zillion reasons why we as women have been hardwired to play small.
To be honest, I’m not interested in dissecting any of these reasons.
I’m just sick of seeing this same behaviour repeated over and over again, by myself and by others.
Yesterday I made a conscious decision to break free of that.
Will you join me ?
