Real Women Support Other Women

As women, we must support each other. Together we are stronger and more powerful. Madeleine Albright has a quote that I refer to often, “There is a special place in hell reserved for women that don’t help other women!”

There was a time that companies would reserve one slot for women in their C-suite and Board of Directors. Luckily, those days are long gone. Companies need qualified women to fill senior roles.

We are not competing with each other.

Women thrive when we are a part of a community — it is who we are and how we work best. I encourage you to develop professional friendships with other women in your company and your industry. Within your company, look for the women doing great things and acknowledge them publicly in front of their boss and peers. Create an executive group for your senior women to connect and collaborate, a mentoring group to support your junior women, and/or a social group to get to know women outside the office.

One of the reasons I became a coach for women is based on a previous mentoring experience where I did not receive another woman’s support. I was in the middle stage of my career, VP level, and I reached out to a female CFO at one of my clients and asked her to be my mentor. I’ll never forget her response. “I did it on my own, and if you have what it takes, you will too.” I was mortified that another woman felt this way about helping women. I walked away from that conversation with a commitment to myself that I would always support and promote other women…and I do! I’m a mom to two daughters, and I have worked on several female-focused brands and hired and mentored numerous women over the years.

I believe that the relationships you build in your career’s early days are crucial to your future self and none more important than with other women.

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