Latest / Women Who Ship / [Bonus] Beyond Certainty Part 1: Rethinking what it means to be ready
Transcript
- Sarah Williams: Welcome to Women Who Ship, the podcast for women in tech who are tired of proving themselves in rooms they've already earned a place in and are ready to lead like they know it. I'm your host, Sarah Williams. Let's dive in. Sarah: Hey friends, welcome back to Women Who Ship and our special bonus series, Beyond Certainty, Turning Great Work into the recognition you have earned. Everyone in tech is feeling a very specific type of anxiety right now related to the disruption our industry is experiencing because of AI. It's grown so rapidly that you may find yourself thinking things like, Is AI going to take my job? Am I learning about it fast enough? Should I know more about it than I do? And if not, what does that mean about me? That anxiety isn't a signal that you're behind. It is actually pointing you directly at the biggest leadership opportunity of your career. But oftentimes, when faced with uncertainty, high-achieving women tend to react in certain ways. She does the research, she takes the courses, and then she waits until she's 100% sure before speaking up and saying something smart in a meeting. Meanwhile, across the way, there's that one colleague who probably knows about half as much as her, but manages to speak up, get assigned to a task force, and get positioned as a leader. All while she's waiting to be a hundred percent certain. But the thing that is holding her back is the thought, I need to be 100% certain. In the moment, it feels like a fact, but that's actually just the sentence that she's generating in her mind. And the gap between her and the person speaking up has nothing to do with capability. The work she's already done has already earned her her seat. The only thing standing between her and that recognition. Is the thought that she has to be certain before she can show up. And don't get me wrong, the reality is uncertainty right now. AI is reshaping roles, it's restructuring teams and changing what leadership looks like practically overnight. And women do feel it more because we have to approve what is assumed for male peers. And so one wrong move can feel costly. Let me tell you, the women who will lead through this moment in tech are not going to be the ones who knew the most about AI first. They are going to be the ones who learned how to lead confidently through the uncertainty. And the good news is that is a skill. It is learnable. And it starts with this one distinction that changes everything. I'm going to teach you the first lesson that I teach all of my coaching clients, the difference between a circumstance and a thought. A circumstance is a neutral fact. It could be proven by a scientist. There's no layered story or meaning assigned to it. So in our case, the circumstance is AI is changing roles in my organization, and I don't know what my role might look like in twelve months. The thought is the story or meaning that you layer onto the circumstance. So in our example, the thought is, I'm not learning fast enough and I'll be left behind. In the moment, these feel like the same thing, but there's one important difference. One of these things you cannot control. That's the circumstance. But the other you get to choose. You get to decide how you want to think about that circumstance. So the AI disruption is absolutely real, but you can choose how you want to show up for it. Thoughts are optional. And you can choose what to think. Your homework assignment for this week is to pick one moment where your work, your idea, or your contribution didn't get the recognition it deserves. I want you to write down that circumstance as neutrally as possible. Hold back. Stop yourself from layering on the meaning. Then I want you to write down that thought. What is the story or the meaning that you're applying to the circumstance? But don't try to fix it yet. I just want you to observe it. Because once you can see that thought, you are going to notice something. There is usually one thought that keeps showing up over and over running the show. Most high achieving women can feel that something is off. They just can't name it yet. And that is exactly what we're going to find in the next episode. I'm glad you're here. Let's go ship some good stuff together.