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What Happens After You Break the Glass Ceiling? · Loud & Lifted

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  Welcome to Loud and Lifted Quick Lift, where
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  we take the key takeaways from my longer conversation
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  and break them down into something practical
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  you can use this week. I'm Betsy Hamm. We talk
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  a lot about breaking the glass ceiling, get the
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  promotion, earn the seat at the table. Finally,
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  things will be different. But what happens when
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  you get there and you're still dealing with politics,
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  double standards, and questions about whether
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  you even belong? That's what I talked about with
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  Shannon Nutter, co -author of Walking on Broken
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  Glass. Shannon and her co -author Julia both
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  had successful executive careers, and they still
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  found themselves asking, when does this get easier?
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  I have felt that question. I've been a CEO, and
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  on paper, you could look at that and say, well,
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  Betsy, you made it. But getting the title didn't
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  mean the path suddenly cleared. I remember walking
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  into executive gatherings looking around at a
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  room full of older white men. and realizing there
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  really weren't many women there. And when I did
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  find other women, we weren't always talking honestly
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  about what it took to navigate those rooms. Shannon
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  and I covered a lot, so I wanna pull out five
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  things you can use in your own career. The first
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  takeaway, doing great work is essential, but
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  it isn't the whole story. Shannon said, meteorocracy
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  is a myth, and I know that stings a little. Many
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  of us grew up professionally believing that if
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  we worked hard, delivered results and kept proving
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  ourselves the next opportunity would follow.
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  And performance absolutely matters. But so does
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  visibility and relationships. And we've talked
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  about this a gazillion times. But the other part
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  is the way decisions are actually made. Shannon
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  describes that there's often two org charts,
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  the official one and the invisible one. The invisible
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  one shows who has influence, who talks to whom
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  and whose opinion carries weight. when a big
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  decision is made. I've learned this the hard
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  way. At one point in my career, I asked a senior
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  executive what I needed to do to get to the next
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  level. Where was I falling short? And I was told
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  I was aligned with another executive who had
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  already left the company, and that was my problem.
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  I didn't even know that association was affecting
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  how people saw me. And I can tell you that if
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  I'm working an extra 10 hours a week, would not
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  have fixed it. Your action, think about a decision
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  you'd like to be part of, whether it's a promotion,
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  a project, a bigger role. Who actually has a
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  voice in that decision? Who knows your work?
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  And who would speak up for you when you're not
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  in the room? If you can't answer those questions,
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  that's useful information. Start building the
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  relationship that will help people know what
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  you bring to the table. The second takeaway,
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  listen for the but. Shannon calls this the Goldilocks
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  syndrome. A woman can be too assertive or not
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  assertive enough. Too ambitious, not ambitious
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  enough. Great at her job, but difficult. Strategic,
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  but abrasive. Shannon asked me to think about
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  the last time I heard a woman's strengths described
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  with a period at the end. She's decisive. She
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  helps her team deliver. Full stop. No, but she
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  rubs people the wrong way, tacked on afterward.
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  I thought about how many times I've heard that
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  a woman needs to work on her executive presence.
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  Sometimes there may be specific feedback underneath
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  that phase, but if no one can tell her what she
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  actually did, what impact it had, and what she
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  could do differently, how was she supposed to
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  use that? And this isn't only something to watch
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  for when we're receiving the feedback, but we
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  also have to pay attention about how we talk
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  about other women too. Your action, the next
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  time you hear someone describe a colleague as
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  too much or not confident enough or lacking executive
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  presence, ask for an example. Well, what happened?
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  How did it affect her work? Keep the conversation
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  tied to behavior and results. And when you're
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  recommending a woman, try naming her strength
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  without adding the automatic but. The third takeaway,
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  notice patterns before you talk yourself out
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  of what you're seeing. One of the most powerful
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  parts of this book is called The Takedown. Shannon
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  spoke with people who had been strong performers
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  and then found themselves suddenly being pushed
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  out. She described signs like being excluded
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  from meetings you used to attend, losing input
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  on decisions you used to make, or having expectations
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  change again and again. Now, one canceled one
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  -on -one does not mean your career is over. We
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  do not need to get paranoid and you know who
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  I'm talking to. But I know what it feels like
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  when small things start to add up. I share with
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  Shannon that there were times in my own career
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  when I wasn't asked to speak at a public or investor
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  facing event where I normally would have been.
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  At the time I wondered, am I being paranoid?
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  Am I being too sensitive? Looking back, I could
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  see those moments were part of a bigger shift.
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  It was just much harder to see while I was in
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  it. Your action, if something feels off, write
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  down what happened and when. Look for a pattern
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  rather than trying to explain away every individual
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  moment. Keep a record of your results, positive
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  feedback, and change your responsibilities, too.
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  That gives you something concrete to work from
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  if you need to have a conversation or decide
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  what comes next. The fourth takeaway, keep your
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  network alive outside your company. Shannon made
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  a point I think a lot of senior women need to
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  hear again and again because we've talked about
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  this before, but we can become so focused on
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  our company that our whole professional identity
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  lives inside it. Our relationships are there,
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  our voice is there, we share what the company
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  wants us to share, and somewhere along the way
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  we stop talking about what we think. I understand
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  how it happens. When you're leading a team and
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  carrying a lot, building an external network
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  can feel like one more thing on a list that's
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  already too long. But your experience and your
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  perspectives belong to you. They don't disappear
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  because you change jobs. Your action, reach out
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  to one person outside your organization whom
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  you genuinely want to stay connected with. Share
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  an idea in your own voice. Have a conversation
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  with someone in your field. This does not need
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  to become a giant personal branding project.
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  Just don't wait until you urgently need your
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  network to remember it's there. And the fifth
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  takeaway, make the path easier for another woman.
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  This is where Shannon and I really connected.
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  If a woman shares an idea in a meeting and someone
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  else gets credit for it five minutes later, We've
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  probably all seen it happen, but Shannon's suggestion
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  was to have a phrase ready, something that sounds
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  like you, so you can step in without making a
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  big speech. You might say, I'm glad this idea
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  is getting traction. I love to hear her build
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  on what she raised earlier. Or maybe you're going
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  into a meeting with an idea you feel a little
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  nervous about sharing. You could ask a colleague
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  beforehand, if you think this makes sense, will
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  you help me make sure we discuss it? That kind
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  of support can be intentional. We don't just
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  have to hope it happens by accident. So your
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  reaction, pick one woman whose work you know
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  and find a specific way to back her up. Give
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  her credit in a meeting, put her name forward
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  for an opportunity, or ask her directly what
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  support would be useful. Shannon said that if
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  another woman needs to pass you, give her a passing
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  lane. And I love that. The title, Walking on
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  Broken Glass, captures something we don't talk
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  enough about. Breaking the glass ceiling doesn't
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  mean everything underneath is magically going
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  to become easier. But we can get better at seeing
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  what's around us, trusting what we notice, and
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  helping each other move forward. If you want
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  to hear more, listen to my full conversation
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  with Shannon Nutter on Loud and Lifted. We get
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  into the invisible work chart, the signs we tend
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  to explain away, and what we can actually do
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  about them. Until next time, stay loud and keep
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  lifting.