Latest / SisterSmart Leadership / 19: Resolving the Unpaid Labor of Women at Work Through an Intersectional Lens with Moriah Johnson and Ashley Ridder
Transcript
- 0:00Data from the OECD shows that women are doing 63 percent more
- 0:04of the unpaid labor in the U.
- 0:05S.
- 0:06And this contributes to the business trap that many of us find ourselves
- 0:09in both in work and at home.
- 0:12I'm fascinated how our culture contributes to this so that we can find
- 0:16sustainable solutions to get out of this business trap and burnout cycles
- 0:20that so many women find themselves in.
- 0:22You are going to want to stick around for this discussion with two amazing
- 0:25women who are experts on this subject.
- 0:27We will be talking about the issue through a lens of cultural history
- 0:30and race to uncover the social influences that we need to work
- 0:34against if we want to make progress.
- 0:36I'm Jill Avey, a career success coach, and this is Sister Smart Leadership, the
- 0:42show that explores how women can rise from director to vice president and beyond
- 0:46by fully leaning into their feminine energy as their biggest advantage.
- 0:50Let's get you one step closer to the recognition and promotion you deserve.
- 0:55It's been proven that companies prosper more when diversity
- 0:58increases, and I am working hard to support women in the workplace
- 1:02so we can improve gender balance.
- 1:04Yet the workplace isn't the same experience for all women.
- 1:08In fact, white women are at a distinct advantage in terms of promotions, pay,
- 1:12and dealing with microaggressions.
- 1:14When we can understand how our experience is similar and different than women
- 1:19of color, we can work together towards a future where all women can rise
- 1:23to create a truly diverse workplace that creates prosperity for all.
- 1:28So I'm joined here today by Mariah Johnson, who is an equity
- 1:32consultant with an emphasis on intersectionality of gender and race.
- 1:37And Ashley Cisneros Ritter, who is the practice director
- 1:41at Chicago Career Consulting.
- 1:43And she's also the associate dean at the School of Business at
- 1:46North Park University, where she has also taught gender studies.
- 1:50So let me hear a little bit about how you both got into this work.
- 1:55Mariah, would you start for us?
- 1:57Yeah, um, thanks, first of all Jill for having me here really excited to be a part
- 2:02of this conversation My journey to where I am today has been I don't know, ups
- 2:07and downs in many ways, I didn't expect where I would end up as far as an equity
- 2:12consultant, but it's been so informed by my own positionality as a black woman,
- 2:17my research and scholarly interest in race and education and organizations
- 2:22and just trying to understand why these inequalities persist and what it looks
- 2:28like to find those leverage points that really create meaningful change.
- 2:32It's a part of the larger movement and conversation around diversity, equity,
- 2:35inclusion, which is really popular right now, and many organizations and companies
- 2:40are trying to transform their organization and their culture in a way that integrates
- 2:45these principles of diversity, equity and inclusion or belonging and accessibility,
- 2:50but to do that, you have to be willing to examine those small details about your
- 2:55company and your culture structure as far as what is perpetuating the things that
- 3:00we see in society as far as inequality, but in the microcosm of our organization.
- 3:04So my journey has been examining universities.
- 3:08As they try to engage in this work, but also government agencies and
- 3:13small, medium and large organizations I've been working now as a consultant
- 3:17for informally for almost a decade, but for formally for the past five
- 3:21years some of that work with Ashley.
- 3:23So happy to be here and share some of what I've learned on my journey,
- 3:27both personally as a black woman in the workplace, but also professionally
- 3:32as a consultant doing this work.
- 3:33Thank you.
- 3:34And Ashley, please give us a little, your background as well.
- 3:37Sure.
- 3:38I think part of my story even begins just within my own identity.
- 3:42So I was the first person in my immediate family to go to college.
- 3:48I was raised by both my mother and also my grandparents.
- 3:51And my grandfather is Mexicano.
- 3:54And my grandmother descends from Irish immigrants.
- 3:57Within me, I have multiple identities, both of culture, race, and class.
- 4:06And so, when I came into the workplace or went to university, I sort of immediately
- 4:13could feel these intersections at play.
- 4:17But some of them based on how I show up, were a little bit invisible.
- 4:21And so part of what I think has drawn me to the work of wanting to see
- 4:26workplaces create healthy ecosystems for people is even just my own experience
- 4:33of trying to navigate so many of the workplace norms that perhaps were set by
- 4:41people previous to to my arrival there.
- 4:44And so I think one of the things that I really love is being able to dive into
- 4:48that conversation both through an academic lens, but also a practitioner lens in
- 4:54my work with clients and with teams.
- 4:56So that's a little bit about me.
- 4:58Fantastic.
- 4:59Let me put a question out to you both to start.
- 5:01I was talking a little bit about unpaid labor when we first started today and
- 5:06how does that play out in the workplace and the statistics are that women in
- 5:11general do a lot more unpaid labor.
- 5:14And that might be taking notes in a meeting, it might be doing the dishes,
- 5:18it might be planning the, company party.
- 5:21What other things have the two of you seen when it comes to unpaid labor for women?
- 5:25In my work, a lot of the unpaid labor is around joining initiatives like the DEI
- 5:30initiative or leading employee resource groups, these more non technical work
- 5:36related work, the feelings and emotional work, emotional labor of dealing with
- 5:42bias and inequality in the workplace, but not really even on the meaningful levels
- 5:46of pay gap or succession planning that is, is diverse and inclusive, but really
- 5:51around culture and things of that nature.
- 5:54And I think that there's this association of thinking about DI work as feelings
- 5:59based work that's like the softer, lighter side and inadvertently that
- 6:03work becomes feminized and becomes a part of the work that women in the
- 6:07workplace do, specifically black women or women of color end up getting handed
- 6:12that work and again, it's not paid.
- 6:14It doesn't look, lead to more promotions.
- 6:16It doesn't, reflect favorably in your evaluations.
- 6:19It's just extra work that you're doing.
- 6:21And sometimes because you're really personally invested and committed
- 6:24to that work, but sometimes it just gets thrown in your lap.
- 6:27And so I've worked in those organizations with people doing that work.
- 6:31And oftentimes they're either middle management or they don't even have that
- 6:35much power in the organization to create the policy level and really impactful
- 6:40change around what it would mean to create a more equitable or inclusive workplace.
- 6:45But they have the extra labor again, without the meaningful, powerful to
- 6:49shift change and make change there.
- 6:50So that's a lot of the unpaid labor I end up saying in my work.
- 6:54And I would add that on a surface level, I once had a mentor say to me, Ashley,
- 6:58never bring the cupcakes to a meeting.
- 7:02And I said that's hard.
- 7:03So part of my background, I grew up in a family business a family of entrepreneurs
- 7:07and we had a cake baking company.
- 7:10And so I was like, but I love making
- 7:11cupcakes
- 7:11I want to bring cupcakes!
- 7:12Right, right, right.
- 7:13So it's not literally like I, I still bring the cupcakes.
- 7:16I love bake but.
- 7:17It was a a reminder of don't take the path of least resistance.
- 7:21Sometimes that even unintentionally folks will look to a particular
- 7:27person without even recognizing the bias that they're having about
- 7:31assigning a particular duty to them.
- 7:34And that's something we have to bring into more of our own conscious awareness.
- 7:38So that's a little bit of what I'd see I've seen with that.
- 7:42can I add one thing to that?
- 7:44One thing I've seen and discussed with people is how often they take a family
- 7:50dynamic and bring it into the workplace.
- 7:53And when we integrated, we can talk about racial integration, but when we
- 7:57integrated gender work, gendered work or gender based work and women started
- 8:02being more involved in public workspaces what happened is men were still thinking
- 8:07of women in terms of you're a woman and in terms of how I think about my wife or
- 8:11my sister or my mother, but I need you to think about me in terms of my work.
- 8:15I don't need you to play to the fact that I'm a woman.
- 8:18And when we're at work, I just want to be your colleague who is
- 8:22qualified and informed and intelligent and knows what she's doing.
- 8:26I don't need you to be opening doors for me or being polite for me in
- 8:30a certain way or bending to these gendered rules that you honor in your
- 8:33own household or in your personal life.
- 8:36That's fine there if you agree to that dynamic, but in the workplace,
- 8:40it's so much more important that we step outside of the gender
- 8:43performance that we're so used to.
- 8:45And we've bought into so much.
- 8:46I had one mentor when I was doing my research for my leadership program.
- 8:51We were talking about how women can seem aggressive when they come off too strong.
- 8:55And he said, "Oh yeah, that takes me right back to the original woman who
- 8:59ever told me what to do, which is my mom.
- 9:02And so, and I thought, Oh gosh yeah, we are, we are bringing our whole history
- 9:08in and, and sometimes, I'm sure that, we bring our dads into the room too, and so
- 9:13that all comes in and we need to be able to recognize that when it's happening.
- 9:17And what do we do about that?
- 9:18Recognize it and then shift into, yeah, this is a workplace, not a home.
- 9:22Absolutely.
- 9:24Yeah.
- 9:25And I feel like one of the things that happens with women is we just keep working
- 9:29harder and trying to balance it all.
- 9:32There's a lot that plays into this piece, this, I call it the busyness trap, but
- 9:37there's so many different influences that keep us just doing more and more.
- 9:42Yeah, I think I'll jump in there with that one because I was thinking
- 9:46about this just this morning.
- 9:47So with what Mariah was saying just a moment ago, like we want work to be work.
- 9:52One of the things I observe, both in workplaces and also with clients, is
- 9:57that sometimes women come into work and they've taken that to mean, now
- 10:02I need to meet whatever the norms are here, I need to meet the standards,
- 10:07I need to, quote, leave my Home at home, leave my baggage at home, right?
- 10:13And part of what we have to recognize and start saying out loud is that
- 10:17the norms that were created in the workplace previously were built
- 10:22around a different society, right?
- 10:25Many of them were very patriarchal in nature.
- 10:29So we have equated in our heads professionalism with patriarchal
- 10:34norms, and that's not the case.
- 10:36So when we say, oh, we want to be at work and we want to be seen for our competency.
- 10:41That doesn't mean we don't we aren't seen as a whole person because that's
- 10:45more of the kind of workplace we need to see in general for however,
- 10:49someone identifies their gender.
- 10:51So I'll give you an example, in some workplaces, I, and I even have said
- 10:56this I like to hold a high standard of excellence and absolutely we can do that.
- 11:00But sometimes we've taken that to mean that nothing can fall through and it all
- 11:07has to be done to a perfection level.
- 11:10And when we do that, we actually create a dynamic of overwork.
- 11:15So I see this over and over again, a lack of systems in the
- 11:18workplace to support people.
- 11:20And so we see people working not just a certain number of hours, but way over
- 11:27what is actually good for human wellness.
- 11:31And we've normalized that.
- 11:33We've said, that's okay to do.
- 11:34You got to put in your time.
- 11:36And we can look to so many examples.
- 11:40You can Google right now, Mayo Clinic, and see what are some of
- 11:44the symptoms of stress, of burnout.
- 11:47These are actual physical symptoms in the body.
- 11:51So part of what we have to recognize, particularly for, the listeners, if
- 11:55most of you might identify as women part of what we have to recognize
- 11:59is that we can't just jump into that and keep that cycle going.
- 12:03We have to find the points of influence where we can start
- 12:08to shift what is normalized.
- 12:10So I'll pause there.
- 12:11I've got more examples, but I want to hear what my colleague has to say.
- 12:22Or we can say there's so much work to be done, there's no point in always
- 12:25working like, and that's been my mindset shift because I have so much work.
- 12:31I can come back to it tomorrow and I can continue moving on with it.
- 12:35But it is a mixture of the type of work environment that's been created.
- 12:39And it's fast.
- 12:40Everything's fast, deliverables need to be produced quickly with perfect perfection
- 12:45and high quality and everything like that.
- 12:47And so I really think it's valuable and the work I do incorporating
- 12:51reflection and pauses is such an important part of my work.
- 12:55When we keep going and we move so fast, that's when we make the most mistakes and
- 13:00that's where we reproduce inequalities and we reproduce norms that are just
- 13:04familiar to us because we're not stopping to actually reflect on any harm and
- 13:08we're not stopping to reflect on what needs to change now that the workplace
- 13:12demographically looks so different, right?
- 13:15If you don't do that, then you're going to get trapped in this business
- 13:18trap and you're going to get trapped in these cultures of harm and these
- 13:22cultures that reproduce inequality.
- 13:24And so truthfully, there is a lot of work to be done.
- 13:28So go ahead and decide that at 6pm at night, we stop the work and we pick
- 13:33it back up at 9am or 10am or however your work schedule is organized.
- 13:37Put down the work.
- 13:38I also will just add to that I work with folks in a variety
- 13:41of different industries.
- 13:42I recognize this looks different in different spaces.
- 13:45I, what comes to mind is I have some close friends who are in the medical field.
- 13:49And so many of us have the luxury of being able to say this isn't no one's dying.
- 13:52They may not have that luxury.
- 13:53There is a, there is difficulty based on your space.
- 13:58But that doesn't mean that we can keep doing what is not humanly possible, right?
- 14:03So we have to have some movement toward a more sustainable work life.
- 14:10And some of this is on the individual, and some of it is on the organization.
- 14:16I would say most of it's usually on the organization, truthfully, because
- 14:19the individual is responding to the organizational culture that they are in.
- 14:23But we also influence each other.
- 14:25It's a symbiotic relationship.
- 14:27So we all have to examine where our sphere of influence is and
- 14:30the risks we're willing to take.
- 14:32So, just to give an example of what I've done sometimes on teams, and
- 14:36when I'm encouraging other teams based on what Mariah said about
- 14:40pauses, operationalize these things.
- 14:43Once a month in your meeting, maybe instead of just talking about business
- 14:47as usual, maybe it's a known thing around amount among your team.
- 14:51Hey, we take an equity pause once a month to specifically, and hopefully we're doing
- 14:56it every day, but to specifically say what are we moving really quickly on that we
- 15:01just need to pause and notice and start to identify a potential new pathway of
- 15:07dealing with that issue or that problem.
- 15:10This is something that you don't have to call it an equity pause.
- 15:13It could just be an organizational pause.
- 15:15And where are we out of alignment with both our own personal values, but
- 15:19also our organizational values too.
- 15:22Yeah, I love that, Ashley.
- 15:23And I think it's such a great practice when you're able to leverage something
- 15:27you're already doing instead of adding another meeting to the calendar, just go
- 15:30ahead and use that, that meeting that's already in your calendar, take that 5 to
- 15:3410 minutes at the beginning or the end to do something really human that's really
- 15:38valuable to your organization and your culture that you're trying to create.
- 15:42So I love that.
- 15:44And what kind of questions should teams be asking themselves at that time?
- 15:48Yeah, that's a great question,
- 15:51It's a values check in, where might we be out of alignment with our values?
- 15:55Including equity and considering that and how we approach our work.
- 16:00So you might ask, who this month slowed a process down so that they
- 16:04could make sure the quality was a better outcome for the recipient
- 16:08of whatever the process was, right?
- 16:11If you start to almost create an expectation of positive association when
- 16:18something is slowed down for the sake of a better outcome, you will find people
- 16:24will start to move in that direction more.
- 16:27So asking for where there were wins.
- 16:30Asking where, I use the term sticky wicket, like, where's a sticky wicket
- 16:34where's something that's like a sticky, it's like stuck, and we don't know
- 16:38how to solve it, and maybe we don't have time to, but we can identify it
- 16:42here, and then we can take some time in another meeting to really Take
- 16:46more time with whatever the issue is.
- 16:48It's
- 16:49I think that's great.
- 16:50And I like to ask about what's stressful and what's tedious.
- 16:53There's some tasks that you do daily or weekly, and you've
- 16:58started to not even think about it.
- 16:59It's just a normal thing that you do.
- 17:02And so what would it mean to take a moment to just ask yourself a
- 17:05few questions about that task?
- 17:07What's that task?
- 17:08What's the goal of that task?
- 17:10Why does it need to be done so frequently?
- 17:13And just really asking questions about it because there have been so
- 17:16many times I've been working in a company, like full time employee in
- 17:19a company, and I've just practiced what I was told to practice, like in
- 17:24onboarding, I was told to do this thing.
- 17:25So every month I do it, but I don't question it.
- 17:28I don't reflect on it.
- 17:29I don't examine any aspects of it.
- 17:31It's just a part of my normal functioning.
- 17:33And then you can also ask about what's stressful.
- 17:35What's a task or aspect of your job that is stressful, that adds extra
- 17:40stress, reflecting on it, unpacking it.
- 17:43Is there a ways we can ease the stress through collaboration or making it
- 17:46more efficient or automating it.
- 17:49What can we do about it?
- 17:50So it doesn't even have to be a reflection on equity, but just reflecting on our own
- 17:54tasks and the things that we regularly do in our role can give us a moment to
- 18:00reexamine and reflect and shift to action or shift some element of our job and
- 18:06those are some of the things that I do with companies and it can be so powerful
- 18:10for someone to realize that something they had normalized, something that they
- 18:14just had routinized and it just was a part of the role, could actually become
- 18:19an opportunity to improve the role and opportunity to relieve stress for them.
- 18:23And that can be really transformative.
- 18:25I couldn't agree with you more Mariah.
- 18:27So often the solutions we need are like right there if we will stop and ask
- 18:31each other and find at least something.
- 18:33Jill, I do want to add one other thing to your question.
- 18:36Because I think this is probably the best place to put it.
- 18:38So I tend to not focus on the individual.
- 18:41I tend to focus on the organization and all the things we can do.
- 18:44But real talk, let's just, have a moment here where we say, so
- 18:48I am a I have a partner at home.
- 18:50I have a spouse.
- 18:50I have two kids.
- 18:53Here's the thing.
- 18:55I see far too many of my, we'll just say folks in, in this kind of season
- 19:02of life, I observe that it's easier to complain about our partners than
- 19:08it is to say to them directly, "here's exactly where I need the help right now."
- 19:13I'm in a unique situation in that my spouse is very active in our home life,
- 19:20right, and he has the freedom in his work life to be able to do that as
- 19:24well But that aside I think sometimes we make it harder on ourselves by just
- 19:29growing in resentment versus simply clearly communicating, these are the
- 19:35things that I need to stop my own need to do it my way, and I need to let go.
- 19:43Let it go.
- 19:44Let the laundry sit there, let the whatever, let it happen, right?
- 19:47Because the world does not end and begin with your own ability to live
- 19:52into whatever domestic dreams that are going on for yourself inside.
- 19:55So there's my little real talk moment for us.
- 19:58I love it.
- 19:59I tell you, it was a journey for me when I, when my husband started doing
- 20:02the laundry and I had to let go of what I thought it was, should look like.
- 20:06And sometimes we have to replace things more often and that's okay because it's
- 20:12the same thing as when we delegate to our team at work, we have to accept
- 20:16that things are going to get done in their way and not necessarily our way.
- 20:19And sometimes that's better.
- 20:21And sometimes it's maybe not the way we would do it.
- 20:24And we see a potential for improvement, but.
- 20:26it, it
- 20:27embracing embracing what everybody's bringing.
- 20:30Yeah.
- 20:30Oh, embracing what everyone's bringing.
- 20:32I do wonder if there is a role that gender plays in like management style
- 20:37as far as micromanaging versus a more flexible hands off management style
- 20:42because I have experienced that need for things to be done particularly like
- 20:48the way that I want them x, y, and z.
- 20:51That's extra work for us too, right?
- 20:53We're overworking ourselves by not trusting our teams to do things and not
- 20:57allowing their own style for how we get it done, if the quality is there, right?
- 21:02Because some things are about quality, some things may be about the client need
- 21:06or perspective, and some things might just be your own stylistic preferences
- 21:10that don't actually matter to the quality of the work and add extra labor to you.
- 21:16For what?
- 21:17For what?
- 21:18Freeing yourself from that, I think, at work and at home is
- 21:21really powerful and necessary.
- 21:23I think that's really important, Mariah, because Ashley's point, she's
- 21:27thinking about the organization and where I work is the individual level.
- 21:31And so I see that this happens a lot that, we know, as women and for women
- 21:37of color, it's even more important that we know that we have to be better.
- 21:41We know we have to have higher quality.
- 21:43We have to have everything ticked and tied.
- 21:44We have to know our data.
- 21:45Because we are going to be questioned on it and we are going to be doubted.
- 21:49And so I think it's very very hard for people to
- 21:53automatically know where to stop.
- 21:57And that's a concept that I'm really thinking a lot about is what is enough.
- 22:01And what are our upper limits on things?
- 22:04Because as you were talking before, like there's no limit to how much work
- 22:07we can do, Greg McEwen's latest book got me thinking about this as he was
- 22:11talking about setting that limit to how many things you'll do a day and
- 22:15how much you'll put into something.
- 22:18And I think that's a really important piece here of deciding
- 22:22where enough is enough and how good do we have to be, you know?
- 22:27I think that's about prioritization and clarifying expectations even.
- 22:32And we may be afraid if we are in a middle management position and there is
- 22:36upper management, we may be uncomfortable to ask Hey, what's the expectations
- 22:40for my role or what's the expectations for like task or this deliverable
- 22:43specifically or whatever it may be.
- 22:45Clarifying those expectations, but then setting your priorities.
- 22:48One of my priorities, work is not my life.
- 22:52I had to accept and realize that and once I did, I could reorganize where
- 22:57I put it and how much time I gave to thinking about work when I wasn't working.
- 23:02Because if work is not my life, then when I'm spending time with my
- 23:04husband, I can't be thinking about that problem I was trying to solve earlier.
- 23:08Like I really have to detach from certain things, which has
- 23:12been a process in and of itself.
- 23:14And it's funny how much you can learn from male workers.
- 23:17Honestly, one of my colleagues he was like, he had such a, like
- 23:24distant perspective on the work and I was like, how do you not
- 23:27feel more deeply about this?
- 23:29And I felt so attached to the work and he was like, because this is the task.
- 23:33This is what they wanted.
- 23:34We did it.
- 23:35it,
- 23:36There's no feelings about it.
- 23:37And there was so much to take away from that.
- 23:39And obviously we're different people.
- 23:41We feel different things.
- 23:42But I've really tried to practice detachment from some elements of
- 23:45my work so that I can be present when I'm doing other things.
- 23:49And when I'm with family and friends and other priorities in my life.
- 23:53So I think deciding what your priorities are and how much energy and time
- 23:58and emotional labor you'll give to certain things can be really valuable.
- 24:03And as much as we value and believe in feeling your feelings, there's
- 24:07gotta be a time limit or a constraint around how much you will feel your
- 24:11feelings when it comes to things that are lower on your priority list.
- 24:15If work is your number one priority, then it's your number one priority.
- 24:19But if it's not, if it is two or three on your priority list, then don't give it 16
- 24:25hours of your day as far as the emotional and mental space that it takes up.
- 24:30Really evaluate that piece.
- 24:33face to face and evaluate that.
- 24:38Yes, please
- 24:39Well, I think, I think you brought up a really, I'm liking this idea
- 24:44of us talking about the mental labor that happens outside of work.
- 24:48Part of what also goes on too is that we're engaging all day long with a set
- 24:55of physiological responses to stimuli at work, and we all have a different,
- 25:04we'll say, neurological profile.
- 25:05Now, I'm not a brain scientist.
- 25:08I'm not here to express that kind of expertise.
- 25:11But what I can tell you is it's very important to recognize.
- 25:14What are your stress signals during the day?
- 25:18And then how are you managing those, when you're not working?
- 25:22Part of what we don't realize is that sometimes by solving problems at
- 25:26work, or getting things done, we get a real nice strong dopamine hit from
- 25:30that, like checkbox and it feels good.
- 25:34And we get somewhere else and we're like, I don't want to stop that.
- 25:36So our brain actually starts to want that feeling over and over.
- 25:41And what can happen is we easily can put ourselves.
- 25:45On the pathway toward the busyness trap simply because it almost, it feels,
- 25:51believe it or not, and everyone's going to say it doesn't feel good, but if you
- 25:54start to notice there's something in it that you're getting something out of
- 25:57that, part of my neurological profiles, I have the ability to, Mariah was
- 26:02talking about neurodivergence earlier.
- 26:03I have the ability to hyper focus.
- 26:05I can go deep on something big time.
- 26:10And so when I'm solving a problem at work, I'm going to go like a deep sea diver.
- 26:14I'm gone 48 hours.
- 26:16Boom.
- 26:16I'm going to go into it.
- 26:17That's fine.
- 26:18But if I'm doing that all the time, if there isn't a coming back up for
- 26:23air, if there isn't a way that I'm stepping off of that kind of treadmill.
- 26:30My, my body is not resting when I'm outside of solving that problem.
- 26:36We have to notice when we're continuing to do that mental labor.
- 26:40I just wanted to share that it's, if you want to look.
- 26:43if you want to get more snapping, if you want to look more into some of
- 26:46that, you can look into some of the what the Nagoski sisters have put out
- 26:50on some of their material on burnout.
- 26:52Fantastic yeah, I think there is a real emotional component to why we
- 26:58do what we do and how much we're working and how much we're taking on
- 27:01and the perfectionist tendencies.
- 27:04People pleasing is also another big one that comes in here of wanting everybody
- 27:07to like us and be happy with our work and this speaks a little bit to Mariah
- 27:13what you were talking about of about that letting go it can feel funny to
- 27:17let go because you know, how do you let go at the end of the day and not worry
- 27:21about whether you did a good enough job, or whether it was enough, or, you
- 27:24know, there's a lot of that happens.
- 27:26Yeah.
- 27:27And so we've been talking about this business trap a lot and Moriah,
- 27:29I'd love to hear more from your perspective about how intersectionality
- 27:33plays into the business trap.
- 27:35And if you could define that first for us a little bit, and then go into a little
- 27:38more detail for us, that'd be great.
- 27:40Absolutely.
- 27:41And I just have to say intersectionality is probably one of my favorite
- 27:44kind of theories, probably because it was the first one I read.
- 27:48And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is my life.
- 27:49This is my experience.
- 27:51And then being able to see it in all of the work that I do.
- 27:53So, First things first, crediting who came up with or who coined
- 27:56the term Kimberly Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality.
- 28:01She's a black woman.
- 28:02She's a scholar.
- 28:03If you've heard the concept of critical race theory, she also
- 28:06developed that or co developed that with some other legal scholars.
- 28:10But her work around it was really assessing how black women and women of
- 28:15color's experiences were made invisible by the legal structure and lack of
- 28:20acknowledgment of how race and gender impact your experience in the workplace.
- 28:25And so she was studying a case and the case was from the 60s and involved a
- 28:30really big company who had laid off a bunch of black women workers and
- 28:36they had a class lawsuit against the company and the the court said that
- 28:42they had to argue for either race based discrimination or sex based
- 28:45discrimination to prove their case and they argued for race based discrimination.
- 28:51And when they did, the court found there was no validity because black
- 28:55men worked at the company still.
- 28:57So how can it be race based if there are black people or black men who
- 29:01still work at the organization?
- 29:03And then when they argued for sex based discrimination, the court found
- 29:07their argument invalid because white women still worked at the organization.
- 29:10These women work at the organization, how can it be sex based discrimination?
- 29:13And Kimberly Crenshaw analyzes how the legal system literally made the
- 29:18experiences of black women invisible by not acknowledging the intersectionality
- 29:23of race and sex when it comes to discrimination in the workplace.
- 29:27Because of the policy around not allowing black women to work in this
- 29:32industry until later it was the last in,first out type of firing.
- 29:38And by virtue of that, black women were impacted greatly and experienced
- 29:42this unique kind of positionality.
- 29:44And so intersectionality really captures how systems of oppression or
- 29:48systems of inequality are intersecting.
- 29:51It's not just about being black, or it's not just about race.
- 29:54It's about gender.
- 29:55It could be about class.
- 29:57It can be about even religion.
- 29:59Whenever you think about these different characteristics or social dynamics and
- 30:03how there's a hierarchy associated with it, if you look at the intersections,
- 30:07you'll see how doubly impacted or triply impacted certain groups are in the
- 30:13workplace and in society more broadly.
- 30:16And so when we're talking about the business trap, we've talked a little
- 30:19bit about the impact to women of color, but diving a little bit deeper into
- 30:23that in the workplace, women of color are paid less than white women and men.
- 30:29Women of color are less likely to be promoted.
- 30:32I just learned recently that I think it's 52 percent of black women in senior
- 30:37executive positions end up resigning due to racially related or unfair treatment.
- 30:4352%.
- 30:45So of the small amount that are able to get promoted and matriculate
- 30:49up the corporate ladder, half of them aren't even staying or aren't
- 30:53going beyond that because of racism or race related discrimination.
- 30:58And you can't ignore the gender aspect of that.
- 31:01And so when I think about intersectionality, when I think about
- 31:03gender, I really do see it through a racial lens, not only because I'm a black
- 31:08woman and I can't separate out my gender from my race, but because I see that
- 31:12differences in white women's experience in the workplace versus Hispanic
- 31:17women's experience in the workplace versus Asian women versus black women.
- 31:20And those differences are so important to acknowledge when we're thinking
- 31:24about how do we create cohesive and collective action that benefits all women.
- 31:30We can't just use a blanket approach.
- 31:33We have to look at those intersections of race, of class, of language, of education
- 31:38of all these different characteristics.
- 31:40So that's a little bit about intersectionality.
- 31:42I can talk so much about it because it really is just a really
- 31:45powerful tool, a really powerful analytical tool for understanding
- 31:49what we're seeing in the workplace.
- 31:50You give us an example of how we would use that when we're trying to make
- 31:54a change in our corporate culture?
- 31:55at
- 31:56Absolutely.
- 31:57And we'll talk a little bit about it, but in my work, when I do equity audits
- 32:01it can be really interesting because oftentimes companies will give me some
- 32:05of the data they've already collected and they'll say most of our employees,
- 32:10let's say 82 percent of our employees, report no discrimination and positive
- 32:15treatment and all of these things.
- 32:17And they give me this very Quant kind of approach to assessing these things,
- 32:22and when I ask for greater detail around the gender differences, their race and
- 32:26gender differences, or a breakdown of that information, they either won't have
- 32:31the data because they didn't collect it, or when they do, I see that white
- 32:35males are the 82%, make up the 82 percent saying, Things are fair, things are fine.
- 32:41And so when we don't split things up by race or gender or use that
- 32:45intersectional lens, we miss the problem areas and opportunities
- 32:49for building solutions, right?
- 32:50So then if you are able to look at that other 18 percent and see that it was
- 32:55mostly women, it was mostly people who speak, whose English is not their first
- 33:01language or It was mostly black women.
- 33:03It was mostly people who haven't been able to been promoted.
- 33:06Then you can have conversations and you can start to ask what's going on there
- 33:10instead of just saying the majority of our employees experienced positive
- 33:14treatment, we can say the majority of women and women of color employees
- 33:20do not experience positive treatment.
- 33:22And what does it look like to begin to build solutions that center
- 33:26the groups that are most impacted negatively by inequity in our
- 33:30policies or our programming or our promotion and things of that nature.
- 33:34So that, that intersectional lens really helps you to actually see what's going
- 33:37on versus making blanket statements.
- 33:40And usually in favor of the company and their culture.
- 33:43I'd love to add some, another example that I see as well.
- 33:47I work when I work with teams.
- 33:50One of the reasons that intersectionality is so important
- 33:54is because it just provides us simply a lens through which to see.
- 33:58It's recognizing that often as you were saying, the lens we are using
- 34:03sometimes is benefiting perhaps a certain group that's at the table.
- 34:09I know some people, I'll just, I'll acknowledge, for some folks, and maybe
- 34:13even some folks listening, they get very nervous or uncomfortable when we start
- 34:17acknowledging these aspects of identity.
- 34:19And something I want to be clear on is we're not saying anything that
- 34:23isn't already existing in the room.
- 34:25I think that's one of the things that Sometimes I hear a pushback or
- 34:31a fear, even just the term, there's a concern that somehow another layer is
- 34:37being added that wasn't there before.
- 34:39But the reality is these aspects of identity are always in the room.
- 34:43We're just giving voice to them.
- 34:45So I'll give you an example.
- 34:47Sometimes when I go into organizations, usually, and every
- 34:50single organization I've ever worked with, there's always one group.
- 34:53That says that group is not doing their job.
- 34:56And then the other group says that group's definitely not doing their job.
- 34:59And they're like, Oh, yeah, we are this weird.
- 35:02And so this is a human behavior.
- 35:06This is a human thing.
- 35:07This is you'll see this everywhere you go.
- 35:09But part of what I think is really interesting that we have to acknowledge
- 35:12is that when one group says that, they have to also be aware, what
- 35:17else is being said in that moment?
- 35:19What is the context?
- 35:22Because if one group is saying this group isn't doing a good job, or what
- 35:25have you, and you look and actually you see that group also has a particular
- 35:29gender makeup has a particular racial dynamic has a pretty well.
- 35:34Now you have a situation where it's not just a question of one
- 35:39team's abilities or competencies.
- 35:41It's also a racialized perception, but the thing is, and this
- 35:47is something for those of you listening, you may not be seeing me.
- 35:49So I look white.
- 35:52I am white.
- 35:52I identify as both white and also I have Latina heritage based on what I
- 35:57shared previously about my family.
- 35:59And so one of the things that I need my white colleagues and counterparts
- 36:05to recognize is that for our colleagues of color or colleagues of different
- 36:10cultural background, this part of who they are is always in the room.
- 36:16It's never not there.
- 36:18So we have to recognize that's part of the story
- 36:22That's a great point.
- 36:23Ashley, and that's what the work is about.
- 36:26It's about making visible the invisible, right?
- 36:29Like those things, those little harms or microaggressions, or why do I keep
- 36:35getting overlooked for the promotion?
- 36:37Or, all of these questions that honestly, a lot of people of color, women of
- 36:41color colleagues are asking themselves constantly when they're at work.
- 36:45All these questions.
- 36:46It's always there, but whether we have the conversation and whether we acknowledge
- 36:50it is the only thing that changes.
- 36:52Acknowledging it, being open to that reality is so important.
- 36:56I've heard people say my black colleagues or employees never said anything that
- 37:00is a comment that someone has never said anything or, even if you think
- 37:04about harm caused by sexual harassment, or he never did anything to me.
- 37:09Because it's not your experience, you haven't observed it.
- 37:12It hasn't been explicitly identified or pointed out to you.
- 37:16Then we create this universal idea that it doesn't exist.
- 37:19It's my experience is universal to everyone's experience.
- 37:23But the truth is, when we're talking about the workplace, when we talk about
- 37:25harassment, discrimination, inequities, the workplace is not experienced the
- 37:29same by every employee, every leader, every person that walks through the door.
- 37:34Or remote work, even it's not experienced the same.
- 37:37Everyone's experience in part is not just shaped by who I am by an individual,
- 37:41whether I'm an extrovert or introvert, or, whether I have 10 years experience in
- 37:45this industry, or 2 years of experience, whether I feel qualified or are not.
- 37:50It's not just shaped by those things, it's shaped by the way we structure the
- 37:54workplace around race, gender, class, education roles, all of those things
- 38:00are really informing how people feel, what it feels like to do the work.
- 38:04And I feel like when we can start to have these conversations, we
- 38:07can open up, going back to your comment about setting expectations
- 38:10and what are your expectations?
- 38:13It takes so much of the guesswork out of your work life.
- 38:16And because a lot of this over performing and overworking comes from not knowing
- 38:22exactly where you stand and always feeling like you're coming off the back foot.
- 38:26And so I think these conversations are really important so that we can
- 38:30just talk about this stuff and get it out on the table and have that
- 38:34discussion so that people understand more about where they're at and.
- 38:40And where each other are at.
- 38:41And so we can really start to make those connections.
- 38:44Yeah, absolutely.
- 38:45I ask direct questions too.
- 38:47And it's not, and to be clear, it's not in my nature necessarily to be direct.
- 38:51I am an introvert.
- 38:52But I do find let's make it clear let's be real straightforward.
- 38:57What is your, feedback.
- 38:58What is your expectations?
- 38:59I like getting feedback early so I can adjust so that there and I
- 39:03document it so that it's never a thing of, you never told me that.
- 39:06I have written what you said about my performance.
- 39:09I have written down the feedback I've been given because I have found that
- 39:15I'll receive feedback and then at a 90 day evaluation or an annual evaluation
- 39:20something else will be brought up and I'll be like, interesting, because I
- 39:23asked you for feedback multiple times.
- 39:25I wrote down that feedback and it's inconsistent.
- 39:28And so things like that, I think, again, is very much a part of the
- 39:30experience for women of color.
- 39:32And so documentation can be your best friend when dealing with kind
- 39:36of the inequities and the unconscious bias of even our leadership within
- 39:41the organizations that we work.
- 39:42But you have
- 39:44Yeah,
- 39:44that there's a role for the areas.
- 39:47So it isn't true
- 39:49Tie back 1 other point for your listeners as well about how intersectionality
- 39:53also connects with the business trap.
- 39:551 of the things I think is even a really important realization
- 39:59just to have for yourself is to recognize that the option to.
- 40:04Fall into overwork or to cultivate a culture of overwork is in fact.
- 40:11Its own form of.
- 40:13Privilege, right?
- 40:14And I'm referring, to a variety of different kinds of privileges, but
- 40:18specifically economic privilege perhaps racial privilege.
- 40:22I'll just, give you an example.
- 40:24I think we have to recognize what the historical financial dynamics,
- 40:30how that plays a role in the roles people have to carry in their life.
- 40:36To our point, now this is not true for all of my colleagues of color, all
- 40:41of my colleagues who are black women.
- 40:44This isn't true for all of them because there's never any group
- 40:48that you can qualify like that.
- 40:50But I think it's an important note to say, if you are someone who, is
- 40:56able to work 70, 80 hours a week, there is someone else in your life
- 41:02taking care of a lot of other things.
- 41:04other things.
- 41:05That is not a privilege that is afforded to everyone, right?
- 41:09So again, I think part of what, and for those of you listening who are
- 41:12the directors, the vice presidents in places, this is where I think
- 41:19we need to see The different needs people have in the workplace.
- 41:23Sometimes when we move into those leadership roles, it gets very, we're a
- 41:27little nervous to make changes, right?
- 41:29We don't want to be perceived as making too many changes, but
- 41:32I'll just give you an example.
- 41:33I, for my own parental leaves.
- 41:36I worked for a very small startup, a nonprofit for one of my leaves and
- 41:41they were very gracious and at least in the context that we're in and gave
- 41:45me a paid 12 weeks and that was great.
- 41:47And then for another place that was slightly larger still didn't have a lot of
- 41:51resources, but they were slightly larger.
- 41:54I had three paid weeks, three, one.
- 41:59Two, three.
- 42:00Right.
- 42:02Walk across the room at that point, okay?
- 42:05So we have to start bringing these conversations out.
- 42:08Now, was I still able to take more time?
- 42:10Sure.
- 42:11But was all the paid vacation used?
- 42:13Was all the
- 42:14do that.
- 42:15Not everyone
- 42:16again, I
- 42:17And not everyone would have been able to do that.
- 42:19every, not everyone can do that.
- 42:21So I think, again, the reason I want to point out how intersectionality connects
- 42:26with this busy, busyness trap is that 1 of the best things that each of us can do.
- 42:32Is start to stop contributing to a culture of overwork and start creating actual
- 42:38more human expectations on everyone, because that's where we all should be.
- 42:43The overwork culture is something that is is ironically.
- 42:49Relegated to just a few and that's where then again, you see the promotional
- 42:53pathways for that group of people as well.
- 42:56If I can add interestingly enough, oftentimes our relationship to work and
- 43:02overworking was learned when we were children and what we saw our families do
- 43:09and what their relationship to work was.
- 43:11If you saw your mom or your dad constantly working, you're more
- 43:15likely to think and normalize that behavior and bring it into your own.
- 43:19career path.
- 43:20So again, that's another time where reflection becomes really important.
- 43:25I actually, I feel like it was in a training we did or work we did
- 43:28together, but maybe I'm misremembering,
- 43:30done a lot of things.
- 43:31but getting people to start thinking about their relationship to work and their,
- 43:37and the culture of work that they have and beliefs around work that they have.
- 43:41And reflect on that and why that is.
- 43:43And if that's what they want, maybe it's something I've done
- 43:46with one on one clients, but
- 43:47it's familiar.
- 43:48We've
- 43:48okay.
- 43:49about beliefs about work.
- 43:50I think that is, I'm like, I think we just as a, as an organization
- 43:55we take our clients through what are your beliefs about work?
- 43:59And what are the are your behaviors coherent with your actual beliefs?
- 44:04yeah, and all of that even thinking about family dynamics like all of that
- 44:08I Tell my husband, I'm newly married, but we talked about what we saw in
- 44:12marriage growing up and different things like that my mom was a stay at
- 44:16home mom and wife and my dad worked and was able to matriculate and become an
- 44:21higher up exec in his company because of all the labor my mom did at work.
- 44:26And when I got married, I started just doing what I saw my mom do, but
- 44:32it wasn't realistic because I work.
- 44:33you know, it Wasn't realistic for me to do, to cook meals that my mom cooked,
- 44:37meals and cleaned and did everything and, homeschooled and raised seven children.
- 44:42So she was doing everything right.
- 44:45And I tried to do the same thing and like for the first few months
- 44:48of marriage, I talked, I stayed, I stopped and talked to my husband
- 44:51and I was like, I can't do this.
- 44:52Can't be realistic.
- 44:53And he
- 44:54And he was like, I never asked you to do it.
- 44:55I was like, I know,
- 44:56it's
- 44:57but my own beliefs about what a wife does.
- 45:01Oh, this is
- 45:02was my default.
- 45:03It was just my default.
- 45:04And so reflecting on my new role as a wife, reflecting on my role of my other
- 45:09roles as well can be such a powerful tool in helping me to decide what I
- 45:13want to be as a wife, as a person, as a consultant, as a, as a black woman in
- 45:18this space, like all of those things, you can think about the different roles
- 45:21you play and the different identities you hold and make a decision, a conscious
- 45:25decision about what you would like to.
- 45:28Who you would like to be in that role or how you would like to perform that role
- 45:32because if you don't make a conscious decision, your default will be what you
- 45:35saw, whether you saw it growing up or in college or in your 1st job, wherever
- 45:39those significant messages messaging was coming from, you will default to that.
- 45:45And so I think it's really important that we stop and reflect.
- 45:47I think critical self reflection is a powerful tool in this work.
- 45:52That's such a good point.
- 45:53That's such a good point.
- 45:54And I was raised by a single mom.
- 45:55I similarly saw like a gotta do everything, right?
- 46:00This is a really good point.
- 46:01And if like you actually, if you have a partner that is willing and able to do
- 46:05other stuff, it's so wonderful to sit back and let that happen versus, run around.
- 46:10Even today I was like, I told my husband, I have a mentally busy day today.
- 46:15I have the podcast and a few meetings, X, Y, and Z.
- 46:18And he was like, okay, I'm going to make breakfast and dah.
- 46:20What can I do to support you?
- 46:22And having that allows me to do what I'm doing and allows me to do
- 46:26things I enjoy and I'm passionate about and things like that.
- 46:29And I get that's a privilege too, not everyone has that.
- 46:32And it's a new privilege that I have, but I'm really enjoying.
- 46:35So highly recommend.
- 46:38Yeah, that's fantastic.
- 46:41And so to bring all of this into our companies, Mariah, you do
- 46:45what's called an equity audit.
- 46:47Can you tell us more about what you do in that work?
- 46:49So how we, the solutions that we can bring into the companies.
- 46:53And, speaking of work that I love.
- 46:55I love working with organizations and companies who are interested in change.
- 47:00They want to see what's possible, how do we do this stuff, and it usually
- 47:05starts with, again, reflection.
- 47:07Now, whether that's, I encourage you to do self reflection, which I do.
- 47:10Or reflecting on your organization.
- 47:13That's a part of the equity audit.
- 47:14I was just working with the organization.
- 47:15I just submitted their equity report that comes out of the audit that I do.
- 47:19But it started with looking at their policies.
- 47:21Looking at their policies.
- 47:23I even usually do a website review.
- 47:25Because that's who you say you are.
- 47:26So let me take a look at that.
- 47:28Let me talk to staff of different levels of the organization.
- 47:32What's their perception of the culture and who you are and what you do, your
- 47:35values, your behaviors, how you interact and treat people at different points
- 47:40of the organization hierarchy or the organization chart is really informative
- 47:45about who you are as a organization.
- 47:47So looking at these different things, policies, programs, how you
- 47:51behave, talking to those people are really important parts of the audit.
- 47:55And then at some point I'm usually talking to you through which equity
- 47:59framework makes sense for your work.
- 48:01So one organization came to me and they were like, we want
- 48:03to use the Jedi framework.
- 48:04So that's justice, equity, diversity, inclusion.
- 48:08After looking through their programming, I was like, it seems
- 48:10like you already practice diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
- 48:14Is that a framework you'd be interested in leaning greater into,
- 48:17or would you like to lean into Jedi?
- 48:20And the reason that matters is because Jedi is a more systems
- 48:23focused equity framework.
- 48:25And by that, we're talking about policies.
- 48:26We're talking about laws.
- 48:27We're talking about.
- 48:28systems.
- 48:30Belonging is more so human focused.
- 48:32It's about how does it feel to be present in that place?
- 48:35How does it, are you able to be yourself, show up as
- 48:38yourself, things of that nature.
- 48:39And they decided they wanted to lean more into belonging.
- 48:42And so once they made that decision I was able to tell them where they had
- 48:46alignment and misalignment and make recommendations to close that gap.
- 48:50So that was some of the first pieces of work we do.
- 48:53And one thing, stages I like to take organizations through if they're
- 48:56willing to go through the process.
- 48:58It's starting with awareness and education.
- 49:00Some people don't have that awareness.
- 49:02So how can I bring awareness and education?
- 49:06And then it's getting them to engage in equity practice.
- 49:09And then the last stage and final stage is equity identity.
- 49:13Every organization has to decide what their equity identity is, how
- 49:17are they going to become a part of who they are, what they do, a
- 49:20natural outpour of all those things.
- 49:23Because my big thing as far as sustainability in this work is
- 49:27not increasing your trainings on equity or not increasing your work.
- 49:33But transforming how you do your work and getting you to examine and reflect
- 49:37on how you do your work and how you can incorporate and embed equity into that.
- 49:41And so once I get them to that stage of equity identity, they're saying
- 49:45this is who we are and it informs everything we do from here on out.
- 49:50That's how you get to sustainability.
- 49:52And so that's some of the work I, again, I could talk about it forever
- 49:54Now I
- 49:55enjoy the work.
- 49:57I really do enjoy doing the work.
- 49:59And when you get an organization that really wants to do it and go through
- 50:02that journey, it's just so much fun.
- 50:04That's some of the work that I get to
- 50:06Yeah.
- 50:06Thank you so much.
- 50:07This has been such a great conversation.
- 50:09I really appreciate you two coming on with me today.
- 50:12I always like to give our listeners three shifts that they can make today, either
- 50:17mindset or actions that they can take.
- 50:19What are three things that we could that we could suggest for our listeners today?
- 50:25So the two I have, they really are mindset shifts, but they can look like practices.
- 50:29So one is critical self reflection.
- 50:32I think that reflection not only is not natural in the current work environment
- 50:36because of how quickly we move, which we've been talking about throughout this
- 50:39entire conversation, but because it just We just become routinized and we just
- 50:45become entrenched in our daily routines.
- 50:47And so pausing and reflecting can be a powerful opportunity to consider what
- 50:52shifts you want to make, how you want to transform the work you do, how you
- 50:55want to show up at your workplace, how you want to show up at home, how you
- 50:59want to address busyness and, reducing those things that just aren't necessary.
- 51:03Reflection is really important to that.
- 51:05Number two.
- 51:07And this can be a part of your reflection is asking who benefits and who is harmed.
- 51:11If you are in a position of leadership, asking this can
- 51:14help you be a better leader.
- 51:16As far as thinking I'm benefiting from.
- 51:18Women of color doing extra work, but are they harmed by this task that
- 51:22I've just given them for Black History Month or for Women's History Month
- 51:25or whatever additional labor that you're observing from from the people
- 51:30that work within your organization.
- 51:32And if you're not in a position of leadership, or there is still someone
- 51:36over you asking in those meetings where you take on more or where you don't
- 51:40speak up and share your perspectives.
- 51:42Who benefits and who is harmed?
- 51:44And so I think that's a really important part of the reflecting, but it's a
- 51:48certain type of reflection that can get us to answer our own questions
- 51:52about what we need to be doing, right?
- 51:53I don't need to tell you what to do, but I can give you some
- 51:56encouragement of what to consider.
- 51:58I don't
- 51:59Thank you.
- 52:00Mine is from what we were discussing with intersectionality to recognize and
- 52:05this is primarily for those listening who identify as is primarily white
- 52:10recognize that race is always in the room.
- 52:13You never have it's never not.
- 52:15And that goes with any aspect of identity people who we are, the
- 52:20aspects of our gender or race, our class, these things are in the room.
- 52:25So let's go ahead and take that into account and consider how that plays
- 52:31a role in your relationships and what kind of awareness do you want
- 52:35to bring that into for yourself?
- 52:37And how does that inform how you lead?
- 52:40So that's one, always, it's always in the room.
- 52:42And then two, and this is for the individual.
- 52:45So the first one was more organizational.
- 52:46This is individual.
- 52:48I had a close friend once say I was giving empathy for something that they
- 52:53had to make a decision about work that was very hard for their family.
- 52:56I said, you must have not had a choice.
- 52:58And she said, you know what I've learned?
- 53:00You always have a choice.
- 53:03And for those who are listening, I just want to bring your locus of
- 53:07control into your awareness as we were talking about the busyness trap.
- 53:13I want you to notice where in your life are you ruminating
- 53:16on something that really.
- 53:18Ticks you off or makes you mad or you're working super hard at no
- 53:21one sees it And I just want you to recognize where in that situation.
- 53:25Do you actually have a choice?
- 53:28Because I hear that over and over again from folks.
- 53:30I don't have a choice.
- 53:31I don't have a choice.
- 53:32There are many things that keep us from having choices But we
- 53:37have to find wherever our sliver of power is in that situation.
- 53:42And too often we give that up too early.
- 53:44So recognize what do you actually need to be well and take ownership of that choice.
- 53:51Wonderful.
- 53:52Thank you.
- 53:53Thank you so much.
- 53:55So I would love if you're listening to this on YouTube, I would love
- 53:59to hear in the comments, which part of this conversation you like
- 54:02the most or what has inspired you.
- 54:04And if you'd like to hear more about the sisters in leadership process of how
- 54:08we help women to be more successful in the workplace and how this might work
- 54:12for you, download my private podcast on the seven step passport to promotion.
- 54:17It's on the sister smart.
- 54:18com website and the link is below in the show notes.
- 54:21And if you want to dive deeper into women's leadership and how to
- 54:24move up in your career, subscribe either on YouTube or wherever you
- 54:27listen to your favorite podcasts.
- 54:29I'm on a mission to help more women get into leadership and stay there.
- 54:32And if that's aligned with you, I'd love for you to be part of this community
- 54:36and tune into more episodes on sister, smart leadership that will support you in
- 54:40becoming the leader that you want to be.
- 54:43If you're ready to fully lean into your feminine leadership and get promoted
- 54:47from director to vice president and beyond, hit that subscribe button so
- 54:51you'll get all the episodes to come and check out the recommended video here
- 54:55to see how women are rising up without playing by the old rules that built these
- 54:59male dominated industries and systems.