1. You need to change your mindset
To succeed in business, remember that “work is not school”. They are in fact two very different worlds, which explains why the means to succeed are not the same. The problem is that women, often affected by the “good student” syndrome, do not realize the need to change their mindset in order to impose themselves in the world of work.
“School puts us in a passive position where we have to respond to instructions. Whereas in the company, we become fully responsible for our professional trajectory. That’s why we must not deprive ourselves of the means to succeed, we must dare to put ourselves forward. It’s not cheating,” says Clara Moley.
2. Work is not an end but a means
Have you turned in a great project? Good for you, but you need to go further and understand that you need to value your work to benefit from it. Start by using “I” to talk about your accomplishments and not “we”, otherwise your work will be attributed to someone else. Your work must become your ally to go see your boss, meet people, get new opportunities. To do this, identify the strategic people in the company, but also the so-called cathedral projects, those that are particularly prominent in the company. “There is no point in digging the foundations if others are building the cathedral,” says Clara Moley.
So whenever possible, try to fit yourself into these projects to get on the radar of the company’s decision makers. “Cultivate your strategic mindset by maximizing your time, i.e. by prioritizing what makes you visible within the company. Not all tasks are equal, just like professional relationships”, summarizes our interlocutor. You should also know that the company has a short memory: when you want something (a bonus, for example), remember to do your self-promotion in the three months preceding the deadline.
3. Skills are not just what you think they are
Being competent at work is not just about doing your job well and mastering your hard skills. In reality, being competent at work also means knowing how to mobilize all the resources you need to get ahead. Negotiating, asking for, pursuing opportunities, meeting the right people at the right time. “All this requires real skills: soft skills. Thinking in terms of skills allows you to relax. No, it is not disloyal to learn how to negotiate, and this is not the privilege of an elite. I think we should invest in these skills just like any other, because they are what allow us to progress in the company,” insists Clara Moley.
4. Gender is certainly a factor but not an inevitability
Of course, being a woman in a company has a real impact on our professional trajectory. There are both external brakes (adverse environment, cognitive biases), but also internalized brakes that push us to self-censorship. This is the famous imposter syndrome that prevents us from feeling legitimate when we think we don’t have 100% of the required skills. The good news is that, according to Clara Moley, there is no such thing as fatality: to succeed at work, we just need to learn the right rules of the game. For example, that “the dishes never come back twice”, meaning that you will never be offered the same promotion twice.
However, many women hesitate to accept for fear of not being up to it or that it will impact their family life too much. But for Clara Moley, there is only one rule to remember: accept and ask yourself the right questions afterwards. It’s always easier to turn down something that’s yours than to try to get back a job that’s slipping away! Going beyond your gender also means creating bonds with your colleagues and superiors: find commonalities such as a hometown, a passion, and above all, don’t neglect informal get-togethers like an afterwork even if it makes you sweat.
“Finally, if you are faced with sexist attacks, there is only one possible response: react in the moment and in front of witnesses,” advises the author. It doesn’t matter if your response is slurred, you must never store this violence so that it doesn’t crystallize inside you.
5. Always be in action
Faced with each daily challenge, each goal that seems unattainable, there are very small actions that can be taken to take control of the situation. “This is what I call micro empowerment. To do this, you have to zoom in on the situation, which then allows you to unravel the chain of small actions to be put in place,” says Clara Moley. According to the speaker, we always have solutions at our disposal, even if sometimes the only solution is to leave your job when the environment is too toxic.
“But that decision is ours. It’s our responsibility to activate what’s in our control,” adds Clara Moley. Finally, remember that in business, only the present matters: you don’t know if your boss is going to change jobs or if you’ll still be with the company in a year. So remember that your individual interest is just as legitimate as the company’s. Demand what you deserve NOW!
