Are you scared to speak about your goals to others? How well does your ambition sound to your peers? Is what you share with others different from what you are actually planning for your future?
I recall an incident when a relative had directly said, “I will never get married”, years back when I got through XLRI! His point being, I am less likely to find a match with an education like that. Such biases are so common, that we automatically turn a blind-eye to them! Recently Wall Street Journal wrote how young women underplay their career goals in front of their male counterparts!
Have you ever faced such pressures from your Reporting Managers at work? My mentors and leaders whom I reported to, actually expected me to achieve more than the men in my team. Atleast at work, I never had to hide my goals. It was other way round. I have always been pushed to achieve way more than, I thought I could!
When we loathe about fewer women making it to the Board or C-suite, are we discounting the fact that they might not be vocal about their plans, which is why they never receive the support they need? Sponsors for growth at work, are rarely allocated, making growth a notch higher.
Going back to the experiment WSJ cited, women frame their goals differently while talking about them in public. Does this have anything to do with the ridicule that men are immuned to? Sensitivity may vary when it comes to gender, not Shark-Instinct!
Similarly, I have been through numerous situations where women were openly asked about their remuneration, men were not. Is this another bias why women might not want to speak about their networth? I called for a poll on this and here’s the result received in 30 mins !
Are these passive-aggressive ploys silencing woman from speaking about their goals? Did you ever have to downplay your ambition to get along a group? Tell us, we are listening!