Inbound Marketing Insights

While this post is not focused on inbound marketing, or marketing for your company at all, this message is important for women and anyone in business who are looking to market and improve their personal brand.

The Take the Lead Launch Event in Tempe, AZ was an inspiring night not only to hear the speakers, but also to see and hear the excitement in the audience.  The speaker lineup was incredible, with Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of, Lean In, as the keynote.  Sheryl Sandberg sends a message to women in business to not cave in to what society expects you to be.  This message was loud and clear throughout the entire event, and what Take the Lead's mission and purpose is looking to achieve.

One thing that Sheryl Sandberg really focused on was the societal pressures that tend to push women down, and hinder their leadership ability.  Unfortunately, this starts at a very young age, and that same stigma is carried through adult years into the working world. Now, you might be thinking, how can I change that?

We are thrilled to be a partner of Take the Lead.  Take the Lead is an initiative to encourage women to achieve leadership parity in all sectors by 2025. Key speakers analyzed reasons for leadership disparity to audience members attending the Take the Lead Challenge Launch.  “Every woman has the power to change her own life, and we can change the world,” Amy Litzenberger said, co-founder of Take the Lead.

Societal norms influence how women and leadership are perceived. One view is that women can’t maintain a family and high-position job. Another notion is society looks at women negatively if they are too ambitious.  A lack of self-confidence is a major reason women don’t strive to reach high leadership positions.  “If we wait to feel self-confidence, we would not raise our hand,” Sandberg said. “Take your seat at the table and you’ll know you belong.”

Another incredibly inspiring speaker at the event was Carla Harris, vice chairwoman at Morgan Stanley.  She spoke about how controlling how people perceive you is critically important. "Perception is the co-pilot to reality," she said.  If a company doesn’t see a person with leadership qualities, then they won’t promote that person even if he or she meets the requirements of that next position. She challenged the audience to pick 3 adjectives that they want people to associate with them when they are not in the room.  Why is that important?  Because most decisions about your career will happen when you are not in the room unfortunately.

Harris suggested women realize the impact authenticity has on others. Being comfortable with who you are will cause people to remember and gravitate toward you.  Women must become comfortable taking risks if they want to become leaders. Too often women are afraid to speak up, especially when no one else is speaking up.  “So what if you fail?” Harris said. “Failure always brings you a gift, and that gift is called experience.”

While this post is not focused on inbound marketing, consider that it is all about marketing yourself and how you are perceived.  Personal marketing and understanding others' perceptions is crucial in improving your personal brand.  These concepts are key for anyone looking to move up the leadership ladder, start their own company, or just command their own leadership skills in their business or personal life.  I invite you to learn more about the Take the Lead initiative, and how you can improve leadership parity by 2025.