In October 2023 I celebrated nine years of being in the business of helping women win pay rises, promotions, and the recognition that’s rightfully theirs 🎉 – and it’s been such a great career transition that I’ve never looked back, despite leaving an awesome CEO role behind me.

It’s caused me to pause and reflect – what have I learned about women in the last nine years?

So here are nine things I’ve learned about what the most successful women in my network do systematically and almost without fail to help ensure they are successful.

1. Have great boundaries- and I can’t emphasise how important this is – when you’re socialised to prioritising other people’s needs above your own, this can be hard to do.
   
   
2. Know how to say “no” – Learning how to say “no” without losing likability – ditto as per above. For the people pleasers reading this, no 2 will likely be your achilles heel and where you’ll get most bang for your buck.
   
   
3. Know where they are going – Do you have a career strategy or some sort of plan for your future? After all, if you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there or even if you’re on the right track?
   
   
4. Take calculated risks – A few years ago KPMG released some research that demonstrated that women tended to play a more defensive game with their careers – playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. The most winningest women in my cohort know to how to take calculated risks and definitely play to win.
   
   
5. Know it’s not weak to ask for help – and this has been a lesson from all the various speakers I’ve had at my annual 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s a superpower!
   
   
6. Cultivate and nurture a close cohort of career minded women – In some 2019 research you might have missed because you were distracted by the pandemic, we learned that women performed better, earned more AND had greater career success, when surrounded by a cohort of other career minded and supportive women. Ditch the independent blueprint now!
   
   
7. Invest in themselves – Nothing bad happens when women invest in themselves – Just sayin’!
   
   
8. Know and negotiate their worth – I’ve seen women add life and career changing amounts of money to their pay packet by getting out of their comfort zone and actually negotiating – some for the first time ever. Remember, women make GREAT negotiators – equal to men despite the stereotype – my advice? Never underestimate yourself plus learn to negotiate like a pro, after all, it’s expected of you in senior level roles, and you’ll be letting both yourself and the organisation down if you don’t do it.
   
   
9. Throw back the net – When we operate in scarcity mode, we can become fearful of the success of other women. Adopt an abundance mindset instead and remember – empowered women empower other women!!
   
   

While the system might be broken, we all play a part in fixing it. Why not make this your development roadmap for the next 12 months?

And now I’m off to have a celebratory coffee ☕️