I spent this afternoon with a remarkable
group of women professionals in my company. Outside of the limelight of deals,
and discussions on finance, return on equity, revenues and all those good things,
they deal with the part of financial services that our narrow world does not
say exists. For the purposes of this conversation, let us say they look at the
environmental issues that impact on how we do business now and how we will do
it in the future.
Naturally, the discussion evolved
to how they would see their worth in a financial services institution like
ours, especially one that would place a lot of value on technical skills around
financing. It was clear that there was a concern as to whether they would feel
valued and be able to thrive in it.
Our discussion touched on many
related topics and the challenges of one’s existence in such a large institution.
One thing I observed in the dialogue, though, was how they took for granted
what they knew or brought as a value-add to the work environment. How they
looked at their work relative to the core technical financing work that they perceived
the employer focuses on.
In our conversation, we started
challenging each other on how one ensures that their value is realised even by those
with a narrow view of the finance world. We spent time trying to unpack the meaning
of value creation, and what the value of specialist knowledge is in such an
environment. And we started to focus on the issue that captured our
conversation today: Standing in One’s Own Power. I felt this was such a
powerful description of the nature of the conversation.
As our discussions progressed, we
concluded on the issues that emerged that would be of value to all of us. The
first was the importance of acknowledging the value that one brings. Important
in this aspect was not to worry about the things that one did not have. It was
clear that based on the conversation, we realised that one could Stand on One’s
Power by also acknowledging the value that one brings. In essence, we focused
on the uniqueness of the value of each one based on what each brought. I felt
this observation brought a different level of confidence amongst the
participants in terms of worth.
We also spoke about the
importance of owning one’s space. This may sound simple, but in an environment
of many supposedly technically proficient people, how do you allow yourself to
emerge? We reflected on the importance of ensuring that one’s area of competence
and value is recognised. How this would impact on the individual’s own
perceptions of worth. We reflected how this complements the issue of acknowledging
the value one brings. We concluded that you could not really Stand on One’s Own
Power without occupying one’s own space.
We then moved to discussing the
value of knowledge. And the value of trusting that what one knows has value. We
saw the importance of one thinking very deeply and bringing out what one really
knows. And we reflected on the importance of being very clear about the real
value of the knowledge that one brings. And we could see clearly that, in order
to Stand on One’s Own Power, one had to be very clear and trust the fact that
the knowledge they have has value.
And we concluded on the critical
value of authenticity. That in reflecting who one is, it was important not to try
and imitate others. Because that route would lead to a display that lacks authenticity.
Authenticity means also to reject the urge to be what one is not in order to be
seen to belong. That it required one not to try and show a being that was not
genuine just to make others happy. It was very obvious to us that, in order to
Stand on One’s Own Power, one had to ensure they do not imitate others and behave
as if they are something they are not. To Stand on One’s Own Power is to be
truly authentic.
We left having encouraged each
other to focus even more on bringing out the authentic self of each one. And to
use this to bring out the inner strength that each one had. To display the strength
and the value we bring. We were inspired with the idea of being able to Stand in
One’s Own Power.
