Written by: Meridith Ward, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Women in charge demonstrate intense focus and high levels of passion, resilience, and seriousness about their work. They are goal-oriented, results-driven, and typically push beyond their comfort zones, searching for the right challenges. The women in charge of their professional goals find ways to evolve and get what they want immediately or in the long run. They assume total control over their careers, whether assigned to lead the full breadth of responsibilities for a particular business unit or in a position of actual ownership. But, to be clear, women in charge are usually deliberate in solving problems, overcoming challenges, and breaking barriers throughout their corporate and entrepreneurial careers.
Here are five (5) ways successful businesswomen take charge of their careers to accomplish their goals and continually win.
1. Successful women are honest with themselves. They know how they stack up against the competition by acknowledging their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and critical career threats. Getting real about career gaps helps women who want to evolve, increase their confidence drastically and take on a can-do attitude to get things done.
2. Successful women calculate the risks to make intelligent decisions. Although being a risk-taker is part of the formula to achieving great success, the idea of 'leaping from mountain to mountain' without a single thought is unrealistic. Thriving women may not enjoy second-guessing themselves, but they prefer to look before leaping. In other words, even if you can't fully visualize the end game, having a partial plan of action is better than not having one.
3. Successful women aren't afraid to figure things out along the way. They realize that new levels come with new challenges and require a new mindset. To grow your career quickly, you must be willing to stretch yourself by taking on new projects or opportunities and trying unique ideas. Women who take charge of their corporate and entrepreneurial goals understand that learning includes hearing, seeing, and doing. Therefore, they prefer to go ahead and do the work.
4. Successful women always go for more by staking their claim to what they know they can handle and deserve. Therefore, they position themselves to negotiate for more of whatever they believe they need or want, no matter what. The question is, 'What's more?' The answer varies from woman to woman, but the 'more' extends beyond money in many cases. Women who know how to build a case to prove their value strategically position themselves to negotiate for advantages, and they get them. They dare to ask for sign-on bonuses, better projects, additional paid time off, stock options, flex-time, early performance reviews for salary increases, company car allowances, childcare benefits, travel perks, legal coverage, and more.
5. Successful women play to win. Women who seem to advance as corporate and entrepreneurial leaders possess a natural ability to push past haters and personal fears and do whatever is necessary to achieve their goals. Women who flourish in business are not easily deterred by anyone or anything. The mindset of such women is 'I can, I will, and I am. What's next?'
A woman who figures out her goals and then takes a path to pursue them actively and gets what she wants is indeed a go-getter; hence She is in charge.
This article was written by Meridith Ward, Founder, and CEO of InCharge Career Consulting, LLC. For more tips, advice, guidance, and coaching to learn how to advance the ranks of corporate leadership or pivot into profitable entrepreneurship, schedule a 1:1 discovery call today by clicking here.
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Meridith Ward, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Meridith Ward is the Founder and CEO of InCharge Career Consulting™ and the She Is InCharge™ edutainment platform. In addition, she is an experienced career strategist, startup business consultant, leadership coach, headhunter, public speaker, and workshop edutainer. Ultimately, Meridith is passionate about and aims to help women cultivate powerful leadership skills and strategic relationships, gather the right resources, maximize their opportunities, consistently advance throughout corporate leadership ranks, and become full-time entrepreneurs.
