Our feelings about money can be a very complicated issue. Most of us want to make enough money to maintain our lifestyle and pay our bills. Some of us look at our income as validation of our success and continually strive to make more money. Many of us shy away from the subject of money and don’t want to embrace the fact that money can be a positive force in their lives.

Whatever your attitude about money is, it’s important to understand how it plays into your business and career success. In fact, your “money mindset” can help you be successful and live in abundance or it can continually sabotage your efforts to make a decent living.

I grew up in an upper middle class family in a wealthy suburb of New York City. We lived in a beautiful home, belonged to a country club, and my parents traveled all over the world. I didn’t lack any thing. I had dance lessons, music lessons, went to camp, went to the best schools. However, I thought we were poor. Honestly, I always thought we were on the verge of poverty. Why? Because my father, a child of the depression, instilled in my mother, my brother, and myself the belief that there was never enough money in our household. That was not true. It was his attitude and it became my attitude. The belief  that there would never be enough money started in my childhood.

Years later, I realized where my belief system originated and how it was sabotaging me in my business and worked vigorously to change my mindset (and continue to work on it every day). One great resource who helped me change my mindset about money is David Neagle and I have adopted his mantra that “making money is part of my spiritual path”. There are many resources available and I strongly suggest you find a coach or mentor to help you through this because negative feelings about money can literally hold you back from a successful business or career.

Money means a lot of different things to different people, but to me it represents freedom, the freedom from worrying about paying my bills and to live my life the way I choose to live. I realize now that I have much to offer and that my talent is a gift that I offer others to help them be successful.  Yes, money is the end result but because I understand my value and how I can help others, I no longer focus all my energy on the lack of money. Money is no longer a mental roadblock for me. I know that by helping professional women achieve their goals, feel self-confident and empowered by their unique value, I will be successful. Their success is my success.

 What are your feelings about money? Are they working for you?

I often talk and write about the importance of having self-confidence for business success. I believe that when you connect with your value proposition, you can talk about your accomplishments and talk up your business with confidence and authenticity, and that most people associate your confidence with competence.

But here’s another take on the subject. According to author, Margaret Heffernan’s article for CBS News,

The best work isn’t done when you’re confident. The best work comes from pushing yourself beyond what you know you can do. 

And she quotes Steven Spielberg on the topic:

You know how many movies, I woke up in the morning, gotten to the set and said, ‘What the bloody hell am I going to do today? I have no idea how to attack this scene.’ All the planning that I did from the safety of my office is no longer valid because the day, the weather we have, the new ideas the actors came to the set with that morning, have trumped every single of my best laid plans and I have to start from scratch.

 I get stage fright every single morning. If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be a director. You can’t make a great movie from a position of great confidence. The more nervous I am, I think the better the films turn out. Confidence sometimes is a bit of an enemy.

Margaret goes on to say,

Sports coaches will tell you the same thing: Confidence is an outcome. It’s what you get after you’ve done the work, taken the risks, pushed yourself beyond the comfortable, the planned and the knowable. It’s your reward for courage and, if you use it correctly, it will encourage you to take big leaps next time. But it will never offer guarantees, real or imagined.

The question is what comes first here, the chicken or the egg?

Does it take confidence to stretch yourself and move out of your comfort zone or does confidence come from knowing that you took the leap and succeeded?

‘Tis the season to be jolly! It’s also the season for socializing. We are invited to many holiday events; some for business and some just to have fun and share some holiday cheer. The point is that we are meeting and greeting more people this time of year than any other. It’s a great networking opportunity.

Often these occasions are not about serious networking yet they do provide us with the chance to meet new people and enter into casual conversations about what we do. It’s the perfect time to network without the pressure to “sell” ourselves.

How do you enter into casual conversations with someone new?

Simply introduce yourself and ask the other person to tell you about them. People love to talk about themselves and this opens up the conversation in a casual way. Listen to what they have to say and learn about their business or position.

Offer the gift of connection.

Here is where the holiday giving spirit comes in. What can you do to help this person? Ask them! There may be opportunities for you to introduce them to other possible clients, partners, or referral sources.

When you are open and giving, it opens the door for others to reciprocate.

Take their business card and write on the back where you met them and who you want to introduce them to and make sure to follow up immediately.

Pay it forward and enjoy all your holiday events! You will be surprised how much you will receive in return.

For more tips on how to network, listen to my GPS Your Career Radio podcast with Diane Darling, President of Effective Networking, Inc.

If you have an interest in advancing women’s leadership in the corporate sector or perhaps advancing your own career, you should read McKinsey’s latest report, Changing Companies Minds about Business.

This important report speaks to the fact that there has been little progress of women to senior leadership and board positions in corporate America despite what appear to be significant initiatives to do so.

What are we missing? Why despite a solid business case tying women’s leadership to improved bottom line performance are we still stuck? Is anyone listening?

There is still much to do to change the invisible barriers that still exist and according to the McKinsey report, it’s not an easy task to change the mind set of managers that block the way for women’s advancement. Much of this bias towards women still remains under the covers.

Some companies have been successful in changing their corporate culture. Companies such as Pitney Bowes, Time Warner and Shell have taken what McKinsey calls a “hard edged” approach with specific metrics and targets. These initiatives started and supported from the  top are changing the work environment with clearly defined goals and accountability. The efforts of these companies demonstrate that to affect real change a consistent targeted approach is necessary.

What can we do? The McKinsey report recommends “making it personal”.

Make no mistake. As a senior executive, you are already influencing your company’s approach. If you’re not paying attention to the issue of women’s advancement, you’re ensuring that things won’t change.

Women need to support and sponsor other women to the top.

The report also cites the importance of building a business case about the positive impact women are having in your organization, “whether hard business results or indirect results, such as building better teams”.

Build a business case for yourself.

You can take responsibility for your own credibility and success by understanding what value you bring to the organization, your contribution to business results, and learning how to communicate this to key people within your organization.

Take the McKinsey example. Do you build better teams? What that means to the organization is these teams are more productive and directly affect net income by completing more projects each quarter. Or maybe, these teams are also loyal as well as productive and therefore, are less likely to resign. This means the company spends less on employee acquisition and training.

We all need to do our part to help advance women in the workplace if we want to affect change. We also need to take responsibility for our own advancement.

This fall, I am starting two new projects to help women advance their careers and successfully navigate the corporate environment. GPS Your Career Day and GPS Your Career Group are both designed to help you uncover and understand the value you bring to your organization as well as effectively communicate your value to key people.

GPS Your Career Day is an intense full day program and GPS Your Career Group is a 6 week group coaching program. Both are limited to 10 participants.

If you are interested in learning about one or both of these programs, please email me. I am in the process now of finalizing the plans for the launch.

This is the time of year when we reflect on everything we are grateful for. We give thanks for all the wonderful people in our lives; family, friends, business colleagues. They all contribute to our personal and professional well being and it’s important to take the time to appreciate their presence and contributions to our lives.

I think we should also look inward and be thankful for our own talent and the wonderful and unique qualities we have. We tend to take ourselves for granted. We put ourselves down. Often we don’t take ownership of our accomplishments and successes.

This Thanksgiving give yourself the gift of YOU. Take the time to write out what is special about you, personally and professionally.

What have you accomplished this year?

What qualities do you bring to your personal and professional relationships?

Write it all down and review the list.

Celebrate and be thankful for everything you are!

It’s absolutely impossible to be perfect. I think on some level we all know this is true. So I think it’s very interesting that  many of us live our lives pursuing perfection.

Think about it. How much of your own life is spent trying to be perfect? How much emotional energy do you invest in perfectionism even though you realize it’s not possible to achieve? And, what affect does all this effort have on your life and career? Do you really think that trying to be perfect helps your career?

Perfectionism can, in fact, have a negative impact on your performance at work. If you are setting unrealistic goals for yourself, you are also more likely to have unrealistic expectations for your staff. You are less likely to be approachable and even like able, and of course, you are always under stress which can filter down to others in the workplace.

Here are some suggestions for addressing your perfectionism.

• Acknowledge that this is YOUR stuff.

No one else truly expects you to never make mistakes or be right 100% of the time. We’re not robots after all. (And even robots have technical problems sometimes.)

• Be Authentic

When we pretend to be perfect, we are hiding ourselves from others. Take the pressure off yourself to have all the answers all the time. Admitting that you don’t have the answers can often lead to extremely valuable brainstorming sessions at work. Engaging your team and asking for their opinions often helps them to become more invested in the project or mission. They have increased respect  and affection for you. After all, how approachable is someone who comes across as a know-it-all?

• Be Willing to Make Mistakes

Perfectionists tend to avoid situations where they may fail, but making mistakes is important to our personal and professional development.  Think about some of the valuable lessons you have learned from your  past mistakes. When you are open to making mistakes, you are open to more challenges and opportunities as well.

• Work Hard, but Don’t Drive Yourself Crazy

Be realistic about your goals. Acknowledge when you’ve done the best you can. Sometimes unforeseen circumstances affect your performance, require you to move deadlines. That’s OK. Just do the best you can everyday and recognize when you need to adjust your expectations.

When you rid yourself of the pressure to be perfect, you will not only be more like able, more open to learning new things, but also healthier. The pursuit of perfection is extremely stressful and frustrating.

Try this as your new daily mantra, “I’m doing the best I can do today.”

]]> http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/2010/10/im-doing-the-best-i-can-do-today/feed/ 2 http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/2010/09/your-portable-power/ http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/2010/09/your-portable-power/#comments Sun, 26 Sep 2010 12:00:35 +0000 Bonnie Marcus http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/?p=2427

This past week, I interviewed five time CEO and author Margaret Heffernan on Head over Heels Radio. Our discussion covered many interesting topics relative to women and business, but one that really got my attention was what Margaret refers to as “portable power”.

Portable power according to Heffernan is unique to each person. It is the sum total of your skills and experience, your professional and personal networks, and your financial independence. You own this power and take it with you wherever you go.

I have given this topic more thought and a couple of questions come to mind. How many women are actually aware of their portable power? If they were more connected to their portable power, would they behave differently?

Let’s try to do our own assessment. How would you rate your own portable power as defined by Margaret Heffernan?

1. Skills and Experience

• List all your business and personal skills.

Business: i.e. computer skills, analytical skills, business acumen, selling skills, creativity, problem solving, team player, visionary

Personal: i.e. organized, tenacious, passionate, loving and nurturing, soulful, healthy, focused, outgoing

• List your business and personal experiences

What has your experience in business taught you?

what companies have you worked for?

what industries?

what different types of positions?

what have you learned about running a department? your own business?

What  life lessons have you learned?

childhood experiences

relationships, children

community activity

living in different parts of the country, the world

travel

education, reading

2. Rate your personal and professional network strength

• Personal:

Who is in your personal network? Look at your email address book, Facebook and other social media friends, your cell phone contact list.

Estimate the number. I bet it’s a lot, right?

• Professional:

Your professional network consists of business colleagues from past as well as current positions, people you have met through networking events and online.

Count your social media connections as well.

Which is larger, your personal or professional network? Where is your strength?

3. Rate your financial independence

How much money is in your checking account? Your savings account?

What about your 401K? stock portfolio?

Do you own your own home?

Are you worried about paying the rent each month?

How long can you live comfortably without a pay check?

How do you rate your financial independence?

If  “portable power” is the sum total of all of this: your skills and experience, professional and personal networks, and financial independence, how powerful are you? Where do you need to devote more time and effort?

AND, will the knowledge of your “portable power” affect your decisions about whether or not to leave your job, start your own business, or leave a bad relationship?

Knowing how much power you have builds the self confidence to choose and make sound decisions. You take this power with you wherever you go. It’s who you are.

]]> http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/2010/09/your-portable-power/feed/ 0 http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/2010/08/the-creative-process/ http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/2010/08/the-creative-process/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:00:28 +0000 Bonnie Marcus http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/?p=2377

I am fascinated by the creative process. Do you find that sometimes you are really in sync and great ideas come to you very easily and other times you struggle to even focus for a few seconds on a concept? Have you ever thought about what is happening when you are trying so hard to be creative?

Recent research shows that when you are distracted from a creative challenge for a few minutes, you are more likely to come up with a creative solution than if you focused your attention on it. In the study done at the University of Amsterdam, students were given a creative problem to solve. One group was told they had three minutes to think it through before giving their answers. Another group was given an unrelated task to do for three minutes to distract them. This task was a non-creative one that was designed to use their conscious thoughts. The third group was asked to come up with ideas immediately.

What was the result? Well, you might think the group that was given time to focus on a solution would have better results and more creative ideas, but the opposite occurred. It was the distracted group that generated more creative solutions. Here’s the reason given: the distracted group had a task that occupied their conscious thoughts, thereby freeing up their unconscious mind to do some creative work.

Don’t you find this is true yourself? How often have you tried consciously to focus on a creative solution and come up empty?

I remember trying to rename my radio show last January. I spent hours trying to think of a new catchy name. It wasn’t until I let it go and focused on other activities that the answer came to me, Head over Heels!

It’s an incredible “ah-hah” moment when the conscious part of your brain receives the answer from your unconscious.

There is a great lesson here for all of us. When we are attempting to find a creative solution, we need to distract ourselves and do something totally different for a while in order to free our subconscious brain to come up with the answer.

Let yourself be distracted and amazing things will happen.

Have you experienced this?

There has been a lot written recently about women’s innate ability to lead. One reason that is consistently mentioned is that women are more risk adverse than men. Many thought leaders believe that because women are more cautious, they make better decisions. I believe there is some validity in this especially if you look at the recent events on Wall Street. It’s only speculation of course, but there is a widely held opinion that if there was more diversity at the leadership and board level, this current economic crisis might have been averted. Who knows?

Can this cautious outlook sometimes work against us? It is possible, in my opinion, to be so cautious that you never move forward in your business or career. Being overly cautious can paralyze you.

Almost every major milestone in my own career has been due to me taking an enormous leap of faith and trying something new; something perhaps I was not totally prepared for but decided to embrace regardless. When a door opened, I ran through it and never worried how I would master what was required to be successful in this new opportunity. I’m not saying that every time I took a risk, it worked out well. There have been times that I have fallen flat on my face. When this happens, it’s important to dust yourself off, gather your wits about you, and start all over again. In other words, never let your failures prevent you from learning a lesson, picking yourself up, and seizing the next opportunity that comes along with the same passion and energy.

What is the essential ingredient we all need to have in order to take a risk? Self confidence! Self confidence fuels your persistence and determination and helps propel you through any open door. In fact, with enough self confidence, you won’t even wait until a door of opportunity opens for you, you’ll go find it!

It’s critical for your success, whether you are an entrepreneur or corporate professional, to periodically connect with your value and talent to establish and grow your foundation of self confidence. This, in my opinion, is the secret to success.

We need to periodically connect with our value and talent because we often take our accomplishments for granted. We lose that connection to what is unique and wonderful about us. Do whatever it takes to honor your accomplishments and ability. One suggestion I make repeatedly is to keep a success journal and record all your accomplishments and review your entries each week, celebrate your achievements, and think about what these successes say about you. This will fuel your self confidence and your ability to take on new opportunities, which, in turn, will lead to career and business success.

Self confidence is the secret of success.

Are you a woman entrepreneur with big plans, and the vision and passion for growing your company? Do you know a dynamic woman entrepreneur who is on track to create a multi-million or billion-dollar enterprise?

If so, I encourage you to apply, or to nominate, an outstanding entrepreneur for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women program. Now in its third year, Entrepreneurial Winning Women is a competitive award designed to connect high-potential women entrepreneurs with the advisors, resources and insights they need to become market leaders.

Winners will:

• · Join an elite network of the country’s best high-growth companies and entrepreneurs
• · Participate in a customized program designed to accelerate and sustain business growth
• · On a complimentary basis, attend the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum 2010, the country’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth companies, November 10-14 in Palm Springs, CA (http://www.ey.com/us/strategicgrowthforum)

Eligibility:  Applicants are women who own or have founded their companies within the last ten years and have achieved at least $1M in revenue in the past two. For more information on eligibility and how to apply, or to learn how to nominate a deserving woman entrepreneur you know, visit http://www.ey.com/us/entrepreneurialwinningwomen. The application period closes on June 30, 2010.