“The reason I’m quite passionate about women getting comfortable with being powerful is because we are perhaps hard-wired to use that power in a more compassionate, nurturing, communicative way, and that makes business better.”
Today, Elizabeth is excited to chat with Victoria Stakelum about how you can advance your career without compromising your values. Victoria founded a company called The Success Smith a couple of years ago, after leaving her corporate job. She is a psychologist and an NLP master. Victoria focuses on helping high-integrity women create success in their careers – and their lives more generally. This involves addressing the emotional blocks that can hold them back and releasing those blocks so her clients feel fully aligned and powerful in what they do. Additionally, Victoria helps her clients develop the skills necessary to navigate and negotiate as they progress up the career ladder.
Victoria offers monthly master classes on career progression and achieving balance and harmony in your career. She also provides a free opportunity for individuals to dive deep into their current career status, whether full-time, part-time, or working in a flexible environment. Her programme helps women achieve breakthroughs and reach their career goals. In this chat, Victoria talks to Liz about The Success Smith and who she helps. We then delve deeper into progressing your career without compromising your values. This is a significant issue; fear or uncertainty makes many people hold themselves back. Stay tuned!
Key Highlights
[00:00:19] Introduction to today’s host and topic
[00:01:11] What Victoria does and what Success Smith is
[00:03:48] Why every woman should read Lean In
[00:09:04] Historically, have women been nervous about putting their hands up and progressing?
[00:11:21] Are women more likely to experience fear of rejection than men?
[00:20:11] How to set boundaries in your job
[00:26:24] Learning to say no in your career
[00:30:07] How to balance career and personal life
[00:36:33] Difference between being powerful and being empowered
[00:39:08] The virtue of integrity in your career
Notable Quotes
- The Success Smith essentially equips women with the skill set, mindset, and emotional release to be completely fulfilled and successful on our terms, which is a wonderful gift to have as your day job.
- I want to see more high-integrity women confidently find their place at the top table without blocking themselves. Many are scared that it’ll be too much pressure when they get there, or that they will be blocked for reasons beyond their control, but I truly believe that women make incredible leaders.
- Women are much more likely to experience fear of rejection because they are more used to tolerating and doing stuff that they don’t love because they feel that it just has to be done.
- As women, we often tolerate things we shouldn’t. What happens over time is that we can become gradually resentful and frustrated because we know we’re not happy. We know we are undervalued, overworked, overlooked, and underappreciated, which breeds resentment. The bit that we don’t always notice is that it’s only possible because we are allowing it.
- I attribute my career success to being firm in my boundaries and being a lovely person. And it’s perfectly learnable, but it requires uncomfortable practice.
- We’re very good at making ourselves indispensable, and the problem with being indispensable is that it’s very difficult to move up. It’s also very difficult to shift the boundaries around your workload.
- If you teach people that you will say yes, even when you can’t deliver, they won’t respect you, and you’ll be unable to deliver. None of that is good for your career.
- Learning to say no effectively and confidently is the most important thing anyone ever does for their career.
- If we are saying yes to things when we’re overworked and stressed the whole time, we’re not going to be as successful; we’re going to make more errors.
- For most of us, even as we progress up a corporate ladder, it is not just possible but also important to have some reasonable boundaries. You can only succeed sustainably within your career if you learn to hold those boundaries.
- I find it interesting that women are sometimes more reluctant to be powerful. I don’t like the idea of empowerment, and I would encourage everyone to think about being powerful. You don’t have to wait to have permission; that’s something you get to choose.
- If you’re powerful, that means you’re in a position to influence things for the betterment of others.
- If you hear that there’s going to be a decision you feel quite strongly about, don’t sit silent. Don’t worry that ‘mine is just my opinion’; use your voice. That’s the first principle.
- If you work day in and day out in direct contradiction to your values, you will make yourself ill. There are no two ways about it; it is not sustainable.
Resources
Investing in Women Flexible Working Job Board and Recruitment Website: Investing in Women
To connect with Liz Willetts:
Facebook: Facebook
LinkedIn: LinkedIn
To connect with Victoria:
LinkedIn: LinkedIn
Website: The Success Smith