Women: Stop Talking About Work. Start Talking About Business

A man has recently been elected to the highest office in our nation despite him having never been elected to office before. Regardless of your feelings on the outcome, you have to admit, it takes confidence to ignore any voices — internal or external — that say you're not ready to seek that job, or any job.Women often wait until they meet or exceed every single qualification for a position before applying. They focus too much on their weaknesses and downplay their strengths, or too much on relationships and downplay the money.I gave a talk recently at She Geauxs!, a women’s business leadership conference put on as part of Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week, about ways women can develop their careers. (The advice works for men, too.) Here are a few of the things I shared.

Build on Your Strengths

No CEO in the world is great at everything. They have a few strengths and they’re really good in those areas. Do they sit around endlessly working on their weaknesses to try to improve? No, they do not. They reduce their weaknesses by consulting with others, hiring people who are strong in different areas, or they simply work around their gaps. You’re never going to be great at every single aspect of business. Don’t waste time on things you aren’t good at or you hate.There is likely some knowledge you need to gain, but it’s not something you’ve already identified as a weakness — it’s the new things happening in your industry. For example, just a few years ago there probably weren’t any social media positions at your firm. At one point it was new and someone was interested in it, and now it’s a thing. Find the emerging technologies, the new research or new techniques in your industry that no one else is interested in yet. Become an expert. Add this to the strengths you already possess.

Increase Your Influence

Some people just always seem like they can get things done. They know everyone and people are willing to do anything for them. How do they do it?Influential people all have at least one of these traits, often a few:

• Character: They are honest, they have integrity and they are respectful of others. In turn, people respect them.
• Knowledge: They have expertise in their field. They back it up with technical knowledge and experience.
• Connectedness: They know many people and foster relationships. They collaborate whenever possible.
• Access to resources: They control the purse strings, the supplies or the staff related to projects.
• Political savvy: They can interact with people at all levels inside and outside their organization. They see how the pieces fit together.

If you want to be considered an influential person, you need to make new connections at every opportunity. Be a resource for others when they need help; they’ll owe you one. Put yourself in situations that may intimidate you a bit. People aren’t born with political savvy; they learn it by interacting with many different people in different situations. If you make enough quality connections, foster those relationships and use your knowledge to help others, eventually everyone will want to be in your sphere.

How’s Business?

Men have a different approach to business interactions than women ... and it’s obviously working for many of them. A few tweaks to how you talk about your career can help this work for you, as well.When men greet other men in positions of leadership or ownership, they ask “How’s business?” Women, on the other hand, ask “How’s Work?” The difference is subtle but powerful. Asking about work implies wanting to know about relationships with colleagues, whether you’re overwhelmed or about day-to-day minutia. Men ask about business because they want to know who’s making money, hitting their sales goals, or about to have a huge merger.Men also share their feats and endeavors. Women are conditioned not to brag, but men have no problem saying “We’re looking to hit a billion by March and go public by September.” And other men don’t feel down when they hear this or judge men for bragging; they get fired up. Share your goals and things you’re trying. Saying them out loud means you’d better do it, and you can get yourself and your female cohorts fired up together.Men also make business happen for each other. Anytime a group of men get together, someone’s trying to make a deal and make money. Women can do that too — they can cause deals to happen for themselves and other women. When there’s a deal to be made, think of other women business leaders in your network who can provide services or goods. Nominate women to professional boards. Make connections for friends to do business. Make it happen.

Own Your Intensity

I’ve been called “intense” more than a few times, and I was never quite sure if someone meant it as a compliment or an insult.But if you pick up a thesaurus and look up synonyms for “intensity,” you won’t find unflattering words. What you will find: strength, concentration, power, force, passion and greatness. Those all sound like compliments to me.So I’m not apologizing anymore for my intensity. Intensity is passion. Passion is fuel. Fuel is energy. Energy is power. If other people find my intensity somehow rude or aggressive, that’s on them. I know my passion and drive are required to run a successful business, and I will develop and use that any way that I can. I’m not sorry and you shouldn’t be either.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.