With the feminist and equality in the workplace movement in full swing, the common saying, the future is female, is no longer enough because the time is now for females to make big moves in their respected career fields.
Who Run the World? was an inspiring seminar, featuring successful female leaders of the business and media world. Moderated by Kathleen Diamantakis, managing director of strategy at T Brand for The New York Times, Diamantakis sat down with Susan Credle, global chief creative officer of FCB; Martha Debayle, media personality and president of MMK Group; Jia Hyun, vice president, head of Americas, marketing solutions at LinkedIn; Jo Lambert, vice president and general manager of finance and tech at Oath; and Monique Nelson, chair and CEO at UWG, to discuss each woman’s stories of how they got where they are today and the obstacles they faced on the way to the top.
All the women started in low-level jobs and re-iterated how they did not get where there are now without a lot of hard work and believing in themselves. Many entered the advertisement industry believing it was fully embracing of women. Credle followed in the footsteps of female role models who had already made it big in the industry and was not nervous to start her jobs because she was confident in her abilities.
“I had the right to be there, and I had the right to be successful, and if I put in the work, I would get there,” said Credle.
Almost all of the other women on the panel noticed that when they were first starting out, they felt compelled to put in twice the amount of effort compared to their male counterparts to prove themselves. Throughout the seminar, it was stated that women feel the need to be overqualified before applying for a job, whereas a man tends to feel ready for a promotion despite how unqualified he may be.
Nelson admits, though, that it can be scary to go after what you want as a woman in the workplace, but it is necessary to speak up and take your seat at the table if you want to be on the leading side of a business.
Debayle mentioned that self-confidence is key for women to have, and it is possible to be more successful than men if you trust in yourself and your abilities.
“It’s not only creating an opportunity it’s also knowing you deserve the opportunity. I think that we feel in general that we don’t deserve what’s out there, so then if we don’t feel that way how are we going to go out there and grab it?” said Debayle.
Every woman is unique in what they can bring to their job, and it is important to show up and show off the number of assets that you possess. No matter how scary it can be for a woman to speak up in the workplace and go for the promotion that she wants, the panel proved that the end reward outweighs the risk.