I had the great pleasure of attending the 2015 Forbes Woman Summit this year in New York City.
The day after the summit, my head and heart were full of thoughts, ideas and stories of all of the incredible woman. I sat in the restaurant of my hotel trying to take it all in....all I could think about was the theme of #RedefinePower and what it meant to me; changing the rules, disrupting, pushing boundaries, being bold and fearless.
There was so much to take away from this awesome curation of people and ideas. Let me start with what I understood and took away as what Redefining Power means. For me it is really about changing the way you think. Our thinking impacts our behaviour and as people and women, in order to change our behaviour, we need change our thinking. We have historically faced so many challenges in the workplace and with society at large. We need to take those trials and tribulations and fuel it into POWER. It is about finding your power, identifying with it then harness and channel it.
Here are my top messages from this summit.
1.Rethink pushback - we all get pushback, we all get rejection and in most times, it sets us back. @Jessicaalba shared an insight with us that said to rethink pushback; use it to propel you forward rather than repelling you backwards. So many times when I have received pushback or rejection, I would curl up into a ball with frustration and get very discouraged. It would set me back so much and it would take me so long to recover. Now, I am going to use it to push even harder, I will reverse engineer its force to go forward rather than back. Thank you @jessicaalba for this message
2.Focus on a shift from power and authority to passion and impact. Every great idea, thought or initiative has passion at the heart of it. Passion is stronger than authority because it comes from an authentic place and you cannot trump that. Thank you @moiraforbes for this message.
3.Take non-traditional approaches to whatever you are doing - @jessicaalba provided some great insight. She said the worst advice someone ever gave her was to "do it like it has always been done." Mr. Albert Einistein also said that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. Well here's to both you, thank you for that very rational and logical insight
4.Live at the edge of discomfort; we need to start getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. I often find myself squirming in situations where I am not comfortable, we need to embrace it; recognize the feeling of discomfort experience it rather than repel it let it pass through you. Here's to getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, thank you @moiraforbes.
5.The power of NO. NO is a statement and we need to become comfortable as leaders with saying no because when we say no, it opens up other doors of possibilities. The key here is to be able to say no with confidence and with rationale.
I leave feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and understand that it is incumbent upon all of us as women to help each other. We need to move from mentorship to sponsorship where we actively participate in propelling each other forward and realize that every other woman's success is our success - thank you Forbes Woman & thank you to all of the women who participated in the 2015 #RedfinePower Summit, you are all pure awesomeness.