#Ambitious #YesIAm

Are your conflicted attitudes about being an ambitious woman holding you back? The gender bias and stereotypes that you might have grown up with, your ingrained discomfort with power, are these mindsets and inner beliefs impacting your ability to take risks, to live out loud, to push yourself to boldly pursue your dreams and be truly recognized for your worth? Really! When and why did “ambition” become a dirty word, especially for women? 

 I invite you to take a pause with me and examine what “ambition” means to you and how you can own it.

 What is Ambition

Defined as an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, such as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment; ambition often has different interpretations when viewed from the lens of our personal and social values. 

Some facts to ponder upon

Women make up 50.8% of US population, yet their presence in top management positions today remains below 9%. The percentage of women on all U.S corporate boards has been stuck in the 12.1% to 12.3% over past decade. Although women hold almost 52% of all professional-level jobs, they are only 14.6% of executive officers, 8.1 % of top earners and 4.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs.

Womenable, a social enterprise firm focused on women’s entrepreneurship, analyzed the growth trends of male- and female-owned companies from 1997-2014 and found that businesses owned by women saw a 72.3 percent growth. Male-owned firms, on the other hand, grew by 45.1 percent over the same time period. Yet, businesses owned by men have a 75.1 percent three-year survival rate, compared to 69.5 percent for women-owned companies.

According to the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor U.S report, there's a big confidence gap between men and women. The report's authors note, "About three-quarters of both male and female entrepreneurs start businesses to pursue an opportunity (rather than out of necessity), but men show more positive perceptions about opportunities and their own capabilities, as well as lower fear of failure." Nearly two-thirds of men are confident they can start businesses, but less than half of women feel they have this capability.

Interesting indeed!

What is my ambition

To eradicate limiting beliefs that prevent me from being the best version of myself. To learn, to grow and to push the status quo (internal and external). To be an influencer as a business innovation strategist and to provide resources, education, and services that will allow women to own their power and their strengths and to find their voices and excel at their goals.

How can you own your ambition and excel at it

Examine your mindset

Do you have deep seated subconscious beliefs that cause an internal barrier for you? Is it a negative association of power with aggression, narcissism, and arrogance, or do you struggle with societal norms and gender biases as they are related to parental responsibilities and career? I, for one, realized that I had a whole mixed bag of beliefs that were holding me back. Examining these limiting beliefs and untangling from them one at a time is the key to moving forward. Leverage professional coaching, mentoring or group networking opportunities with other women in your career space for advice.

Define your value proposition

Know your strengths and the value you bring to the table. I have used tools such as SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) to analyze myself and my business opportunities. It allows you to understand what you do well, how could you improve, your opportunities for growth or strategic alignment and what markets threats /competition/changing trends could exist that you must plan for. With that knowledge in mind, develop a crystal clear message about your unique capabilities, your worth and own your message!

Have a strategic plan for your goals

Clearly outline your career, business and/or personal goals. These goals must be tangible, measurable and time bound. Draw out a detailed tactical plan to start, grow and scale your net worth in achieving these goals. Ensure your plan is realistic and allows for adequate pauses to assess what is working and what needs to be changed, and then pivot accordingly. Having a detailed work plan offers you a visual framework for progress especially during times when you feel stuck or overwhelmed.

Build your brand

Regardless of your role in the corporate world or if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, developing and maintaining an authentic and effective personal brand should be part of your career strategy. Here are few suggestions on creating an effective personal brand: 1) Amplify your strengths and what you are known for, 2) highlight what makes you important and relevant to your industry, 3)build out a cohesive portfolio of your social media profiles and create regular content (find your voice !), 4) evolve (don’t be stagnant), 5)be authentic in your expressions and in your service, and finally 6) Don’t just build a personal brand, be your brand.

Build your network

Yes- networking can be daunting and even awkward on occasions (and if you are an introvert like me) downright draining as well. But, when done well it will serve as a great learning system for you, improve your visibility, open doors and allow you to grow. Effective networking is about establishing and nurturing mutually beneficial and respectful relationships. Your professional network should address your needs for allies, coaches, mentors and professional alliances. Invest some time in figuring out what networking style and medium works best for you, make a game plan and follow up.

Make the leap

Even the loftiest of heights are achieved one step at a time. Watch out for analysis paralysis and peek at what is behind the fear of action (is it fear of failure?). The only way you will discover your truth and what you are capable of is when you make the leap and act towards achieving your goals. Progress can be incremental and iterative.

Learn from mistakes and be resilient

Failures and setbacks are bound to come and can be treated as opportunities for growth. Through my journey I have learned that when we find strength in our unique imperfections, treat our obstacles as life lessons and adopt an attitude of learning we can turn all possibilities into a reality.

Have fun

And lastly, don’t forget to have fun along the journey. In this hustle to become don’t neglect to just - be!

How are you owning your Ambition?

I look forward to hearing from you!

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 Shaillee J. Chopra is Chief Digital Innovation Officer at Lumina Health Partners, Chicago, Ill. She oversees digital innovation, technology strategy and analytics service portfolio assisting healthcare organizations in making successful shift to value-based care.

She also serves as the Chief Global Strategist for Empower Billion Women movement that aims at establishing a programmatic framework to effectuate measurable impact in the lives of women, globally, with education and services supporting financial and business literacy; which in turn makes a positive impact on communities across the world.

She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their two rambunctious boys.