The Confidence Factor for Women: An open letter to Marissa Mayer
Carol Sankar
Founder, NYT bestseller, multifamily RE investor/developer & more! Grab my book, "No Explanation Required! A Woman's Guide to Assert Your Confidence and Communicate to Win at Work"
Dear Marissa,
Although we have never met in person, I want thank you for being a change agent for women. With your recent announcement of your twin bundles of joy due very soon, I know you are quite elated.
As I continue to read positive and negative comments about your decision to take 2 weeks off on maternity leave, I think it is extremely essential that women are not so quick to judge. Ten years ago, when I gave birth to my son, I was the CEO of a consulting start up that commanded my attention 24/7. I worked up until close to my due date on the outside projects, then from home for the last 2 weeks leading up to delivery.
I gave birth on a blustery Wednesday night in New York City to a beautiful baby boy. My staff changed our voice greeting to alert my clients that I was in the hospital and would be back at full capacity within 4 weeks. However, that was not good enough for investors and clients.
Many of my clients wanted answers to their questions by Thursday (yes, the next day), and although my staff was equipped to handle situations in my absence, the demand and pressure of unhappy clients who just wanted my personal assurance was mounting, so I started a limited work schedule by Friday. By Monday, investors wanted to have face to face meetings with me in their office as well. So, my maternity leave was more like 3 days.
What I believe is many women do not understand the immense pressure of running a major company and the demands of those who do not understand the maternal bond that needs to happen within the first few weeks. I cannot even describe some of the guilt as well. For women who are protected by a job with outstanding benefits, 6 weeks to 1 year (in Canada) of leave is expected. But as the CEO of a company, somehow, the expectations are much different. We are expected to be super CEO and super mom.
Although, my company was not a Fortune 500 entity as Yahoo, the spotlight was always on. Therefore, I think you are being judged harshly as being a CEO, which is a major undertaking that requires you to treat the business like a newborn as well. In a perfect world, women STILL cannot have it all, at least all at the same time. Our desire to balance causes us to make difficult personal and professional decisions. I understand the journey more than you know.
Being a leader takes consistency and confidence. You are making the best choice for you, and that is always the right choice.
Congratulations!
To learn more about joining the Confidence Factor for Women in Leadership movement for exceptional leaders, visit www.theconfidencefactorforwomen.com.
Carol Sankar is a business advisor for high level executives, service based visionaries and a leadership expert who is committed to assisting passionate, high-achieving leaders simplify their lives while increasing revenue by becoming productive, not working harder.Carol has been featured in Madame Noire, LearnVest, The Steve Harvey TV Show, CNNMoney.com, TEDx, Daily Worth, Entrepreneur Magazine and Essence Magazine For details, visit www.carolsankar.com
Helping Professionals Discover Their Leadership Essence and Make a CLEAR IMPACT in Business.
9 年Hi Carol, Another great post. I remember (way back when) I gave birth to my son and I was working full-time. I actually went into labor at 28 weeks and required several weeks of bed rest. I was thankful for an understanding supervisor. Today, as I run my own business I can't imagine the flexibility and discipline it would take to make that happen. Here is article you may enjoy about the "fear" that women experience when having to leave work to care for family and the imbalance that exists. Have a great day! https://mashable.com/2015/09/19/working-mothers-children-fear/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily&utm_source=newsletter&utm_cid=mash-prod-email-topstories&utm_emailalert=daily#ZJsnVi3Zdsk.
Driving innovation across Deloitte's business
9 年Helpful post.
Chartered Accountant | Empowering Businesses Beyond Borders | Cross Border Taxation : Strategy & Compliance | Tax Planning & Optimization | Structuring of Transactions : Tax & Legal | International Tax | Tax Litigation
9 年Being a working professional and a mum can be a tough job. As I read this I understand my Mom's words when she says it's always different for working women since they need to create a balance between their personal and professional life and see that none of them eats into the other!!
CHRO/CPO Blacklane; Managing Director, Co-Chair "HR Innovation Award"; Investor
9 年"You are making the best choice for you, and that is always the right choice." don't judge
Head of Demand Planning and Replenishment
9 年Each person has individual needs, stop allowing one unelected spokesperson to be the voice of all. This is her decision, stop making about every woman.