Kate White, Keynote Speaker at the ShesConnected Conference, 2012 presented a motivating, insightful and humourous session where she imparted some wisdom of her 3 secrets of success. These are highlights from her new book entitled ” I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This”.
3 Secrets of Success
1. You’ve gotta go big, or go home
- first heard from coworker when referring to going out on a Saturday night
- not enough to do what you’ve been told to do
- need to push it, “go balls to the wall”, take it to the max
- when was the last time someone said “WOW” about something you did?
- it can be hard and scary to go big
- 14 years ago, call from boss on a Sunday afternoon asking her to come in…
- Offer to be editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan
- Scared, hadn’t applied for it
- Told herself she had to make it work by making it big
- How do you do it?
Ask yourself:
- Have I pushed it enough?
- Am I as bold as I can be?
- How stuck am I with “this is the way we have always done it”?
2. Stop worrying about people not liking you
- get in touch with your “inner bitch”
- sometimes we find ourselves annoyed with another person;
- find out what we may be envious about
- what is she doing that I should be doing?
- turn it around on yourself
- -sit beside the powerful person in the room
- -Toot your own horn
- -we don’t ask nor negotiate as well as men do
- -we are afraid or intimidated because we think people won’t like us
- -results in women making less overall than men
- -asking for a raise “50,000 dollars in cash”, why didn’t I ask for “75,000”
- -if you don’t ask for it you’re not going to get it
3. You’ve got to drain the swamp, and slay the alligator-getting caught up in the day to day things
What “drain the swamp” means to Kate:
- “needing three hands”
- reading emails, looking for any emerging trends
- projecting the next year of cosmo
- Where does Kate “drain the swamp”:
- coffee shop
- airport
- “haven’t you done anything wild in your life?”
- always make time for “draining the swamp”
- we get so busy sometimes we forget to manage our successes
- take one hour a week and ask yourself “am I where I want to be at this point in my life?”
- network with the idea that you’re going to listen more then you talk, come back with at least one new idea
- took Kate later then she wanted to realise the importance of draining the swamp
- work life balance; Kate wishes she had scheduled time to drain the swamp earlier in life
- Am I savouring life as much as I want?
- Girlhood dream fulfillment? Author of fiction novels
- Savour success
- Stop working all the time
- Be the bossy pants of our personal lives
- Dare to set boundaries for ourselves
Kate White’s Holy Grail: Go Big, Sturdy Legs, Savour Success