A little aggression takes women far

One of the main differences that I often find when working with men and women is their risk appetite.

Men, for the most part, come for coaching because they have reached a career plateau. I’ll suggest changes in their personal and professional profile from wardrobe to resume and how they conduct themselves and everything in-between.

I find that male professionals only need to understand why the changes are important and what they stand to gain. With that, they will move every obstacle out of the way to make it happen within the shortest amount of time.

I’ve had eager clients call me from clothing stores to sending me videos of their presentations as they seek to sharpen their image and skills. Most of these tend to be male. Most are wont to take immediate decisive action. As a result, they progress very quickly and record huge shifts before the close of their time with me.

There are many real, perceived and even some ways bordering on sexism in which the gentlemen’s tendency to take quick action leading to quick results could be explained: They have more money, are less averse to risk, have a higher appetite for success, are more ambitious, or are plain selfish enough to think of their success above their other obligations way more than their female counterparts.

This may sting a little, but their female counterparts are less likely to take quick decisions towards their success. Most will go through the full twelve-week programme without making a single out-of-pocket investment in themselves especially when they are sponsored by their employers.

Further, any suggestion that might require a financial investment on their part is often met with a hesitant and even suspicious question: “How much will that cost”? Maybe women make less money in general, and therefore more cautious about expenditure, tend to take responsibility for a lot of the daily running household expenses that admittedly can add up, but when I drill down further, I often find that none of these on-the-surface explanations are the real reasons why they do not take quick decisions to invest in themselves.

It may not apply to all and yes, by research standards, my sample is small and therefore considered unrepresentative of the general population. That said, in my experience, female professionals harbour an immense sense of guilt when it comes to spending money on themselves. They would sooner spend money on a household item than improve their work wardrobe or invest in personal development for example.

Without delving into greater detail, female professionals will do well to recognise that they are in competition in the workforce with male colleagues who have no qualms investing in themselves to increase their competitive edge.

While there is the “men’s club” that already denies women a lot of networking opportunities on the career front, ladies have got to understand that they themselves are key in helping male professionals to prosper at work. This means that they are at a disadvantage from the start.

If they fail to prioritise their continuous improvement, competing with male colleagues who have wives taking care of family logistics at home will never be fair. The proverbial glass ceiling can only be an excuse for so long.

We have got to get to the point where we look inward to identify the ways in which we reinforce the limiting effects of the ceiling and the “men’s club”. It is the sure-fire way to take charge of our careers because no amount of the feeble attempts at affirmative action by a few companies is going to level the professional playing field enough for the competition to be truly fair.

Seraphine Ruligirwa-Kamara is Executive Coach Corporate Image Consultant, Institute of Ultimate Potential, Canada