8 mindsets of successful women and how to develop them
Dozens of senior executive women provide insight into the mindsets that have led to their success.
Dr Anne Hartican
3 min read
Many women continue to confront obstacles to career progression. In a survey I conducted a few years ago women police officers cited obstacles to their career progression such as sexism, unconscious bias towards women from senior male leaders, micromanagement, bullying, lack of leadership support and assistance in the promotion process, professional jealously, the impacts of part-time work and the challenges of managing the demands of family and career.
These women also recognised a key obstacle to their progression was themselves citing a lack of self-belief and confidence in their own abilities to take on new challenges and push themselves out of their comfort zone.
Despite the obstacles confronting professional women, some do succeed in progressing to senior executive and board positions. I have interviewed close to one hundred senior executive women about how they brought the best of themselves to their roles and were exceptional in their chosen professions. From my interviews I learnt how important the mindsets these women adopted were to their achievements. In synthesising my interview data, I observed eight common mindsets these successful women held.
What is a “mindset”? The term “mindset” has been variously described:
• A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations
• An inclination or a habit
• The established set of attitudes held by someone
• A set of assumptions or a person's perspective or philosophy of life
• A precursor to specific actions.
Mindsets influence our behaviour, what we do and the outcomes we achieve. The good news is most people can change and develop a mindset if they have the motivation and commitment to change.
To help others apply what I have learnt from the dozens of successful professional women I interviewed I grouped the eight mindsets I observed into three core self-beliefs.
Core Beliefs and Mindsets
Core belief = Self value: I have the right to be me; to pursue my own needs and interests
Mindsets:
Self determination
• I make choices about my life both personally and professionally.
• I focus my attention on the things I can control and influence.
• I deserve a seat at the table.
Purpose / values
• I have clarity of purpose about why am doing what I am doing in both my personal and professional life.
• I am clear about my values and consciously use them to guide my choices, decisions and actions.
• I am authentic; true to myself and to others.
Core belief = Self-efficacy: I can overcome obstacles and achieve through my efforts
Mindsets:
Effort / Perseverance
• My success will largely depend on the efforts I make.
• I will persist with a course of action despite difficulties and obstacles on tasks and issues that matter.
Emotional Resilience
• I can expect setbacks in life, but I know I can cope.
• I can learn from setbacks.
• I will back myself.
Strategic (big picture)
• There is value in understanding the broader organisational and societal context in which I work.
• I can learn a great deal from others who have a different perspective.
Core belief = self-confidence: I can learn, grow and explore opportunities.
Mindsets:
Growth
• I am curious about life / how things work.
• I can continuously develop through embracing opportunities to learn.
Opportunity
• I continuously look for opportunities.
• I tell others about my professional interests, aspirations and goals.
• I have a go and take considered risks.
Integration (of the masculine & feminine)
• I value and embrace the feminine and masculine traits in men and women.
• I express my masculinity and femininity in a balanced way.
Developing positive mindsets
It is important to note the advantage of working with mindsets is that they can be identified and changed with insight and a commitment to changing our attitudes and habitual ways of thinking.
The challenge of working with mindsets is that they are often so deeply embedded into our way of thinking, behaving and being that they are unconscious and need to be brought into consciousness to change them. I have provided an exercise to assist you identify a mindset (or mindsets) you may need to change / strengthen to aid professional goal achievement. I also recommend you use discuss this exercise with a confidante who knows you well to gain further insights about your mindsets.
Mindset Development Exercise:
Insight:
Select one mindset that you believe you might benefit from strengthening.
What is the opposite of the mindset you selected? How true is it for you?
What assumptions sit behind the unhelpful mindset?
Plan:
Design an action “experiment” – that is, identify an action / behavior you commit to doing consistent with the mindset.
Action:
Observe what happens within you (emotions, thoughts, responses)
Observe how others respond
Reflection / learning:
What happened?
What was the outcome?
What did you learn about effective actions for you?
What did you have to overcome to do something differently?
What would you repeat? What would you do differently?