Week 23: Thin Skin Behavior- #AlphaFemaleFriday

Week 23: Thin Skin Behavior- #AlphaFemaleFriday

“ WEEK 23 / 133 – 133 WEEKS TO SUCCESS ”

There is a saying that goes “New Yorkers aren’t mean. Everyone else is just soft.” Sometimes I think about the time that my metro card for the subway stopped working one day, and as I was about to refill my metro card, a lady simply opened the side gate door to let me in. “Thank you!” I smiled at her, “And they say that New Yorkers are mean.” She smiles back at me and replies, “New Yorkers ain’t mean, sweetie, we just honest.”

I believe that New Yorkers handle their business in much of the same manner. When they’re walking hurriedly on the street, they don’t mean to bump into the four tourists who are linked arm-in-arm horizontally across 6^th Avenue. They just need to get to work. Step lively.

I believe in being honest in business, and that beating around the bush does no good for anyone. My coworkers and I had a meeting the other week with one of the high level executives. We discussed who we were, what are interests were, the things we liked, and the things we felt could use improvement. Because this executive we talked to was so intelligent, honest, and approachable, we felt comfortable to be honest with her about what we liked about our corporate culture and places where there could be room for improvement.

The problems which we brought up had come to be because people weren’t honest in the first place. They were compartmentalizing knowledge and data which we should have been privy to since the very beginning. Perhaps they had been burned in the past, and that was the reason they weren’t being upfront with us about the information we needed to function properly. Perhaps they didn’t trust us with the information or think we deserved to know it.

All I know for sure was that we needed to bring up that we didn’t have this knowledge, that we deserved to have this knowledge, and that we were wasting time, money, and energy trying to beg for this knowledge. Will us bringing it up make any outright changes? Maybe, or maybe it will just be some food for thought. At least my team and I can rest easy at night know that we were honest and upfront about it.

Cheers,

Kelly

@AlphaFemSociety tweets by @KellyRGonzales                                                                                

About:

Each week, I take a tip from Lois P. Frankel’s book, Nice Girls Still Don’t Get the Corner Office, and explore how each of these tips affect myself and other women in similar positions on the road to becoming the women we want to be. There are far and few between who are a few steps behind me, and many more who are far advanced. I found that Lois P. Frankel’s advice applied to novice, intermediates, and experts alike. It helped me see that I was already doing right, served as a reminder to keep on doing what I was doing and how to keep that momentum going. The book also showed me areas where I could improve, and gave realistic tips to jump on board. There are a total of 133 tips, and explore one tip per week in a program I call: 133 Weeks to Success.

Join the movement using the hashtag #133WeeksToSuccess with posts which are posted every #AlphaFemaleFriday.