Photo by Mikito Tateisi on Unsplash
If you ask some women ‘are you ambitious?’ the answer will be ‘no, not really’. However, many of these women have reached senior levels in organisations, seemingly without being ambitious. They often put this success down to luck, good fortune and various external factors ‘I was in the right place at the right time’ for instance, rather than crediting their own innate quality and skills or acknowledging their ambition.
Ambition is complicated for women. It’s seen as a negative trait in a woman. We are taught from a very early age to be modest, not to ‘blow our own trumpet’. We’re also told to keep our heads down and we’ll be rewarded. As women we sometimes see “ambition” as a bit of a dirty word, it appears arrogant, conceited and egotistical in a woman – the opposite to the norms we are brought up with, such as humility and caring about others. It’s not just how we perceive the word “ambition” for ourselves; it’s what others perceive too. A study by Columbia University presented participants with details about a venture capitalist and asked the participants whether that person would make a good colleague. Half of the group were told that the person’s name was Howard, the other half were told it was Heidi. While the Howard group said the person seemed likeable, the Heidi group thought she was selfish and less worthy of being hired. The only thing that was changed was the name. Proof, if ever we needed it, of gender stereotyping being alive and well……
So, what exactly do we mean by ambition? The dictionary defines it as ‘determination to succeed’. When you look at the synonyms for ambitious you find words like assertive, committed, enterprising; and colloquialisms include pushy and zealous. Interestingly, words like determined and pushy tend to be used in a negative context when applied to women.
In talking with some senior business leaders, I hear them say ‘women in our business lack ambition’ They don’t see ambition in their female team members in the same way as they see it in men and they start to label them as unambitious. It is perceived that they don’t have the ambition to succeed, the desire for bigger roles so they get side-lined – often unconsciously – by their leaders.
As I say, it’s complicated, there are a couple of scenarios I see –
- the woman who doesn’t want to be seen as a ‘pushy, determined woman’ but does want more, however she doesn’t do enough to be noticed, she expects to be recognised by doing a good job alone;
- the woman who is not consciously ‘ambitious’ but very capable and sometimes needs encouraging to do more, will do more and do it well if given it;
The bottom line is that the messages about women, and the norms around our roles and behaviours, that have influenced us from the moment we were born, lead some women to hold themselves back.
So, what can we do?
I encourage women to be more proactive – go back to your purpose (here’s my blog on that subject) and remind yourself what you want out of life. Be brave, by writing down your goals and ambitions. Then tell other people about them. If we want more, we need to step up – show what we can do and let people know we want more. There’s a quote I love from How Remarkable Women Lead by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston “own up to it to allow yourself to take ownership for success”. Look for support around you to push you on your way – who are your cheerleaders to help you be brave?
I encourage leaders to explore this subject with their female team members. Start a conversation. Listen to them above the noise of the men on the team. Give them a push in the right direction by getting them into more stretching roles. Often you have more confidence in that individual than they have in themselves!
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.