Chicken or Egg? Professional or Personal Development

Dear Divas,

I’ve received a number calls over the past few weeks asking: “where does professional development end and personal development begin?” These queries came from women interested in attending our 2009 Learning Journey to Ireland.

Before these successful women could commit to something which, in their hearts, they understand is right for them, each rang or wrote to me seeking assurance that spending time and treasure to address foundational issues of identity development can be justified as professional development. “Leanne,” they asked, “isn’t this just self indulgence?”

We tend to mis-take personal development as being selfish or indulgent and professional development as being about helping or doing for others.

I believe it’s time we realize that this is just not the case.

It’s time to understand that all professional talent development is personal and vice versa—especially women’s talent development.

As individuals and change agents we need to realize that women are relational by nature. Women care about others. We seek consensus. We want people to have a voice. We readily shift tasks. We adroitly read situations. These are all powerful and positive attributes that make us good leaders, team builders, mothers, caretakers, community members. 

Simply put, understanding and acknowledging that these attributes are key to our personal identities allows us to better employ them in professional settings.

Yet these issues and concerns are areas that women’s professional development rarely address.

Research indicates—from Mckinsey to Tricia Naddaff, from Sally Helgesen and Marta Williams to Herminia Ibarra—women’s development needs are fundamentally different from those of men.

A report just released from Catalyst reveals that in 2008 the overall representation of women corporate officers and top earners continues to stagnate.*

A primary reason for this continued lack of progress is that traditional models for executive women’s talent and leadership development are deficient. These models have yet to take into account the relational nature of women. They don’t do enough to help women realize and come to trust their own capabilities. They don’t focus specifically on identity development.

Unfortunately, even with all our successes, we are often unsure of ourselves, lack confidence in our capabilities, and disbelieve the powerful influence and affect we have on those around us. Ultimately, we end up questioning our value, our worth, our talents, and, finally, our very identity.

By nature and necessity, women’s leadership and talent development is personal development, identity development. And there should be no confusion: personal development supplies immediate workplace returns.

Women become noticeably better leaders, contributors, mentors, and coaches when they feel their lives are grounded and rich with meaning, when they gain confidence in who they are and what they offer.

It’s important for anyone involved in organizational change to understand that women's leadership and talent development is inherently a process of developing self.

I believe this message is both timely and urgent. Now is the time to pay attention to our development. Ilene H. Lang, president & chief executive officer of Catalyst, places this in context in terms of their recent findings:

“No change in a year of change is unacceptable—for business, for investors, for policy makers, and for the public which looks to business leadership for innovative solutions and accountability.”

As women, we must understand and come to terms with the fact that focusing on our identity development might just be our best chance for professional development and, in the end, what leads to meaningful organizational change.  Now is the time.

With warm regards,

Leanne

* See the Catalyst report.

Please consider joining us on our 2009 Learning Journey to Ireland for some personal & professional identity development (and a bit of pleasure, too.) Bring a friend. Tell a friend.

Thanks-Giving Thanks-Receiving

Dear Divas,

“Things haven’t been this bad since the Great Depression.” I stopped in my tracks, taken aback. There they were, my son and his friend, two 8-year-old Tom Joads, playing in the game room, talking about the Great Depression, sensing scarcity and forlorn. Where did they hear this? How is this possible?

Then I realized it is everywhere, this sense of scarcity that has engulfed us.

No doubt this has been a heavy year of upheaval and uncertainty. So many are feeling vulnerable. We fear loss; we lament what more might slip through our fingers.

What’s next?

What’s next is this week’s holiday of Thanks. Thanks-giving, indeed. And I would add, Thanks-receiving.

I am in no way trying to dismiss the fact that the market and the economy and the job market have us discombobulated and confused. There are many many people hurting in ways that’s filtered down, no matter how abstractly, into an 8-year-old’s vocabulary and sense of well-being. For good reasons we experience vacancy, a bit of despair, and a distancing from the at-home-ness of everyday living.

I ask that you pause and embrace this moment as an opportunity, an opening, an odd blessing.

While I certainly cannot predict what the future will bring, I can predict with great certainty that come this Thursday: you will have the chance to be immersed in rich relationships and deep meaning…And that the sense of vulnerability—clearly and magically—reveals the comfort and grounding in the richness we already possess.

Here is my Thankgiving hope:

What I hope you and I can do this year—if only for this day—is not live from a point of scarcity, of fear.

Let’s live beyond feeling there is a lack, an absence.

Let’s live in the beauty of company—family, friends, neighbors, strangers—sitting around a table breaking bread, sharing something to drink, talking and laughing and being with one another

My comfort is in knowing that we will both try. Can you commit to this, for this day, at least?

I will not be fearful.

I will not feel limited by what I don’t have.

I will not lament over what I believe I once had.

I will not chase the insanity of “only if.”

I want us to live in what we have. We have so much

I hope we can live this Thursday in thanks, in presence. I hope we give of ourselves in ways that let us be seen by those we love.

I hope we can live this Thursday receiving, in openness. I hope we accept warmth from those whom we love in ways that let them be seen.

Let’s do this together, regardless of whether you’re here in the States celebrating the holiday or in Europe, Asia, or South Africa. Let’s relish the opportunity to live in bounty.

Let’s feast in the stunning magnificence of the moment. No matter what I don’t have, I have this moment, these friends, my family, and this opportunity to give and receive.

Dear friend, I am going to rely on this mantra to keep me on track: Thanks-giving, Thanks-receiving

Thanks that I have passion to give. Thanks for the passion from you, which I can receive.

Thanks for this day—giving and receiving. These few hours when the world is astoundingly astonishing.

Give thanks and receive thanks.

-----

In richness and joy and love.

Leanne

Our 2007 Thanksgiving message

©2008 Divanation, LLC. All rights reserved

Diva La Différence

Friends of Diva,

We founded Divanation to help illuminate and recognize the voices and passions of extremely engaged and wildly talented women from all walks of life.

With that vision in mind, I would like to offer you a complementary download of the debut publication from our Diva La Différence—Women Leaders Series.

In this inaugural publication entitled Leading the Way, Lisa M. Cregan shares her powerful opening remarks to the UBS Women's Leadership Conference. While Lisa's talk was given to an internal audience, I believe you'll find her call to question unquestioned assumptions about gender and good business inspirational and thought provoking.

As Lisa writes:

"What I've come to see as the greatest unquestioned assumption is that women and men are the same.... I've come to see we are not the same.... I stand here today to say that the way men and women understand leadership, engage collaboration, build teams, construct networks, experience competition, resolve conflict, and welcome achievement is very, very different—but that difference is often unquestioned."

Lisa is the first of many important voices we intend to publish and distribute.

Diva La Différence™ celebrates women leaders who make a difference by promoting the difference women make in the workplace or within society. The Series will publish original writings, essays, reviews, profiles, opinion pieces, and other works relevant to the theme.

We urge you to read or download a complementary pdf version of the full text of Lisa's talk.

After reading the piece we'd appreciate any comments that you may have on the piece.

In peace and goodwill,

Leanne