Be brave and be bold

Our female business leaders offer some advice for young women today:

❚ Surround yourself with good role models by working with people you respect, are inspired by, and can learn from

❚ Do work that you are genuinely interested in, that you love getting out of bed for

❚ Overcome ‘imposter syndrome’, or lack of confidence, by separating your feelings about the role from the responsibilities of that role; wear the role almost like you would a hat and ask what the role needs to do and focus on that; rehearse yourself in that role and imagine yourself performing really well in that role

❚ Think about how you are supporting other women, and what you are doing at an individual level

❚ Understand your purpose and your role

❚ Have good, strong people around you to support you

❚ Make sure you put your wellbeing, health, and safety first so that you can help others

❚ Stretch yourself beyond what you otherwise think you would do; sometimes it’s the non-obvious moves that help you advance, grow your experience, learn, and progress your career

❚ Step towards risk, to the edge of your comfort zone, back yourself and have conviction in yourself and your ability to adapt and learn from doing that; that’s where you learn the most and demonstrate you’ve got the chops for the next challenge, job, or role

❚ Accept that there will be trade-offs, you can’t be all things to all people, so have a good support crew around you

❚ Be yourself and don’t let anything hold you back

❚ Be brave, be bold, be willing to step in and put your hand up

❚ While women tend to only apply for a job if they fit 90 per cent of the criteria, men will apply for the same role with 10 per cent, so think about what is holding you back and what would give you the confidence to put your hand up for a role