Sally Helgesen

Today you will explore what female vision is: what it means, what it has to offer and why it matters to effective organizations and the world. The time has come for women’s vision and strengths, traditionally undervalued in organizations, to be skillfully integrated into organizational culture and strategy. Integrating the female vision — its power, sensitivity, and distinctiveness — is essential in a world that is profoundly social and increasingly interconnected.

The objectives for this topic are to:

• Understand the nature of and appreciate the importance of female vision;
• Help women increase the probability that their vision is more recognized and thus incorporated into organizations;
• Give men insights into ways they can derive the best talents from the women they manage.

The world needs more women in positions of power and influence. We hope the ideas and perspectives in this module contribute to helping you rise higher so you can make an increasingly positive impact on your organization and our world!

While we all must work together to shift the very real external barriers that exist for women in many organizations, this module focuses on limiting behaviours that may be blocking your advancement. These are behaviours that may have worked for you earlier in your career but may now be hindering you. Men and women often face different sorts of challenges in the workplace, so it is logical that some of the problematic behaviours that act as career roadblocks may be different for men and women. We present here a number of inter-related behaviours that we have observed often work against women as they seek to advance.

Take this opportunity to share and support other women as you investigate the gifts that you already bring to your work and how you can move out of your comfort zone for greater success and fulfilment.

This topic for women invites you to:

• Explore the most common habits that we have observed hold women back.
• Identify which individual habits you personally wish to transform.
• Cultivate strategies and allies to help you rise!