Yes! Do It On Purpose

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”

I’ve quoted that famous Lewis Carroll line in a previous blog, but it’s worth repeating as we discuss the importance of a purposeful mindset for women with their eye on the C-suite.

What exactly does a “purposeful mindset” mean vis a vis getting ahead?  Predominantly it means:

• Having a clear picture of exactly what you want to achieve
• Understanding the opportunities and obstacles to achieving your goal
• Being willing to take required risks
• Finding the right people to help you get there (inside and outside the corporation)
• Knowing which management behaviors to hold on to and which ones to let go of
• Requesting feedback to ensure having the full view of an issue, as well as to validate your plan
• Making sure, every step of the way, that your goals are in synch with corporate needs

It may seem like a long laundry list, but not really. Once you set out on a purposeful approach to becoming a more impactful corporate leader, much of what you need will become clearer and more attainable.  For example, by defining the opportunities that could bolster your ambitions and the obstacles that could block them, you are in a great position to assess the behaviors that will get you there and the people who can help.

Additionally, once you’ve pinpointed those people, they will be a huge catalyst to achieving your goals. If they are the right people, they will be both your most avid supporters and your most honest critics. They are exactly whom you need and exactly whom you should heed.

As you can see, there is an intermingling and a synergy that makes a purposeful approach to leadership prowess more concise, more definable and easier to accomplish than the scatter shot approach, too often characteristic of get-ahead strategies.

Purposefulness- A Key to Personal and Corporate Success

At our WOMEN Unlimited, Inc. programs we stress the importance of a sense of purpose to our participants and their sponsoring corporations.  Throughout the program, we check in with both to make sure individual and corporate goals are in synch and that the women participants are realistic and resilient about achieving those goals. We stress to both participants and corporate partners that changes in behavior and attitudes are most likely called for if mutual success is to be achieved.

Bottom line? The wide screen purpose of a sense of purpose is to unleash a new wave of women leaders who take their corporations to the next level by achieving results that are mutually beneficial.

Dr. Rosina L. Racioppi
President & CEO
WOMEN Unlimited, Inc.