How to authentically own your value
Happy Women’s History Month!
I’ll be honest – I haven’t paid a ton of attention to International Women’s Day / Women’s History Month in the past.
My work is more individual (empowering you all to thrive in your corners of the universe!) than systems-focused, and sometimes I wonder how much these celebrations actually move the needle on women’s rights and pay equity.
However, I do love to celebrate other women.
So when the Forte Foundation asked me to present at their IWD celebration this year, I was all in.
For those who don’t know - although I know there are a lot of Forte Fellows on this list! -the Forte Foundation’s mission is to increase the number of women in business and leading.
Dream mission alignment and partnership.
I also knew immediately what topic I wanted to present: Self-Promotion.
Or as I titled the presentation:
“Authentic Self-Promotion: Ditch the Cringe, Own Your Value, Create Opportunities.”
Self-promotion for women is walking a fraught tightrope between coming off as too aggressive and not saying enough.
It is also not something we have been taught to do.
So when we try to self-promote, it often comes out clunky and feels uncomfortable.
Yet, it is also a fact of life.
We have to talk about our value to get the opportunities - the jobs, promotions, stretch assignments - we want, now and in the future.
I took a talk I’ve been working on last summer, really tightened it up and created a 28-min Masterclass on how to talk about your value.
(Fun fact, the genesis for this was one of our community members inviting me to the women’s network she leads to help members brag more!)
Why am I sharing all of this?
Because self-promotion is necessary to create the career you want.
And my hunch is you can probably be better at it.
(We all can!)
So, I’m sharing my (free) Masterclass to help you do exactly that – own your value and create opportunities. Watch it at the link below.
AUTHENTIC SELF-PROMOTION CLASS
I didn’t want these goods to be limited to Forte members, so I recorded one of my run-throughs.
In the Masterclass, you’ll get:
Reflection prompts to identify your value
Simple framework to craft your value statement
Proven example value statements
Six best practices on how to talk about your value
For those wondering…
A value statement is different from your elevator pitch. My hunch is your elevator pitch is likely dusty – you created it years ago, it no longer perfectly works and it sits on a shelf until you occasionally break it out for an interview or networking event.
It is not something you use frequently or that easily fits into the flow of day-to-day conversation.
Your value statement is a simple 1-2 line statement that you will use every day.
(For my clients, it is a variant on your North Star Statement.)
It is a short synthesis of what you’re good at, how you create value and why it matters.
My prompts push you to go way beyond just quantifiable results and help you discover all the important and differentiated ways you create value.
You can use your value statement to frame the project you just completed and why it was so important…to talk about what you want to do next…to have an answer you feel really good about when someone asks you “so tell me about yourself…”
Use it consistently until it becomes part of your personal brand.
Don’t keep hesitating or stumbling over clunky words that don’t fit. Hit “watch” above to start strategically owning your value and creating new opportunities.
And share with other women who will benefit! Let’s get more women owning their value - there is no better way to celebrate this month.
It’s completely free and I’ll leave it up on my Vimeo page, so you can come back to it at any time.
Happy International Women’s Month!
