Why The Healed Woman Makes For a Powerful Leader

To be a female entrepreneur, or a female in any leadership role, it takes an immense amount of healing, self-love, and awareness to be truly successful. Too often the personal work is skipped, overlooked or viewed as “not as important” in comparison to the other logistical pieces that go into leadership and business. 

But I argue that it’s actually the most important. Leaving your previous emotional wounds unhealed can result in sabotaging behaviors that counteract the integrity of your position—defensiveness, impulsivity, hyper-perfectionism, putting too much weight into other people’s opinions....the list cold go on.

I think we can all recall a time when we reacted in a less than desirable way that completely undermined our poise and grace as the powerful feminine leaders we know we are...and hey, we’re also human!

The occasional moment is understood and can be resolved quickly by taking immediate responsibility and owning the situation. But if the behaviors linger, then it’s time to do some soul-searching in order to truly step up. Here are some places to start…

Question yourself. Seems taboo, doesn’t it? As leaders we’re constantly told “don’t question yourself, just go for it!” And to an extent that’s true, and it’s gotten us far, as we should be loyal to our vision. However, it’s just as vital to always stay curious with yourself...ask those deeper questions like: “why did I just lose my cool with X, she was simply asking me a question...what’s really going on?” You might come to discover that your colleague asking you a question heightened your already present anxiety because your to-do list was overflowing. From here you can better strategize for the future. Take a minute in the office to meditate when feelings of overwhelm strike. Delegate tasks that don’t require your personal attention to lighten the list. And make sure you’re only taking on as much as you can reasonably manage.

Identify the wound. Ever have a new and exciting idea that you’re just bursting to share with your colleagues just to pitch it and not receive the reciprocated excitement? How do you respond? Triggered? Just because others can’t see your vision doesn’t mean that they don’t see YOU. Oftentimes, as the passionate leaders we are, we attach our entire self-worth to the acceptance of our ideas. But our job isn’t to force our ideas, it’s simply to dream bigger, encourage others to think in new ways, and appropriately guide our teams in a forward-moving direction that will best serve all. Taking the ego of this is “MY idea” out of the equation will release the unnecessary personal pressure and allow the idea to be molded into something positive for the team.

Always Choose Grace. When all else seems to fail and your fumes are running low, always choose poise and grace in every situation. Etching a go-to mantra in your mind will help keep your reactions at bay so you can respond...even when you’re tired, stressed, and just downright fed up. Allow the situations to flow, come from a neutral standpoint to gather more information, and then pause. By not overreacting in the moment, you give yourself the gift of space and can return later to respond in ways that will make you proud. Grace and poise...a girl’s best friend!

With the above, you will be on your way to being a well-respected leader in your industry. You will open up your personal power in ways you’ve never imagined before while still remaining true to yourself and your vision. We know how much we ladies love to hustle, so let’s start with the inner work, shall we? XO