If you’re like most women business owners, you’ve had to overcome some incredible adversity and challenges to get where you are today. Your journey tells a complex story––but are you telling it? Are you using the power of your voice as a business owner? Are you raising your voice when it comes to issues you’re passionate about or standing up for other women? Here, we hope to inspire you with some tips and quotes from other successful women on how to raise your voice and be heard:
Develop Your Voice, Not Your Brand
“Who am I? I am the COO of Facebook, a company I deeply believe in. I’m an author. I’m a mom. I’m a widow. At some level, I’m still deeply heartbroken. I am a friend and I am a sister. I am a lot of very messy, complicated things. I don’t have a brand, but I have a voice. If you are doing it to develop your personal brand, it’s empty and self-serving and not about what you’re talking about. If you’re doing it because there is something you want to see changed in the world, that’s where it will have value and depth and integrity.”
—Sheryl Sandberg, via Stanford Business
Advocate For Other Women
“We’ve all been at a table where a woman is marginalized. I’d like to see more of us at the table make more room for each other and speak up for each other. Not black women with black women, or white women with white women. Just women, sticking up for each other as a powerful group. I’m always looking out for that woman who is not in her power yet or is working her way there. If I witness someone knocking her down, I’m going to absolutely speak up, and I don’t care what it costs me.”
—Adenah Bayoh, via American Express
Speak Up When Others Won’t
“Some people only ask others to do something. Why should I wait for someone else? Why don’t I take a step and move forward. When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”
—Malala Yousafzai, via The Boston Globe
Trust Your Instincts
“I have learned to listen and to hone my instincts, to be perceptive and to be receptive. To change. To constantly live in ambiguity. How else can leaders today look around the corner and warn others of what’s coming? Only when you follow your instincts and continually renew your mind can your possibilities become realities.”
—Angela Ahrendts, via TedTalk