*Photo by Karianne Munstedt*
Gloria Feldt, former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, says that self-reflection and honesty are crucial to having a successful career. “Something magical happens when you set intentions,” she told dozens of women during a recent webinar hosted by Fairygodboss co-founder Romy Newman (check out a video of the webinar here).
Gloria — who offered listeners advice on workplace relationships, negotiating, and shaping their futures — said that she herself is making an effort to spend time each day setting intentions so that she can “focus on the important and not just the urgent.”
“Set an intention to spend X amount of time learning the role and showing credibility,” she said to one participant who was questioning whether there’s room for growth in her current position. “Then set an intention for moving up or moving to another organization where you can be more fairly paid. Check in with yourself and be clear about what your intention is,” Gloria advised.
Gloria has spent four decades advocating for women. She is the author of No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power and is the co-founder and president of Take The Lead, a women’s leadership movement to prepare women to take their fair and equal share of leadership positions across all sectors by 2025.
While she’s seen a lot of progress and changes in laws, she said that “we seem to be stuck. When it comes to the upper management level, we’ve been stuck at under 20% for decades.”
After Hillary Clinton’s first loss in the presidential race in 2008, Gloria wrote an article for Elle Magazine titled “Where The Hell Are All The Women?” that prompted her to investigate the issue further. She discovered that “women have a more ambivalent relationship with power [than men do]. Because of our socialization,” she said, “we’re more likely to see the locus of power outside of ourselves. The institutions we work in were designed by men for men who had women at home taking care of their households.”
That’s why Gloria suggests rethinking the idea of power and moving toward a power paradigm that women embrace. She said that the first step in advancing our careers is increasing awareness and getting informed on the subtle ways in which women’s relationship with power differs from that of men.
“The second step,” she said, “is learning the skills needed to navigate this double-edged sword that has to do with what our culture tells us based on our gender,” she said.
She added that women who plan to ask for a raise or promotion should first gather facts using resources like Fairygodboss that can help women see if they’re being compensated fairly; Fairygodboss’ salary database is based on anonymous member submissions and is constantly updated. “It’s most productive to go into any discussion with facts about what you’re worth in the marketplace – who’s going to push back against that?” she said.
Gloria also urged listeners to think about compensation as a whole rather than just as a number. “Go into negotiation knowing what the other things are that you value,” she explained.
She recommended using the Close the Gap App on Take the Lead’s website. It guides users through the steps of figuring out their value and worth by helping them define their goals; it’s essentially like having your own career coach on your computer or phone.
When asked about how women can keep moving up and get a seat at the table, Gloria said it’s smart to become acquainted with people at all levels of the organization. “It doesn’t matter where you are – go ahead and get to know people at every level,” she said. “That’s how you get tapped to do things at a higher level.”
Ultimately, she said, it’s all about being proactive and confident: “No one will attribute more power to you than you attribute to yourself.”
Samantha Samel is the editorial director at Fairygodboss, a company dedicated to improving the workplace for women by increasing transparency. The site offers a space for women to anonymously review their work experiences and also offers job listings, discussion boards, company ratings and career advice.
