3 Leadership Tips For Millennial Women In A Career Pivot … Again
Pivoting and being open to new opportunities is definitely not a desperate plea for work. I’m faith-led, so it’s very hard for me to lean too deep in desperation. However, the challenges related to emotional and mental wellness are very real. I
t’s a humbling experience when you are LED in a totally new direction after becoming a senior-level professional (manager, director, VP, CEO—heck, anybody SELF-employed! Lol). You’re used to earning a certain amount of money, having THAT title, and enjoying the invites and network that comes with a certain professional life. It’s TOUGH. Here are a few tips that have helped me:
1. Lean heavily into humility.
The reminder we all need about how humility can leaning heavily into it can lead to dynamic action. (Credit: Bustle/YouTube)
Your “new” opportunity doesn’t really KNOW the new you. You may have to “start over” with your branding, approach, networking, and first impressions. Some folk won’t really care about the work you’ve done in the past. And that’s OK. Remember your greatness but offer yourself and others grace and keep going.
Take the case of one of my favorite, most relatable creatives in the world: Issa Rae. Being awkward often comes with super-humbling moments that ultimately lead to the strengthening of a superpower. “The embarrassment came from making a YouTube series while all of my friends were being doctors, lawyers, diplomats, all of those different things. Those postcollege questions—did I have to go to college to do this? Did I have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to make YouTube videos?—that was embarrassing for me,” Issa told Glamour. “I don’t feel as naive as I once was. I’m way more confident in what I bring to the table now.”
She “leaned into the image of the relatable (occasionally embarrassed, occasionally awkward) Black woman.” “There was no blueprint to do this,” she continued. “There was no one I could look to to be like, ‘Oh, so-and-so made some videos and then had a television show, and then did movies. You kind of just do it.”
2. Prayer and mediation are non-negotiables.
Get a devotional book (like “Starting Your Day Right” by #joycemeyer or “Be Still And Know” by Broadstreet Press). Create a real spiritual practice if you fell off during that climb-up super-ambitious period. (Many of us do. We’re busy so sometimes even bedside church doesn’t see our faces for months and that spiritual book collects dust.)
This is a classic that has been a mainstay. My Granny reads this, my mom has always had it in her collection, and then I bought my own recently. It just never gets old. A great daily way to empower and grow your faith.
Plus, many successful women leaders we all know and love embrace some sort of spiritual routine or practice, from media mogul Oprah, to Morgan Stanley leader Carla Harris, to Cindy Owens, former Red Cross CEO and co-founder of Rooted Sisters. “We yearn for something more, whether it’s the divine or something more tangible,” Chris Meyer, co-founder and CEO of Bode-Tree, wrote for Forbes. “Without a higher call, work and life quickly becomes meaningless.”
3. Keep strategically networking with new people from an empowered place by adopting a service-led approach.
If you’ve lost touch but left a good impression, people never forget that. You might feel strange or embarrassed, but true leaders always give back and they have a foundation that approaches leadership as a servant. This has blessed me in the past few weeks, and I’ve enjoyed the conversations I’ve had so far, whether they lead to new contracts, positions or not.
When talking with someone from my previous network, it still empowers me to simply see someone’s face, know that they are alive and well and that we can still speak. Sometimes it’s not all about transactions with your network. With new connections, I treat it like I did when I was dating (many years ago): I come as I am. If it works out, great. If not, God bless and nice to have met you. I’ll follow up if led and I feel the connection is authentic and positive, and so will they. I don’t have to force anything.
Lisa Curtis tells her story of starting over, living with her parents and finding success. (Credit: SME Strategy/YouTube)
I recently read an empowering article about how women can network when starting over, and Lisa Curtis, founder and Ceo of Kuli Kuli Foods, shared what worked for her as someone who started in an industry where she had no industry connections or business experience. “It’s amazing how much my company has grown just from keeping in touch with a few incredible mentors,” Curtis wrote. “Women bring a distinctive approach that emphasizes authenticity, emotional intelligence, and relationship-building.”
A simple conversation can spark ideas, boost moods, nurture reconnection, provide insight, and ignite supernatural things we may not be aware of. And some actions aren’t meant for immediate results. There could be something that impacts a greater outcome in the future. I’ve always believed that people don’t help people. It’s obedience to God that is the true conduit. I help people because I am led to. I always try to think about the bigger picture and everything—I mean everything—goes as it should.
