Fiona Murden's Blog, page 4
July 15, 2021
Common myths busted
When my brother and I were little our Mum seemed to know what we were up to, what was said and done even when she was no where to be seen. This I found a little spooky yet oddly exciting. The anticipation of her always knowing kept me on my toes. My mother would recount what mischief my brother had been up to while he stood mouth gapping – how did she know? When asked she would say ‘I have eyes in the back of my head’. I believed this well into my teenage years, although logically didn’t know how it could be true she certainly seemed to have a knack of knowing about the most obscure goings on. So much so that I would confess most of my misdemeanours before being ‘found out’ in an effort to try and beat her to it.
The eyes watching turned to psychic abilities as I grew older. Mum for example saying ‘Be careful or this will all end in tears’ ultimately worked out to be right throughout my teens and into my twenties and unfortunately she’s managed to accurately predict many a downfall ever since.
As a parent myself I now know the route to finding out what’s going on even when we’re not there and as an adult can understand that her predictions are accurate because a) she is a perceptive and wise lady but also b) if I believe her the likelihood is I will make something happen myself – a self-fulfilling prophecy. When for example she tells me that I’ll end up sick if I don’t slow down, I of course end up sick.
There are so many myths that surround us which we cling onto well into adulthood and believe despite our rational knowledge of the world. Working with leaders one of the most common is ‘Imposter Syndrome’ – a leader or anyone who is successful at what they do believing that they are going to get found out because they really aren’t good enough. They are however in shared company because so many suffer from it. In fact a recent piece of research carried out by my friends and colleagues at The School for CEOs alongside Heriot Watt University found that both Men and Women experience Imposter Syndrome often believing they’ve reached the position through hard work and ‘luck’ as opposed to experience, credibility and capability.
Other myths we believe in as adults can be quite dangerous to our well-being. The belief that being emotionally strong means never feeling or showing emotions for example which in fact this denotes emotional brittleness and a higher likelihood of at some point breaking down. That showing vulnerability as a leader is a bad thing (listen to the very powerful Dot to Dot podcast episode with Jonathan McMullan to hear more on this. Also if you haven’t already – watch Brene Brown’s fab TedTalk to see why this isn’t true – link below). That to be a successful leader you need to be an extrovert or at least act like one. That depression shows weakness and failure (more on this from Olympian Jack Green in the upcoming Dot to Dot episode), when in fact many of the worlds greats have suffered from including Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Sir Isaac Newton, J.K. Rowling. And for me the worst of all, that trying to solve the problems in our heads works in the same way as trying to solve the problems in the outside world – when in truth if we try to control our emotions we actually just end up tying ourselves in knots. Other psychological myths include:
We learn more effectively when taught via our preferred “learning style”Our personality is fixed once we’re an adultWe only use 10% of our brain capacityWe have a dominant left or right brain making us more creative or more analytical10,000 hours of deliberate practice will not make you giftedSo the moral of this story – while believing in the tooth fairy may be fun, other myths and beliefs are better questioned. Don’t always believe what you are told.
What myths have you believed in your lifetime (psychological or otherwise) and then busted?
Defining You: Discover telling insights into your behaviour, motives and results to unlock your full potential by Fiona Murden, is available in all good bookstores and on Amazon UK, USA and Australia at the links below:
https://bit.ly/DefiningYou2ndEd
http://bit.ly/DefiningYouPaperbackUSA
And my new book Mirror Thinking How Role Models Make Us Human is also out now:
Photo by Ivan Dražić from Pexels
References – to read more about psychological myths:
10 of The Most Widely Believed Myths in Psychology
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201112/the-top-10-psychology-myths
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201908/10-myths-about-the-mind
Brene Browns Ted talk on vulnerability:
The School for CEOs research on Imposter Syndrome
https://www.schoolforceos.com/thought-leadership/overcoming-impostor-feeling
July 10, 2021
From humble beginnings to the board of Coca Cola
This week I’m honoured to share a podcast episode with Christine Cross who holds Non-Executive Directorships with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners among others.
I met Christine through work when I was profiling for a CEO role at company where she was on the board. It immediately struck me how incredibly sharp she is and I have learnt since that she is also an amazing supporter of young people (and even older ones like me) and women. On this episode among other things we explore the importance mentors and role-models and how one small comment at the right or wrong time can send a young person’s life off in a completely different direction.
We also discuss Christine’s upbringing and how she chose not to go to Oxford or Cambridge despite being destined – not through her upbringing – but her academic capability to go there. She decided it wasn’t what she wanted and followed her interests instead of being drawn into the expectations of those heralded institutions. I didn’t know until we did this podcast that she has 8 A levels including the sciences. And yet she is open to hearing how other people view the world, listening to their take and perspective and offering her guidance.
Hear her fascinating story here:
May 14, 2021
Mental wellness for life starts at school
Simon has been struggling with what ‘goes on in his head’ for some time. He really wants to sort it out but isn’t quite sure how. And although more and more people are saying ‘it’s ok to not be ok’ and talking about mental health it still doesn’t really feel like something that he can open up to anyone about. Maybe he’s alright after all. Maybe he’s just imagining it. What would people think if they knew what he was thinking? Would they treat him differently? Would they think he was weak? Or a failure? Or not the person they’ve always thought he was?
Simon recalls the visit they had last week at school. Some guy came in to talk about ‘stuff’ relating to mental health. He was so messed up that he tried to take his own life. He survived and now that’s what he does – goes around telling school kids about it. Trying to make it seem ‘normal’. Simon thinks to himself ‘I’m not that bad, yeah I’m OK, I just feel a bit angry and upset sometimes but that’s alright, I mean it’s OK to not be OK right?’
By the time Simon reached the age of 26 his mental health had deteriorated considerably. He’d begun taking drugs and drinking heavily and had even attempted to take his own life.
This is happening more and more.
What’s the problem? While we’re doing more and more to help with mental health, to raise awareness and to address the issues it still isn’t enough. For example:
We don’t thread through teaching about mental health and the mind from start to finish. While there has been a dramatic uptick in the number of interventions in schools – Simon’s visit by ‘someone who had been there’ is just one example – they are not joined up. They need to be weaved into the curriculum from early years to when children leave the school system to build on knowledge and understanding and help to make sense of what’s being taught. It’s like teaching addition in year 2 of school, then no more maths until year 8 when algebra is introduced. It just wouldn’t make sense and wouldn’t work.
It’s often not based on evidence. There’s a nuanced difference between interventions that have been researched and those that have not. For example, colouring in framed as mindfulness is actually relaxation. Learning mindfulness properly involves understanding how to engage and disengage with emotions and cognitive thought processes.
We don’t provide children with the opportunity to ‘try it and see’. Once both of the above factors are in place, children need to be able to try out the (evidence based) strategies and approaches and see which ones work for them. Then use them and practice them to make them easily accessible when they need them most. Over time this will allow children and young people to build a manual to their own mind – equipping them with skills for life.
We don’t recognise that these skills are essential to career success. There’s a huge emphasis on cognitive skills attainment yet research shows that as technology and Artificial Intelligence increase, so will the need for social and emotional skills. These are the same skills that build emotional resilience and protect mental health.
Teachers are not supported, and stress is contagious. If teachers are stressed there is evidence to show that it increases levels of stress in pupils. Teachers need support and training to enhance their own wellbeing. Not only because they deserve it but because it’s also critical to providing the environment in which children can bolster and understand their own wellbeing.
While this is a lot to tackle there are ways to do it and what’s more there are more accessible options available that we’re not fully leveraging – the power of role-models and mentors.
Research carried out on a mentoring scheme in the US, similar in type to Future First has shown that young people who had mentors were 46% less likely to start using drugs and 27% less likely to drink alcohol. They were also less likely to skip school. The mentoring relationships resulted in improved confidence, levels of trust and relationships with parents and peers. They were more hopeful about the future, had improved communication skills, interpersonal skills, decision making and self-management skills. All of these factors not only improve life outcomes but also underpin better levels of mental health.
And from our work at Future First we have seen first-hand that young people who are mentored feel better about themselves and as a result are better able to engage with schoolwork and have a greater resilience to face the challenges in their current and future life. Mentoring also helps them to connect what they learn in the classroom with what’s happening in their lives, homes and communities. Relatable mentors and role models really should be part of the wider prevention framework.
Simon is now in his late 20s and doing OK. He still has problems with his mental health but has learnt how to manage it. The question is – if the processes above were fixed – if he’d been taught these skills earlier on, would he be in a better place now? 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24. This not only highlights our need to intervene early but as we see rates increasing also suggests that we’re not doing enough to combat this.
Schools provide the ideal setting to foster good mental health habits early on in life. This won’t prevent mental ill health, nor will it eradicate difficulties, but it will, if done right, improve a child’s life trajectory and equip them with the skills to more effectively navigate their internal and external worlds. Let’s start doing this properly – looking at inoculation and not just cure.
First published for Future First
For more on the power of mentoring and role-modelling please take a look at my book
Mirror Thinking – How Role Models Make Us Human https://bit.ly/mirrorthink
And for more about me please go to www.fionamurden.com
May 9, 2021
Knowing you knowing me
Credit: pexels.com‘How well do you really know yourself?’ A hugely significant 95% of us think that we’re self-aware, but the reality bears a stark contrast with 10% to 15% actually knowing who we really are (Eurich 2017). Although we believe that we know the image we see starting back at us from the mirror, the way we position our story on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, what our co-workers and friends think of us, in reality we spend very little time actually reflecting on who we are or asking people for honest opinions about the impact we’re having on them.
Self-awareness isn’t a new concept – another faddy notion claiming to be the route of all happiness. Plato said, ‘Know thyself’ more than two thousand years ago. Today, the understanding that knowing ourselves is the cornerstone to realising our potential is backed by the experience of generations and robust scientific evidence. In fact, as psychologists we even believe that this skill is the foundation of human survival and advancement (Eurich 2017 – for our podcast interview go to Dot-to-Dot).
Why Does Self-Awareness Matter?
The lack in self-insight that most of us unwittingly have, means we are wandering around with an equivalent of a blindfold on. We may be making it from one place to another but along the way we’re bumping into things, stumbling over obstacles and taking a really inefficient route to our destination. When it comes to behaviour that means unintentionally annoying people and making a myriad of unnecessary mistakes along the way. On the other hand taking that blind fold off would enable us to:
Work out what we actually want from life – without working out what we want there is no way of getting closer to it.Understand our strengths in order to start-making proper use of them.Work on our weaknesses and at the very least mitigate the negative impact they have.Having better self-insight also improves our social skills, decision making capabilities, ability to deal with pressure, resolve conflict and deal with stress.
Given all of this it’s unsurprising that knowing ourselves allows us to fulfil our potential. Indeed, eminent Psychologist Daniel Goleman explains that self-awareness is the cornerstone of emotional intelligence and success. In his book Emotional Intelligence, Goleman explains how in an organisational setting, once someone has an IQ of 120 or above, it’s emotional intelligence that becomes the most significant predictor of successful leaders.
And it’s not just soft skills that benefit, Dr. Richard Boyatzis a Professor of Organisational Behaviour looked at the profits produced by partners in a number of financial services companies measuring the 4 areas of emotional intelligence defined by Goleman. He found three of the facets had a massively significant effect on bottom line results with good self-awareness adding 78 per cent to incremental profit.
Most importantly of all having good self-awareness allows us to thrive. Knowing how to operate at our optimum but also being tuned into our mental and physical needs allows us to know when we need to refuel our body and our mind – leading to better physical and mental health.
How Can You Improve Your Self-Awareness?
Knowing how your brain works – it’s useful to first understand a bit more about how our brain works before delving into introspection. What’s normal and what’s not but also what’s helpful and what’s not. For example if you approach self-reflection in a way that’s hyper vigilant of everything that runs through your mind it will become counter-productive. When it comes to the brain analysis literally is paralysis. Instead try to be curious about yourself and your story but try not to ‘judge’, just observe.
Knowing about the world around you – a core component of self-awareness is understanding how our actions impact the world around us, not just looking inward. This is known as ‘external self-awareness’ and can be developed by:
Being curious – observing how your actions change and impact things. Also take note of how other people alter interpersonal dynamics. This is critical because external self-awareness is as important as internal self-awareness.
Knowing what you don’t know – approaching a situation accepting of your own inexperience. Not presuming you know the answer, rather asking questions with an open mind and really considering the answers.
Asking people what they think – ask for feedback from people who know you well and who you trust. Ask them to help you think through ‘What is really important to me? What am I really good at? What makes me unique?’
Knowing about you – it may seem a bit counterintuitive to put this one last but self-awareness is not pursely about self-absorption, it is about knowing about our passions and feelings but in terms of how they influence and are influenced by the context of the world we exist in. Ways in which to improve ‘internal self awareness’ include:
Writing lists or brainstorming – your strengths, weaknesses, what motivates you, what you stand for, what makes you happiest, what makes you mad.
Keeping a journal – not only does the process of writing itself allow the time and space for reflection, but also the capability to look back and learn from mistakes, at patterns of behaviour and their outcomes, to capture what makes you happy and what takes that away.
Making reflection a habit – this could be in the form of a journal or it could be meditation, mindfulness, going for a walk or a run, saying a prayer – whatever gives you the space to focus on what you’re feeling, how you are, what’s going on for you. Having the space to reflect on what makes us who we are, our own personal life story, is crucial to raising self-awareness.
Self awareness and learning about who we are is a continual journey – although the very core of us remains stable throughout life, our preferences, strengths, goals and passions modify and change as we grow and add to our story. If you make the effort to pay attention to that journey it can and will lead you to a far more fulfilled life.
May 7, 2021
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May 3, 2021
How meditation can heal trauma
Lying in a hospital bed unable to either see or move Vanessa found that the only thing she could take control of was her own thinking. And that, when you’re terrified of what’s happening to you and why is not an easy thing to do. This week’s episode of Dot to Dot is out now.
Vanessa went from a high octane career as a TV producer to becoming blind and paralyzed overnight. Her journey back to health resulted in her pulling on mental resources she’d learnt previously such as techniques from hypno-birthing. Psychologist Lou Jones and I talk to Vanessa about how the power of psychology in action – since then she’s been on a mission to understand more about the impact of meditation on the mind. Vanessa has worked with Cambridge University on ground breaking projects even venturing into the world of psychedelics.
Author, TEDx speaker & meditation advocate, Vanessa used the trauma of losing her sight following a rare illness as an extraordinary opportunity to explore her mind. She became curious to understand the mechanics of her brain embarking upon a ‘meditation road trip’ exploring 10 ways to train her mind as neuroscientists recorded her brain activity. Her book, Finding My Right Mind: One Woman’s Experiment to put Meditation to the Test publishes on 29th April 2021.
April 20, 2021
How Unexpected Role Models Make us Human
Do you know how little you control your every action? Every person you interact with is a role model, and each interaction changes your behaviour, mood, outlook and makes you human. But we’re losing this – our capability to be human – through our modern existence. Watch and learn how you can change that not only that for your benefit but for the sake of humanity.
Watch my Tedx here filmed for London School of Economics from lockdown at home.
April 18, 2021
Want to know how to be happy – this man has the answers.
On this week’s episode of the Dot to Dot podcast, fellow psychologist Lou Jones and I talk to Russ Harris – best selling author, doctor, therapist and all round lovely guy.
Some of Russ’s words of wisdom:
“Money can’t buy you happiness – as I transitioned from a medical doctor to a therapist my income went down and down and down, a therapist earns about a third of what a doctor earns. But my fulfilment and satisfaction from the work I was doing went up and up and up.”
“I do miss the quick fix – as a doctor if someone comes in with a big boil you can just lance is and all the puss flies out and it’s fixed.”
“Virtually all medical conditions have got a psychological component to them and they’re much worse when you’re stressed.”
“We’re dealing with the human condition and the thing with the human condition is you’ve got it your whole life from the moment you’re born to the moment you die.”
“We box psychological conditions and hope that we can fix them, but life just isn’t like that – it’s messy.”
“People in medicine and high power professions like law, the armed forces, business still perceive it as a sign of weakness wifi you have stress or anxiety. People pretend they don’t suffer, that they’ve got it all under control, that’s they’re fine.”
“You compare your insides to everyone else’s outsides. Everyone around you seems on the surface to be fine and copying well, but you don’t know what they’re feeling. All those thoughts going through their head and emotions surging through their body.”
“With so many [self help] approaches they are quite exciting in the short term then people are disillusioned in the long term….we’re bombarded by messages like ‘don’t worry be happy’ and set up with unrealistic expectations.”
“We can’t stop our mind from doing those things but can change the way we respond to them, making us far more comfortable [with the negative emotions].”
“The things that matter most in life come with painful feelings. You can learn new more effective techniques to get through versus getting into a battle with them [which just makes them worse].”
Russ is hugely passionate, funny and insightful. The approach of ACT which is Russ’s lifeblood is something I first studied and thought was utterly brilliant back in 2003 when I was doing my psychology MSc. But it was so difficult to translate the theory and concepts into something useable. That’s what Harris has done – opening it up to literally thousands of people around the world. From every day folk with every day problems through to working with the World Health Organisation helping refugees in Uganda, Syria and Turkey.
March 23, 2021
The importance of someone like me
We often think of role models as being heroes or heroines, sports stars or world leaders, change-makers or those who are dramatically impacting the world – people who are out of reach and infallible.
But in reality, we are surrounded by role models both good and bad. We are also role models influencing others day in and day out ourselves. We all know the impact a teacher can have on a young person, and the same is true of all meaningful encounters a young person can have with adults, especially when the adults are relatable, and they can see ‘people like me’ in them.
Role-modelling happens via mechanisms in our brain known as the mirror system. We literally mirror and absorb the behaviour, attitudes, values and moods of those around us often without realising, continually learning and adapting to the world we live in. From small behaviours like a smile or a yawn to lasting behaviours like attitudes and values. Take for example, a study published in 2007 by New England Journal of Medicine observing more than 12,000 participants for 30 years which found that people are more likely to gain weight if those they interact with gain weight. The chances of gaining weight increased by an astounding 171% if a close friend had done so, in other words ‘someone like me’.
We almost absorb the behaviour of those around us – particularly those we’re close to and connect with – by osmosis. And this isn’t just true of gaining weight; it covers almost everything we do. In fact, this mirroring is critical to developing the social and emotional skills that lie at the heart of being human. We don’t just ‘get’ these skills they need to develop through iterative interaction, repeated thousands of times in order to enable the systems in our brain to develop and grow. This occurs throughout life but is heightened in adolescents when the social brain is undergoing extraordinary levels of development.
So, what happens when that’s missing, when children don’t have the close relationships with people who believe in them, an adult who they can connect with? A study carried out by the Early Intervention Foundation found that the impact of neglecting to develop the social and emotional skills which can only be learnt through this type of relationship cost the government around £17 billion annually – a result of ‘picking up the pieces of damaging social issues affecting young people’. Whereas the authors explain that helping children to develop these social and emotional skills leads to hugely positive outcomes including better mental health, improved physical health, and a higher likelihood of getting a good job.
These skills are not only essential to life outcomes, but they are also becoming more and more critical to the future of the workforce too. A report published by leading global consultancy McKinsey found that with an increase in automation and Artificial Intelligence there will not only be a higher need for technical skills but also a far greater need for well-developed social and emotional capabilities. The report states that ‘the demand for social and emotional skills will grow across all industries by 26 percent in the United States and by 22 percent in Europe by 2030.’ Meanwhile they predict that the need for basic cognitive skills will decline.
So, these skills are critical. But if they are learnt through interacting with and modelling the behaviour of others, especially those who are trusted – who young people can connect with and are exposed to – how do we improve children’s access to them? As teachers there is the opportunity to be more conscious of the need to really connect and be present and have meaningful interactions. The same is true for parents and relatives, by simply spending more time face-to-face and building trust and connecting with kids it will begin to build these skills. But with an ever-increasing pace and an already packed curriculum and more time spent looking at screens this isn’t always easy. And for the teachers who have huge classes it’s nearly impossible to give that attention to every child. So, what can we do – especially for those children who don’t have any positive role-models in their family life?
This is where mentoring provides a critical lifeline. Mentors enable social and emotional skills learning without us even being consciously aware of ‘how’ that is happening. Simply being with a teen and showing interest in them allows the natural mechanisms in the brain to grow and develop.
Each mentoring relationship has the possibility of unlocking the innate potential of each teen that they connect with. The opportunity for teens to connect with a real person who is there purely for them – the one-to-one attention will develop their social and emotional skills, it’s just the way it works. But better still these mentors provide a line of sight to what’s possible and how it’s possible. These relationships are most effective when a mentee can connect with someone like me due to something known as the ‘homophily principle’.
In the same way we tend to think of role models as being infallible we also tend to think of mentors as needing to have been model pupils or to be doing exceptionally well with their careers in order to play that role. But we are more likely to form trusting connections, essential for the natural mechanisms of the brain to work, with people who are similar to us based on characteristics like age, race, gender and ethnic origin. And this is especially true for teenagers. Counter to what we may naturally think of when considering mentors – that may not be someone who was academically brilliant. What’s critical is that teens can see ‘someone like me’ to connect with. And if we train mentors effectively, research shows that the mistakes they made provide an immensely powerful lesson to the mentee.
We are all role models to youngsters and we have the opportunity to have a profoundly positive impact on their lives. You don’t have to be perfect to be a good mentor or role model. Nor do the mentors we match with youngsters through Future First. By providing the mentors with the right training: an improved level of self-awareness, an understanding of their own journey and an understanding of how to relate effectively we can match them with ‘someone like me’. Working in this way, the power of mentoring offers the opportunity to provide hundreds more teens with not only better career options but also the chance to live a healthier and more fulfilled life.
I wrote this blog post for Future First – learn more about the wonderful work they do by clicking on the link.
Extract from Mirror Thinking – Why Role Models Make Us Human
The story of Terrell and Terence – mentoring in practice:
A brilliant example of how this plays out can be found in a U.S. mentoring scheme which has been running for over 100 years. The Big Brother Big Sister scheme matches young people from low-income backgrounds with young adult volunteers who are typically between 20 and 34 years of age.
Mentors are encouraged to form a supportive friendship with the youths, as opposed to modifying the child or adolescent’s behaviour or character. There are numerous moving stories of the outcomes.
For example, 11-year-old Terrell was, according to his aunt, in a ‘really dark place’ and ‘missing something’ from his life. He was signed up to the scheme and matched with Terence, who had himself been mentored when he was younger. Terrell lived with his aunt because both of his parents were in prison. His little brother had died aged three and he was separated from his older brother and younger sister. Unsurprisingly, he had deep issues with trust and anger, responding quickly and aggressively to situations he found difficult. Terrell’s aunt and uncle wanted to help, but also had reservations about the scheme. Given what Terrell had been through, the last thing they wanted, in his aunt’s words, was ‘to introduce him to someone new who could potentially not hang around’. Terrell was also reticent, talking about how he felt at the time: ‘With my background, with what I’ve been through in my life, I didn’t trust people a lot.’
But Terence was committed and developed the connection needed to help Terrell. He never pushed him to talk about things he didn’t want to, but remained consistent, showing him that he wasn’t going anywhere. A year into their relationship Terence recalls how Terrell first began to open up. They drove past a cemetery and Terrell said ‘my brother’s over there, he’s buried over there’.
His aunt recalls: ‘Terence stepped right in and before I knew it, I could see the light start to glow in Terrell again.’ Terrell says that being able to open up to Terence and having him as a role model has changed his life. Terrell doesn’t skip class when his friends do. He knows what he wants out of life and is focused on getting there. ‘My future plans are to go to college, join the National Guard, be a dentist,’ Terrell says. He also wants to be ‘a Big Brother like Terence and pass it on’. Having someone to model provided Terrell with a guide to how he could be and how things could turn out learning from someone very similar to himself. This was someone who could provide the opportunity for direct social and emotional learning, typically less available in a busy household or environment where carers are struggling to make ends meet.
March 8, 2021
Why being human means being a role-model
On International Women’s Day I thought I’d share an extract from my book Mirror Thinking about how important role-models are to enabling positive traction….
‘The impact of diverse role models reaches far beyond the executive board room. Research from Microsoft, for example, shows that the number of girls interested in STEM decreases as they move through education. Despite entering school with similar levels of ability in maths to boys, there is a trend for them to lose interest. The overall result is that women are under-represented in STEM fields, especially in areas such as engineering and computer science, which are in huge demand globally. The World Economic Forum explains how rapid advances in artificial intelligence, along with robotics and other emerging technologies, means that the nature of jobs is changing rapidly. The future job market is likely to become more clearly split between non computer- based skills and technical. The prediction is that at least 133 million new roles will be generated globally as a result of the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms, requiring women to make up a significant proportion of the workforce. However, research has shown that as societies become more wealthy and the gender gap closes, women will be even less likely to gain degrees in STEM subjects. This is being called the ‘gender-equality paradox’.47 So how do we combat this issue?’
‘Microsoft’s research, spanning 12 European countries and including nearly 12,000 females aged 11–30, showed that the number of girls and young women interested in STEM across Europe, on average, almost doubles when they have a role model to inspire them. The results also revealed that having a role model for a particular subject area, such as chemistry, shows positive uplift in all STEM subjects. Role models give girls and women greater confidence in their ability to achieve within STEM, more passion for the subjects and more interest in pursuing careers in technical fields. They are able to more see themselves via their mirror system in those roles if they can see women who are already there.’
In short we need more role-models to enable change. But we also need women to be visible, women of all personalities, backgrounds and ethnicities. Women with different stories and perspectives. Women who rise to the top but as much as that women who are happy fulfilling their potential and shining at all levels of organisations and life. It’s not just about leaders.
So if you are women, you are a role model. It’s your responsibility to be seen and heard in order to allow other girls and boys to see their own way through.
Extract from Mirror Thinking – How Role Models Make Us Human (Bloomsbury, July 2021) by Fiona Murden. To find on amazon, Waterstones or Barnes and Noble go to:
USA and Canada https://bit.ly/MirrorUSACan
Waterstones https://bit.ly/2ylrc7H
Barnes and Noble https://bit.ly/3bRZyN4
Photo by Soul.photobr from Pexels
