Beate Chelette's Blog: The Women's Code, page 26

How To Handle Disagreements

The threat was posted publicly on LinkedIn: “The world would be better off without you.” It’s not every day that I receive a threat to my life like this. It prompted me to think about what makes people so angry that they are compelled to post something this serious, and how to handle disagreements better instead.

The Backstory

The offending Linkedin post was “What Bothers Me About Working Women”, an article that explores a key concept in The Women’s Code, which is that we cannot look at men and women as being the same because clearly, we are not the same. Rather, we want to evaluate what is equivalent. 

Men Are Furious

It started as it always does. Women comment and thank me for the thoughts in my article and collectively realize that to achieve equality in the workplace, there are things like flex time, better child care, and no penalties for women who have to stay at home with a sick child. This notion is endorsed by quite a few men who have wives or daughters and recognize that a healthy work-life balance includes reducing the stress that comes from worrying about your kids when you have to be at work. I do believe that there are many wonderful men who chip in at home. At the same time, the numbers are what they are and they show that women do the majority of child-related work and housework, so there should be nothing to argue here.

Because women want equality more than we want superiority, we ultimately want men to have the same options as women—but we need to create them for women first. Countless studies support the immediate need to create better support systems for women as we continue to buckle under the double duty.

Once the first man comments and screams unfair to men! inevitably, other men chime in. Within hours, the wolf pack mentality has begun and the bad apples outdo each other in outrageous, personal, and vile attacks. 

I’ve Heard It All

There is the comment about my privilege of having sold a company to Bill Gates (hint, I worked for it), that I must be a feminist single Jewish woman (I am attached, I am not Jewish), to standardized statements meant to apply to all feminists like me, to the final very serious threat of “the world would be better off without you.” Now, I have heard it all. 

And all of this because I said women should be treated equally in the workplace! Needless to say, I reported the person who made the death threat and the most offensive comments. 

How To Handle Disagreements

We live in volatile times, where the top dog suggests it is okay to state mistruths, to spin facts, to spit out crazy and meaningless slogans and rhetoric. It has created a constant threat to basic civility. That’s why I want to share a few thoughts that you might find helpful on how to handle disagreements and stay centered.

Stay On Topic

First, stay on topic in any discussion. Go back to what we are actually discussing here. It’s so easy to get caught in the domino effect of other arguments that unravel in the comments. In my case, the topic was workplace initiatives that support working mothers better. Agree or disagree, but keep to the facts and stay on point. 

Stay Professional

In the age of internet transparency, you want to remain professional in every single comment you add in open forums like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. If in doubt, don’t say it. Once it is out there, it is out there forever as an undeniable record of how your temper got away from you. 

An Opinion Is Just That

Remember that you have a right to voice your opinion, and others have that same right. Your opinion is one of many. When you comment on opinion piece (in contrary to research papers that deal with facts), lighten up and keep an open mind. Sometimes I am shocked by how things are perceived or interpreted, or by how other people think. 

Stay Centered

In my work with The Women’s Code, the hostile and angry comments from men are needed for me to develop programs that will work for men and women. If I don’t understand how deeply rooted the anger of some men toward women, and what they consider as unfair preferential treatment toward women, then I would not be able to reach those men who need the information most.

To sum it up, it’s easy to get caught in the wave of discord that is seemingly sweeping the globe. Let history be your teacher, and stay centered. Once insanity stops being fashionable, only the moderate and balanced will remain in leadership.

How are you handling the crazies? Please share! I am sure I can pick up a tip or two from you because I bet I am not alone in this. 

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post How To Handle Disagreements appeared first on The Women's Code.

The Values and Attributes of a Modern Day Leader

The values and attributes of a leader who can succeed in the modern world are different from the leadership qualities that were admired thirty years ago. The old-fashioned type of leadership tended to be authoritarian. It was based around telling your subordinates what to do, not in listening to them. The leader was top of the totem pole (and was almost always a man), and what he said went. 

The Modern Day Leader

Even now, many people think of leadership characteristics as stereotypically male. They believe a leader is someone who imposes his or her views on other people. It’s all about power, command, and control.

With the advances women have made in the business world, a new type of leader has come to the forefront—a leader with “feminine” qualities such as inclusiveness, empathy, and compassion. 

The values and attributes of a leader who can take the helm in today’s world must be a combination of these two extremes. To gain more knowledge and understanding about this topic, watch this video below.

 

https://youtu.be/opVTbXuLDAM?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=09162018Video can’t be loaded: The Values And Attributes Of A Leader For The Modern Age (https://youtu.be/opVTbXuLDAM?utm_sour...)

 

Values and Attributes of the Modern Day Leader

There is one quality all great leaders must have, and that is the ability to think objectively about the needs of their organization. They can see all sides of the issue and take proper action. One of the most important attributes leaders possess is the ability to see the trend in the market, then take that information and do something constructive with it. They can look beyond their biases and preconceptions to see the truth.

The fact is, gender diversity is good for business. If you want to increase your ROI on invested capital by up to 66%, get at least one (but preferably three or more) women on your board of directors. 

If you want to know how to be a great leader, stop seeing the values and attributes of a leader as a collection of character traits. It’s not who you are that makes you a great leader. It’s what you DO.

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post The Values and Attributes of a Modern Day Leader appeared first on The Women's Code.

How Can Companies Support Women To Do Their Best?

Supporting women at work might seem like something we can take for granted in this post #MeToo age. In reality, we should be asking, “How can companies support women, especially working mothers, to perform at their best?”  

 You sometimes hear people asking, “Why should I support someone who’s taking time off to care for her children? That’s her choice and I don’t want to have to do extra work because of it!” Look at it this way… If no one takes care of the children, who is going to pay into Social Security when you get old? Who is going to do the work when you’re no longer able to?  

It’s a great thing that fathers are increasingly stepping up to do their share of childcare. The old business paradigm—which was created by men for men with the assumption that there would be a wife raising the children and taking care of the home—no longer works. Not for anyone. Watch this new video and learn more about how and why we should support women at work.

 

https://youtu.be/ozB1Tu2zhoQ?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=09092018Video can’t be loaded: Supporting Women At Work: How Can Companies Support Women To Do Their Best? (https://youtu.be/ozB1Tu2zhoQ?utm_sour...)

 

Success in the workplace is compatible with a thriving family and personal life. Supporting women at work is the best thing for your business, and the country as a whole. If you want to improve your bottom line, ask yourself, “How can companies support women in their roles as worker and family caretaker? How do we adapt to the modern economic climate of diversity and falling birth rates?”  

Women at work are here to stay. We need to come together and support each other. That includes hiring and mentoring other women and creating a balanced business model that takes into account the needs of each person, regardless of gender.  

Whether you own a small business or are CEO of a multi-national corporation, supporting women at work is the right choice because it does make your bottom line look better. 

If you’d like watch similar articles and/or videos, check out other blogs on the The Women’s Code website or subscribe to my Youtube channel where I upload videos weekly.

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post How Can Companies Support Women To Do Their Best? appeared first on The Women's Code.

My Epic Fail: The 10-minute Balance Training for Women Fixed

Internet marketing, open rates, email broadcasts and content creation. All designed to provide value for women who want to be informed about tools, information and studies around women leadership. At least that’s what I thought until I realized my epic fail, and for that… I am sorry.

When I wrote Happy Woman Happy World I focused on how I can provide what I learned from being a single mom, immigrant, entrepreneur and went from $135,000 in debt to becoming a multi-millionaire. As part of the book and as a free gift I offered I create a 10-minute Balance Training. 

Last week I decided to look who has been taken advantage of this complimentary Balance Training and I realized – NOBODY HAS TAKEN IT FOR MONTHS. 

Something Is Wrong

Epic fail, but why? So I went under the hood and ran diagnostics. If you have ever dealt with landing pages, autoresponders, CRM’s etc. you know that someone is constantly updating something and you don’t always catch that ONE email where they told you what they are doing, if an email was sent at all. Facebook and Apple are notorious for not letting anyone know they are making changes until you find out after the fact. 

Here Is What Happened

My landing page builder had changed the integration to my CRM. And while I caught most of pages that needed to be updated, I missed the Balance Training one. The result was a big fat nothing, zero, zilch, nada, kaput.

My Great First Impression

Nothing makes you more likeable than promising something and not following through. I am so sorry about this. So here’s what I thought I’ll do to fix it. I am going to make the Balance Training available to all of you. This time we tested the landing page, the integration and made sure that the membership site (where the training is housed) is firing properly. I am thrilled to report that everything is working.

Check the 10-minute Balance Training Here

Who Is This Complimentary Training For?

The work-life balance training is for anyone who is struggling with work-life balance, and never seem to be able to find enough time to do it all. The training is complimentary (no credit card needed, no free trial) all you need is your email and your name so that we can grant access to the membership site. It really only takes 10-15 minutes and I am providing you with a free tool that you can download and use right away. Other women (the ones who accessed the training before it failed) love it and have told me so. Check it out here.

Again, I am sorry for my epic fail. Let me know what you think of the training and how the tool helps you with scheduling.

Let’s grow,

Beate

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post My Epic Fail: The 10-minute Balance Training for Women Fixed appeared first on The Women's Code.

Keep Failing Until You Succeed

Many people have a fear of failure. If you are one of them, I urge you to think about how failure helps you succeed. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is commit to failing harder, faster, and more often. It’s the best teaching tool there is. The key is to master your fear-based thoughts. Don’t sink into defeat and self-pity. If you want to keep failing until you succeed, you need to have the right attitude. 

A Bump in the Road

In the right state of mind, failure is just a bump in the road. Each fall can give you the strength to make a better approach next time. That’s how failure helps you succeed.

With each mistake, you can learn more, you can become mentally tougher, and you can clarify your vision. It can even provide the motivation to achieve your goals. 

You might think, “It’s easy for you to say, ‘Keep failing until you succeed.’ You’re already successful!” Well, for more than ten years my life was failure after failure after failure. Yeah, I had some success in there too, but I lost it through bad circumstances and my own poor judgement. Listen to this video where I shared my own personal experience and lessons I gained on how I failed my way to success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5CSc3acC_4&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=08262018_ytVideo can’t be loaded: How Failure Helps You Succeed | Keep Failing Until You Succeed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5CSc...)


Keep Failing Until You Succeed

That’s why I’m telling you: never give up. In just a few months you can go from the worst day of your life to the best. Just figure out where you are, where you want to go, and how to get there.

Sure, people will criticize you for all sorts of reasons. They’ll try to stop you and slow you down. But if you keep a clear vision of your destination and work towards it every day, you’ll see how failure helps you succeed. Then you can be the person telling others, “Keep failing until you succeed!”

If you’d like watch similar articles and/or vides, check out other blogs on the The Women’s Code website or subscribe to my Youtube channel where I upload videos weekly.

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post Keep Failing Until You Succeed appeared first on The Women's Code.

How does media portray feminism?

When we think about feminism within mass media, certain preconceptions tend to be repeated. Mainly, that a feminist is a man-hater, or that feminists want advantages over men.  

Here’s the reality…

Sexism is still widespread in media representations of women. Things have improved over the last ten years, but we still have a long way to go before we reach gender equality.  

Indeed, sometimes we forget how far we’ve come. Feminism has done a lot to give women the same opportunities as men, but if you look at feminism and mass media it almost seems like a dirty word.  

It’s certainly the cause of a lot of negative emotions from people who would like to maintain the status quo.  

How does media portray feminism?

Well, that might be a question that never crosses your mind, but if you pay attention you’ll notice that the depiction is often reduced to a negative stereotype. At the Women’s Code, we like to use the phrases “balanced leadership” or “gender balance” instead.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlhJA1h4CvI&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=08192018_ytVideo can’t be loaded: Feminism And The Mass Media (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlhJA...)

 

It’s time for all of us to have a critical eye to ask, how is feminism portrayed in the media? We want feminism to be a balanced reflection of women that looks beyond our roles as wives, mothers, and sex objects. Women should be celebrated as the whole human beings that we are, not just for how we might serve men.  

It’s time for a new relationship between feminism and the mass media. Women have more opportunities than ever before to have our say on how the media portrays feminism, and it’s up to us to ensure they do so in a way that honors our strengths and individuality.  

Like this video? You may also want to check out the other videos in my Successful Women playlist. Watch it here.

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post How does media portray feminism?   appeared first on The Women's Code.

Work-Life Balance Tips For Mothers

Doesn’t everyone need some tips that will help us strike the balance between work and family life? Sure, when you’re young and single, without children to take care of, finding the time and energy for everything you want and need to do is simple and easy. As your life progresses and you accumulate responsibilities, it becomes more and more difficult. You need to put more time and effort into taking care of both your family and career so that neither one is short-changed.

And think: Where do you fit into all this? One of the top work-life balance tips for mothers is to allow time for taking care of yourself. If you get sick or just feel tired and irritable, how can you take good care of others? Women usually acknowledge the importance of spending quality time with their families, but may forget that they need quality time for themselves, too.

Striking the balance between work and family life means taking the time you need for yourself. You’ll perform better at work and be more present with your family. Listen to this short video I recorded where I discuss if it’s possible for us women to achieve work-life balance and what this entails. Don’t hesitate to comment in the video or in this blog to share your stand on this matter too!

 

https://youtu.be/hNHf6x74Nf0?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=08122018_ytVideo can’t be loaded: Striking The Balance Between Work And Family Life : Work Life Balance Tips For Mothers (https://youtu.be/hNHf6x74Nf0?utm_sour...)

 

Being a working mom is no picnic, but YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL—just not at the same time. The most important of my work-life balance tips for mothers is to slice your life into manageable pieces. Do one thing, then another. Don’t try to cram it all in at the same time because you’ll choke. Even if you do manage to accomplish it all, you may become rundown and vulnerable to sickness.

That’s the secret to striking the balance between work and family life. Don’t try to do too much at once. The best work-life balance tips for mothers take into account that you’re only one person with two arms who needs to sleep sometimes. Concentrate on finding your balance one day, one hour, at a time.

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post Work-Life Balance Tips For Mothers appeared first on The Women's Code.

All Women Have Female Leadership Characteristics – This is Why Moms Are Leaders

Whoever you are—male or female, rich or poor, the boss or the worker bee—you’ve probably had a lot of experience with female leadership characteristics. Even if you’ve never worked in companies where women are in leadership positions, your first boss was almost certainly a woman. I’m talking about your mom, of course.

Make no mistake, motherhood is undoubtedly a leadership role. Once you’ve honed your leadership skills by convincing rebellious teenagers to do their homework, leading adults is a cinch! Not all women choose to exercise their leadership qualities in a workplace, but the home front is full of female leaders.

You don’t have to look far for reasons why moms are leaders. It’s because they have to be. Bear in mind, female leadership characteristics can look different than what we generally think of as ‘leadership.’ Your mother is likely sweet and kind, and prefers to lead by example and gentle persuasion rather than domination. But, she still got you to brush your teeth, eat your vegetables, and do all the other things that establish healthy habits in adulthood. Her leadership style was effective, and she did it in the way that came naturally to her.

Leadership characteristics are evenly distributed throughout the population. However, it may not feel that way. That’s likely because many powerful women have only expressed their leadership qualities inside the family circle. Watch this video on how I think all women have female leadership characteristics and why we can consider our very own moms as leaders.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7btN-PoOATA&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=07292018_ytVideo can’t be loaded: All Women Have Female Leadership Characteristics – This Is Why Moms Are Leaders (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7btN-...)

 

We now realize the modern world needs equal doses of both male and female leadership qualities. We can no longer afford to ignore a good leader just because she happens to be a woman.

If you’d like to learn about balanced leadership, a leadership style that gives equal value to female leadership characteristics, check out the rest of the website. And if you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to my channel for more great videos on this topic, such as “What’s The Difference Between Male And Female Leadership Qualities?”.

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post All Women Have Female Leadership Characteristics – This is Why Moms Are Leaders appeared first on The Women's Code.

What Bothers Me About Working Mothers

The demands and challenges of working mothers are many. Daily, they are faced with scenarios that feel as though working mothers are being punished.

So, what bothers me about working mothers? We’ll get to that shortly. First, here is a list of just a few of the scenarios working mothers have to navigate way too often:

A woman gets pregnant and has to tell her boss and co-workers. She dreads the conversation and the responses of her boss and her team. Her team, in return, know they will have extra work to do while she’s on leave.
A child wakes up sick and the working mom has to stay at home. It is close to impossible to find caretakers for sick children in a moment’s notice. She’ll probably have to use her sick days or vacation days to make up for the lost workday.
Women who have to pick up their elementary school children from daycare simply cannot stay past 4.45 pm. Younger children often require an even earlier pickup time.
A woman who decides to have children in a relatively short period usually loses several career opportunities.
Pediatrician appointments are only available weekdays between 9 am and 5 pm when women are supposed to be at work.
When there is an issue at school, working mothers have to leave work without any notice.
Women’s personal phones need to be close by in case there is an issue at her child’s daycare or school.



What Bothers Me About Working Mothers

I just outlined few of the disruptive but normal day-to-day challenges of working mothers, or women in general face. And here is what bothers me about it and why it should bother you, too.

Is it really such a big secret that women get pregnant, have babies, and do the majority of child rearing and related tasks?

 Because if we knew, it would make sense that workplaces that hire women would ensure working mothers have access to things like flex time or could work from home. Companies surely would have a back-up plan to cover parental leave, plus systems in place to ensure that working mothers can do their double duty and get their careers back. Of course, parental leave should be offered to men as well.

Why is it so hard to support working mothers?

Put simply, we work in a system that was built by men for men. This system that I call the old men’s code doesn’t have a provision for non-conforming members.

Of course, women have been doing their best to follow that old code, and some of us have succeeded, but it meant little to no time off, working until only a few days before our due dates, and not asking for any additional support or not taking advantage of what’s offered. Because doing anything differently means working mothers (and fathers who ask for the same) would fall behind in their careers.

The system is built for men

Think about it. Businesses and structures accommodate men. That means there is nothing wrong with the structure if only men work there. The structures have NOT been updated to acknowledge that women now work there, too. Here’s a good article that sheds light on the fallout.

Women broke the system

When women came in, they broke the system. And now some men are angry at women for challenging the status quo and asking for changes to something that is old and broken. As usually happens with change, it’s not easy to do and is often met with much resistance. The demand for safe and healthy workplaces is on everybody’s mind. Let’s make sure that while we are asking for those changes that we do not forget to ask to account for working parents who want to take care of their families. Really, a totally normal thing to ask for. So why don’t we? After all, the future is female.

Please share the challenges you as a working mother or working father have experienced. I’d love to hear your stories from the frontlines! I sure have a few of my own to tell, like the time my live-in nanny decided to move out in the middle of the night to audition in Las Vegas and my workday started at 4 am for a photo production, and so my daughter ended up entertaining the crew and models in the motorhome. Oh the memories…

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post What Bothers Me About Working Mothers appeared first on The Women's Code.

How to Overcome Perfectionism

As business owners we are flooded by decisions to make and tasks to accomplish ASAP. Lately, I have been writing a lot of proposals and for each one I am forced to pull out my capability statement, look at my website, review the language of my marketing brochures, and work with the boiler plate proposals I previously wrote. Because business is fluid and our messaging evolves to become clearer and more concise over time, I finally conceded that everything needs to be updated, AGAIN.

What goes out the door has to look good and be professional, but our desire for perfectionism can be overwhelming and prevent us from getting anything done at all. Let’s talk about how to overcome perfectionism.

Are you a perfectionist?

It’s a familiar scene: 11 p.m. and we are trying to fall asleep but our mind replays today’s events—what we did, whom we talked to, what we said, and how we said it. We are in a mindmovie, often a horror show, where we are the critic in the front row judging every single action. And we are not a kind and gentle judge; we are brutally harsh and unforgiving of ourselves.

With such a tsunami of negativity in our head, we toss and turn and continue to replaying the day’s events, asking ourselves questions like these:

Why am I such a failure?

Why do I keep doing this?

Why can’t I just get it right the first time?

Why do I have to keep making expensive mistakes?

If you have experienced any of this sad routine, you are suffering from perfectionism. You feel the need to appear perfect and are holding on to the belief that there is such a thing as moral or spiritual perfectionism in the first place.

The truth behind it

Truth is, perfect does not  exist. Perfectionism has been used as tool to keep people in place. Because fear is such a strong emotion, it can overshadow any other positive one and keep us in check. Which is why religions, bad bosses, and underhanded partners use this as a tool. If you keep beating yourself up, they don’t have to. If you keep pointing out my flaws I will remain busy feeling badly and wanting to improve myself. I want to get THERE, to the place where everything is perfect. If this is you, you are suffering from the Superhuman Paradox.

The results are devastating and sobering. We never get to enjoy our life or what we have achieved because we immediately jump to what we have not yet accomplished, or lament about what we could have done better. Striving for perfection can also cause problems in your relationships and leave you feeling like a failure.

How to overcome perfectionism

Let’s face it, there is ALWAYS room for improvement. It can always be done better with 20/20 hindsight.

I see this a lot with highly intuitive and spiritual business owners who believe that they created absolutely everything in their lives either consciously or subconsciously on their own. Often I hear them say things like, “Why do I keep making the same mistake?” Or, “Why do I keep attracting the same type of person?”They question their ability to learn from previous mistakes or missteps.

While I do believe that we have the power of choosing and are ultimately responsible for the choices we make, let’s put this in perspective.

You only have control over yourself. No matter how enlightened or evolved someone is, at the end of the day you are the master only of you.
You cannot control other people or their actions. While it would be great if we can predict someone’s morals before your first deal, it’s close to impossible. And there are a lot of opportunists and schmucks in this world. Especially right now there are a whole lot of crazies who will do or say anything to get an advantage.
Life is not about being perfect. It’s about getting stuff done and improving what we can—within reason. Because nothing can ever be truly perfect, the question you want to ask yourself is simply: is it good enough?

Good enough and out the door is better than trying to be perfect and not getting it done at all. I just created a pitch deck that three people were waiting for. It wasn’t finished or proofread. Instead of sweating about getting it all right, I sent it out with a notice that it is my first draft and not proofed, and then I invited the recipients to give me feedback. Now I don’t have to feel badly for sending out imperfect and I’ll probably receive some great advice that will make my pitch deck much better.

I encourage you to be more gentle with yourself. Please stop beating yourself up. If you can say you gave it 100% and did the best you could with what you had—let that be good enough for you. And that is how you overcome perfectionism.

 

Beate Chelette is the Founder of The Women’s Code and serves as the Programming Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA). Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Beate’s supports organizations two-fold. Beate provides leadership development programs for organizations that want to implement the ROI of Balanced Leadership through The Women’s Code, her signature system that educates leaders and helps companies achieve gender equality. The Women’s Code creates and implements programs that improve organizational culture, foster productive work environments and help companies improve their people ROI.

As The Growth Architect she creates outreach and sponsorship programs through customized Entrepreneur skills training following the 5 Star Success Blueprint that shows step-by-step how to grow, build and scale businesses.

Beate is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”

If you’d like to book Beate as a speaker on Leadership or Entrepreneurship for your next event please connect here.

The post How to Overcome Perfectionism appeared first on The Women's Code.