How to Succeed by Helping Your Competition

How can we support each other as women? One way is by working together to create new ground rules for competing with one another. In recent years, I have witnessed the growth of corporate women’s groups across the United States. Some of them have formed around the critical business issues that confront their companies or industries.

Whatever reason brings these women together, they are finding that by sharing strategies, not only do they become important resources to their companies, but they also increase their individual chances for upward mobility.

These women meet to offer each other tips and information without jeopardizing their companies’ respective competitive advantages.

If you are not involved in a women’s group that supports your aspirations, you ought to be. Investigate a few of these groups by attending open meetings. Joining with your female colleagues can be both validating and exhilarating. By clarifying your boundaries and sharing with other women, you will empower each other’s success without risking your own.

Adapted from Our Power as Women. Conari Press, 1996.