Getting to the Top Means Being Realistic

Getting to the Top Means Being Realistic A recent set of Harvard geschftsleben Schoolstudiesshow that relative to men, we women believe were capable of equal success in the workforce,are less ambitious when it comes to getting the top jobs,perceive mora conflicts associated with getting these positions, and have more non-career goals in life.This is headier stuff than first meets the eye.Notice that the study didnt draw any causal conclusions. It didnt because of a concept calledreflexivity.Reflexivity is the idea that some things dont havea simple cause-and-effect relationship but rather have a circular cause-and-effect relationship. An example of reflexivity is ifboth thefollowing sentences are trueWomen are less ambitious aboutgetting top jobs because they perceive more life conflicts and have other goals.Women have other goals and perceive more life conflicts with getting top jobs because they are less ambitious.We believe that career ambition and career success for women is abso lutely a reflexive phenomenon. What we see around us influences what we think were capable of and vice-verse. Thats why female role models matter, moms like buyingGoldie Bloxfor their daughters, and society seems to love (andhate) hearing female executives talkabout work-life balance.We all know thatsomewomen really are less ambitious thansomemen (just as some men are less ambitious than some women). But there seems to be a generalreluctance to publicly admit that is true for fear of perpetuating another generation of disappointing female leadership numbers. One recentpolleven found that a majority of young women think its socially unacceptable to have no ambition.We can certainly understand that theres a real fear ofdeterring some young women from trying to achieve more if we highlight anytradeoffs a career might entail.Whether those trade-offs are for more time with family or simply just increased career-related stress, there is well-meaning concern overdissuading impressionable y oung minds from achieving their full potential.However, we are actually encouraged by the Harvard data. We believe that in a career marathon, the realistic ones who plan, research, and are armed with the best information are the ones more likely to survive the difficulties ahead. You wouldnt attempt to climb Everest with just visions of glory and no expectations of frostbite. The prepared corporate executives are the ones who train themselves mentally, emotionally,and evenphysically for the challenges ahead. If women are more realistic than men about the trade-offs it takes topursue anything single-mindedly, it seems to us that they may well be at an advantage.Not every woman wants to become a CEO nor an executive and thats absolutely fine. But we think the ones that do have a better shot if theyre realistic (warts and all) about what it may take to get there.