Weeknotes #23
The confidence one
Weeknotes 📝
Longform
Last week I took part in a panel event in Norwich on the topic of confidence, hosted by Aviva and the Reed Women in Technology Community. There's no photos of me doing this so you'll have to take my word for it.
confidence - noun - the quality of being certain of your abilities
The organisers had sent questions in advance. As someone that can have a tendency to under-prepare, I decided I would instead come armed with some heavy-hitting answers ready. Things like:
We won’t see 50% women in leadership until we dismantle structures built for men with stay-at-home wives. Policy change is essential.
Internal mobility has been my superpower for building visibility at work.
ERGs and Lean In Circles help the women you already employ, but real change starts earlier in the hiring funnel: grassroots, sponsoring STEM in schools, career open days.
Naturally, I either wasn’t asked those questions, or I fumbled my answers. But what I did manage to say (and I hope both land and resonate with people) was:
Confidence is a learned behaviour. Courage is the prerequisite.
Identifying your personal values can ground you, build courage, and act as a compass when there’s no external cheerleader.
Emotional intelligence grows when you look back at your past through the lens of those values and start to understand why you felt how you felt.
If confidence is learned, we have to start doing things before we’re “ready”. So when you see people try things, ask yourself, why not me?
Whilst tech has historically not been a kind industry to me and has left a shadow on my technical background, it has also helped shaped my values-led leadership style
After a setback at work, I cry in private but get on with it in public.
After the panel, there was 30 mins for networking and general ish chat and I was delighted that a few folks came over to say hi. One thanked me for mentioning the uglier side of tech, another shared how they sometimes feel “not technical enough”, and I flatly told them NOPE. I swapped event and community recommendations and compared war stories with someone who pivoted from manager to agile coach.
I certainly wasn’t a polished panelist, but I was my authentic self and that’s really all any of us can be.
When I shared my worry that I’d waffled my answers, a fellow panelist passed on some words of wisdom once bestowed on to her:
“You said what you needed to say, and they heard what they needed to hear.”
Pretzels 🥨
Keeping a promise I made to myself to get away from my desk and go out for lunch more often, ticking off another lunch spot from my Norwich bucket list
My lead in the workplace F1 fantasy league is hanging by a thread
Bake Off Bakealong is back and I started strong with a swiss roll disaster
Listening to 🎧
Reading 📚
Eating 🍕
