”Be who you are, not a facsimile of who you think you should be.”
A quote from Mary Portas, retail guru, whilst talking about her new book: ‘Work like a Woman, a Manifesto For Change.’
In an interview to promote the book, Portas talks about the ‘male alpha codes’ that are prevalent in business everywhere which are damaging to both men and women. For women, it has meant they have had to ”change shape” to fit in, with men feeling that they have to ”man up” to fit in.
Portas feels that many business cultures don’t recognise the positive values of collaboration and helping others and that this way of working ”doesn’t feed the soul”. She recommends a ”more truthful and honest way to work” by ”being who you are, your values, innately you.” When you are truly being your values and saying, this is who I am, you ”connect to a greater power within yourself.’’
A really powerful statement and one that we share as we continue to help people globally to #BeYourselfAtWork.
Here are some ways that you can #BeYourselfAtWork and connect to that greater power within yourself:
- Have you ever stopped to consider who the ‘you’ is that other people see at work? Who are you showing?
- Is that person different to the person you show to family and close friends?
- Be honest with yourself, are you hiding and protecting yourself, to make life at work easy and safe?
- If you were to really let rip and be truly unguarded at work, without fear of judgement, what would those around you experience?
- Think about people that are inspirational to you, they are not self-conscious, they are just themselves.
- Lose your self-consciousness; stop making everything about you, how you feel, the impact on you, and your reality of the situation, take a step back, pause and think: what’s really happening?
- There is often a big difference between how we experience people 1:1 and in a group, is this true for you? What if you decided to be the same person in the group as you are 1:1?
Forget changing your shape, manning up and ending up being a facsimile – let go, and reap the rewards of being inspirational – exactly as you are!
#BeYourselfAtWork