Believe in yourself, sooner. – Tammy Heermann
Today my guest is Tammy Heermann, a keynote speaker who’s passionate about advancing women and high potential talent. I had the pleasure of seeing Tammy in action five years ago at a corporate offsite, and I appreciated her commitment and message.
Currently residing in Toronto, Tammy holds a BComm from the University of Saskatchewan and a MSc from the London School of Economics. Before founding her own company in 2018, she was SVP of Leadership Transformation at Lee Hecht Harrison.
In today’s episode, we cover:
- The importance of new leaders owning the entire experience. Management is difficult and rewarding, and new leaders must embrace both the good and the bad aspects of their role.
- Prove possible. Building confidence becomes easier when you prove to yourself that it can be done. What have you attempted that you once thought was impossible? Regardless of outcome, you made it feel possible.
- Reframe your story. Catch yourself when you start to say, “I can’t, shouldn’t…” etc. Reflect on why you automatically default to this way of thinking. Reframe and think about what is needed for you to say “I can, I will, I may, I am..” instead.
- And much more!
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Women Empowerment and Why It Matters
The experiment’s hypothesis was that women would reduce their career aspirations if they were told that they weren’t good at something.
So at the beginning of the test, women had set higher expectations than the men in the study. And when the women were told that they performed equally well for this fake test as the men, they kept their career aspirations. But when they were told that they did worse than the men, they significantly reduced their career aspirations.
Misconceptions About Working Women
The common assumption is that women are less ambitious especially when they’re in their family planning years. But what large studies have shown is that women actually seek balance and will make it work when their organizations are seen as investing in them and giving them opportunities and acknowledging their work.
The Importance Of Speaking Up
Some women think it’s safer to not say anything. And I’m here to argue that it’s actually not safer because then people think that you have nothing to add to the conversation, or that you don’t know anything, or that you’re too lightweight to operate on high-level responsibilities.
And so the risk of not speaking up, I believe, outweighs the risks of speaking up. By not saying anything, you’re actually putting yourself in a worse position.
Links and Resources
Connect with Tammy: LinkedIn, Website
Reframe Your Story by Tammy Heermann (book, COMING SOON)
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier (book)
Burnout by Emily Nagoski Ph.D. and Amelia Nagoski DMA (book)
