In an age of tough competition and competing priorities, women entrepreneurs are expected to wear “multiple hats” in order to embrace diverse and often contradictory roles and expectations as business women, moms, spouses, family makers, and caregivers. And this contradiction creates so much outer pressure and inner turmoil. How many of you remember the role Meryl Streep played in the Devil Wears Prada, as Miranda Priestly, a powerful fashion magazine editor and Anne Hathaway as Andrea, her quirky assistant? Miranda does her job well but is so cold and distant that she alienates everyone around her; she hates being vulnerable. In contrast, Andrea finally decides to embrace her vulnerabilities and quirkiness instead of competitive ruthlessness of the fashion industry. How many of us what to be that person, the kind of boss we had and always hated? And how many of us want to be Andrea? Recently, I invited Lisa Marie Platske on my Wealthy Wednesday Show to teach us about the value of vulnerability and authenticity for women entrepreneurs. Lisa Marie Platske calls herself an accidental entrepreneur because she took a detour from being the “fastest promoted” law enforcement officer in US Customs Service to lead Upside Thinking, Inc, a leadership, and training enterprise. Her own life experiences and transitional thinking allowed her to open herself to be vulnerability and embrace it as strength rather than a weakness. And that’s what we are teaching our audience today, the value of vulnerability for leadership and its contribution in making you, a woman entrepreneur, a leader, a lady boss worth following:
Be Real, Be Authentic, Be YOU
During my coaching sessions, I come across women entrepreneurs who are confused as to who they are and should be. All their lives, they receive contradictory messages regarding what they should do, how to behave, carry themselves, carry out their responsibilities, etc. On one hand, they are expected to be passive and submissive in their personal lives. On the other hand, the expectations are to the contrary in the professional world and they are expected to be direct and aggressive in order to get results from their subordinates and clients. Going contrary to their actual nature and upbringing causes inner turmoil in their lives, just like it did in Andrea’s life in the movie. Due to these contradictions, women start wearing what Lisa calls “armors, layers, and masks” in order to protect their innerselves and adapt themselves to others’ expectations. During her law enforcement days, Lisa had to ditch her “soft-spoken and speak-when-spoken-to”, “no-nonsense, “no B-S”, tough as nails attitude and persona. After a breaking point in her career and receiving a scathing feedback at a training seminar, Lisa realized that she was not the kind of person people found easy to be around. Lisa captures this dilemma best when she says: “You might be incredibly strong tough, but you might be alone and dead.” That’s why Lisa stresses the need to be authentic for women entrepreneurs.
Research Yourself Thoroughly
Lisa Marie emphasizes on the importance of connecting with ourselves as women entrepreneurs, researching about ourselves, what we do well, what are our greatest strengths/ weaknesses, by asking others’ opinions before we start a business. This openness allows you to connect with yourself, find out and know more about yourself. After what I call a particularly “ouch incident” in her life, Lisa began rethinking her life and her attitude towards her work, people and life in general. She did a lot of discernment, which wasn’t a comfortable or easy journey, but it helped Lisa open new chasms in self-realization and then self actualization. She was able to come up with a successful business and lead it. So, Lisa advises others: “Research connection; research positioning.”This research helps you find out the right work and business opportunities. I tell my mentees in my coaching sessions: “Be willing to delve a little deeper and unearth the layers of your personality.” Gaining this firsthand knowledge and self-awareness allow us to create a better, successful and sustainable business.
Connect with Yourself to Connect with Others
Every new person we meet, as a person, as an entrepreneur, is a chance meeting, an attempt at alignment of potential, possibilities, and opportunities. All these interactions allow us to leave what Lisa calls “an imprint on others’ souls”. Now it is up to us to determine and decide what kind of an impression we want to leave on others, how we want to be remembered eventually. Here is why: When you are not comfortable with yourself; you are not connected with yourself. Then no one else would be able to connect with you, as you won’t come across as an authentic person to them. But once you allow yourself to be vulnerable, you become more humble and open, flexible and accommodating, and intuitive and reflective. Lisa tells us to prepare ourselves to receive honest feedback instead of deluding ourselves into being something we are not. Lisa recommends that we should allow ourselves to be vulnerable instead of trying to be perfect and always right. We should ask for people’s opinion instead of trying to prove that we are perfect or that we are always right. She tells us that it’s ok to think and say: “I don’t know!” Because this vulnerability leads to openness, connection, the ability to seek, find out and listen. When we embrace our vulnerability, then we would be able to see what I personally call the “possibilities in crisis”. You would be able to manifest any idea into a reality through your openness, your inner fluidity, and intuition.
Manifest Your Inner Truth Into The Outer Reality
Lisa Marie drives home the truth: manifestation is not just holding on to an idea, hoping and praying. It is serious work, hard work about connecting with the real, inner you. Lisa Marie has devised a new acronym for WORK which is about establishing the quintessential connection among yourself, the work you do and the business you run, and others. She explains it like this:
W – Write it down: What do you want to do, achieve, ask from others?
O – Choose to be open to possibilities; be vulnerable (However, Lisa reminds us that this kind of openness doesn’t mean compromising your personal security).
R – Remember people’s name, be gracious and kind as oppose to being tough and mean.
K – ‘Knock out point’; understand what is yours and how you can make yourself memorable and admirable to people. Think about what kind of impression you want them to have of you.
Establishing this kind of connection among yourself, the work you do and the business you run, and others, help you manifest your inner truth into an outer reality, of finding and creating real happiness, joy, and real wealth in your business.
So, if you want to embrace your own vulnerability and use it as a strength, then my book Magical Money Manifestations will help you do all this and more. It will help create high vibrations that will change your money flow, inner energy, and help you manifest and create more wealth and joy in your business on an autopilot. You can order this book from Amazon today.