You are the Leader You’ve Been Waiting for
{By: Gina Messina}
Do you think of yourself as a leader? You should, because whether you realize it or not, you are the leader you’ve been waiting for.
We often think of leadership as a strictly innate quality that you either have or you don’t and live in a culture that strongly associates leadership qualities with male characteristics. In fact, for most of history, the most powerful leadership positions have been held by nearly all men.
Although women have made great strides, we continue to face gender and intersectional inequities that seem to simply change shape rather than go away.
Women’s work is never done and continues to go unrecognized and be undervalued. We all know what it is like to be “speaking while female,” “mansplained,” or finding the meeting you prepared for took place on a golf course without you. COVID 19 has exasperated these issues causing much of the progress made to be undone. Because of the pandemic a massive “shecession” is underway with 1 in 4 women being pushed out of the workforce. The pay gap is growing, especially for women of color, and employment for women has dipped to its lowest rate since 1986….What?!
Now is not the time to throw in the towel, more than ever we need to recognize ourselves as leaders and act on it. Leadership isn’t just about running an organization. It isn’t about being Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, or even Sheryl Sandberg. It is about the behaviors, relationships, processes, and values we engage to innovate and create positive change.
While we take on leadership roles in different ways, all women lead. Whether you are climbing the corporate ladder or a stay at home mom, running for office or a social influencer, a student or volunteer in your community, you are a leader.
We all face challenges and have areas for growth, yet we also have the ability to cultivate our strengths and become the leaders we want to be. Instead of waiting around for someone to do something, we need to be empowered to know that we can be that person and choose to be that person. You are that someone you’ve been waiting for. Now more than ever, we need to recognize this and allow ourselves to define our own success.
Gina Messina, Ph.D., M.B.A. is Associate Professor and Executive Director of the Institute for Women, Wellness & Work at Ursuline College. She is also an award winning author and certified leadership coach for women. Connect with her on her website, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Website: www.GinaMessina.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/drginamessina/FB: https://www.facebook.com/DrGinaMessina
