Defining Advancement
November 11, 2021•271 words
Planted: 9/27/2020
Last Tended: 11/9/2021
I started thinking about advancement when I was working at a research center. I thought for me to get to a director or executive level position, I needed a PhD. When I entered my PhD program I eventually decided to study women and innovation in the workplace specifically engineering faculty who commercialized their intellectual property within an university. Most people spend 30-50 hours a week in a workplace and the interactions and policies that occurred in those spaces interested me.
I started to learn about the difficulties women had reaching leadership positions despite them having the skills and talent.
I learned about the broken rung how many women of color don’t moved past entry level or managerial positions and aren’t represented in the C-Suite.
I learned about institutional entrepreneurship, those who act entrepreneurially to create change.
I also learned that I am a leader and I want to be an executive and C-Suite member because my ideas, skills, and talents are valuable.
But there were many things along the way that I didn’t know much about because I didn't have many role models.
How do we get more underestimated, underrepresented, whatever you want to call people who are on the margins into leadership positions?
Leadership to me is a broad concept - people who are the first in their family or communities to embark on something are leaders.
People who are seeking titles and more decision making responsibilities the workplace are leaders.
People who are creating systems and policy changes are leaders
Parents and grandparents and other caretakers of the home and community life are leaders.