If you study the career path of the most influential women in the world, you can extract a lot of useful information. Sometimes there is not enough practical advice that can direct in the right direction. A career can develop randomly or stagnate for years in one place, if you do not make efforts. Below are tips from several of the world's most influential women, including Melinda Gates.
1. Do not underestimate yourself
Angela Merkel claims she never underestimated herself. There is nothing wrong with ambition.
Merkel remained in her fourth term as Chancellor of Germany when the center-left Social Democrats voted to remain in a coalition with the Merkel party.
The most influential woman in 2015 was named the man of the year. It was then that she announced that she should not be underestimated. These words remind you of the power of proper thinking. The belief that you can achieve your goals, whether paying off large debts, climbing the corporate ladder or retiring on your own terms, is a critical step towards achieving them. Make a concrete plan, and then try to stick to it to follow success.
2. Progress depends on your choice.
“Change is inevitable. Progress depends on the choices we make today for tomorrow, and on whether we can cope with our tasks and protect our values, ”says Hillary Clinton.
The former presidential candidate wrote about this in her early memoirs, Living History. This happened a few years before she ran for president. Clinton's words may include financial life.
In the end, the choices we make today help determine what our tomorrow will be like. Every day we have a chance to make progress in pursuit of our goals and solve any problems that may get in our way. You can waste money or for what you value most in your life.
3. Finding the right path involves mistakes
“You will not succeed all the time. Even Ruth, Gerig and Di Maggio failed most of the time. Finding the right path in life most often involves some mistakes, ”says Janet Yellen.
Speaking in the New York University classroom at the Yankee Stadium in 2014, the first woman chairman of the Federal Reserve System reminded new graduates that they could make mistakes on the way to their goal. However, it’s much more important what you do after you make a mistake.
Janet Yellen stated that it is important to continue to work to achieve long-term goals and to persistently overcome the failures that arise along the way. It’s important to regain strength when you are tired and keep moving towards your goals.
4. Be yourself
“My best advice is to be yourself. You need to feel comfortable, ”Melinda Gates reports.
Speaking at the conference, Melinda Gates explained that at the beginning of her career, she considered leaving the world of technology because she felt uncomfortable. She was one of the few women in the field to start working for Microsoft in 1987.
Looking back, she declares that she remained true to herself and did not quit the company, which is incredibly glad. For a long time she experienced constant discomfort, but in the end she learned to be herself, and it worked perfectly. By that time, she had become a manager and coordinated around a lot of employees who wanted to work under her leadership.
In your own career you will surely run into problems and you might want to leave. It may even be easier for you to fit in with the team and do what everyone else is doing. Adaptability may turn out to be good quality, but it is equally important to follow your own desires.
This lesson from Melinda Gates can be applied to invest. By following the crowd and buying what is in demand, you can lose. It is better to develop a strategy that meets your long-term goals, and adhere to it.
5. Do every job flawlessly.
“Do your every job the way you are going to do this for the rest of your life, and demonstrate your professionalism,” says Mary Barra, who is known as the first woman to serve as CEO of a major global automaker.
Barra knows something about success at work. In an interview in 2014, she explained how important it is to be passionate about what you are doing and to do the job perfectly, no matter what it is.
Although she has been CEO for more than four years, Barra first joined GM in 1980 as a working assembly line, tasked with inspecting hood and wing panels. Over the next three and a half decades, she will steadily move up the career ladder to achieve the highest position in the company with more than 200,000 employees.
These tips from the most powerful women in the world can be especially valuable to some people.