The Confidence Factor for Women: The Pennies Add Up

I consistently remind women why we need to take the issue of diversity and inclusion seriously. Every moment that we fail to highlight our strength, every missed opportunity, every fearful decision not to ask for more, every moment that we are not sitting at the table, etc., will add up.

I remain firm about my own value. Just recently, I was asked to create a training series for a small company that wants to create more leadership opportunities for women. In our negotiations, I outlined my list of non-negotiables and was quickly told that I my requests were “not normal.”

However, I ASKED because I had already completed my own research and had data on-hand. I requested first class accommodations and travel because the male leadership advisor prior to my invitation received first class travel and accommodations without hesitation. The loss of not asking would have been almost $3000 to my company.

Then, there is the story of the 17 year old delivery driver in Missouri who was fired after asking why she was earning $.25 less than her male co worker for the same job.The company stated that the termination as due to their policies over employees discussing compensation during work hours, however that $.25 adds up to dollars in lost revenue over time if Jensen, and others like her, fail to ask.

Why is ASKING so intimating?

While we focus of the fear of rejection, the losses are adding up in lost revenue for highly qualified and skilled women who are more fearful of losing their current role, rather than bringing awareness to a broader issue. We must be prepared to ASK.

There is more to success than just feeling “empowered” to take action. Women need the confidence to ASK bigger and more demanding questions. We must close the “expectation” gap that everyone will be “fair” when it comes to our value. Women will only get what they have the confidence to ask for, and now is the time to increase our value by increasing our visibility and asking.

Join me at Increase Your ASK

There are MILLIONS of unclaimed opportunities because we refuse to Increase Our ASK. The losses are adding up!

You must learn what it takes to craft your argument to ASK for more. Do you know how to craft your value proposal? Do you know your sponsor line? Do you know how to get access to the key decision makers?

Then, learn how in August!

Then join me at Increase Your ASK.

To learn more about joining the Confidence Factor for Women in Leadership movement for exceptional leaders, visit www.theconfidencefactorforwomen.com

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Carol Sankar is a business advisor for high level executives, service based visionaries and a leadership expert who is committed to assisting passionate, high-achieving leaders simplify their lives while increasing revenue by becoming productive, not working harder.Carol has been featured in Madame Noire, LearnVest, The Steve Harvey TV Show, CNNMoney.com, TEDx, Daily Worth, Entrepreneur Magazine and Essence Magazine

For details, visit www.carolsankar.com