Mentoring Strategies for Female P&O Professionals

🎒 Lisa did what we’re taught to do: find a mentor. She had one, Louis, Smart, senior, generous. He reviewed her decks, circled verbs, sent books. “You’re ready,” Louis said. When the VP role opened, she waited for the room to see it too. 🧊 The announcement came on a Tuesday: Mark got it. Town hall, confetti, “transformational leadership.” Lisa smiled on camera, shut the laptop, and stared at the to-do list she’d built for a job she didn’t get. Louis texted, “Proud of you either way.” 🧠 What women are not told: Mentors refine you. They do not reframe you. Advice polishes the work; Power moves the story. Women are trained to be excellent students, collect feedback, fix, repeat, so we overinvest in guidance and underinvest in placement. Then we’re shocked when tidy performance reviews don’t convert into messy decisions. 🛠️ What should you do instead: 1. 🎯 Turn mentoring into a mandate    Ask: “In the next 30 days, which decision will my name be attached to?” If the answer is “keep doing great work,” you have a tutor, not a ladder.     2. 🗓️ Put your ambition on the calendar    “I want the VP seat in Q2. Which three people must hear me before then? Book one now, I’ll book the other two.” If it’s not scheduled, it’s storytelling, not strategy.     3. 🧾 Replace “great job” with receipts    Send a one-pager after every win: problem → action → business result → next bet. CC two people who were not in the room. If it isn’t written and shared, it isn’t yours.     4. 🔁 Trade value for visibility    “I’ll deliver X in 60 days. In exchange, I want a 10-minute slot in the exec pre-read and one warm intro to a decision-maker.” Mentorship that doesn’t cost them anything won’t change anything.     5. 🧭 Build your map, not your mood    List the three people who can say yes to your next jump. For each: what they care about, what you can deliver, when you’ll be in front of them. Feelings are not a plan; access is.     🚀 That’s why Uma Thana Balasingam and I are running a 90-minute working session, “𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸,” on October 2nd, 7:30pm to 9pm SGT where we share the exact scripts, pre-wiring moves, and a one-page receipts template to turn quiet impact into visible authority. Join here: https://lnkd.in/gte3PVrM 👊 Because advice makes you better, but only visibility makes you next.

Women don’t take enough credit for their work. Yesterday, I had a conversation with one of my coaching clients that struck a nerve. She’s a Global Product Line Manager overseeing the growth strategy, vision, and direction of a $2B product line for a large Fortune 500 company. By all accounts, her impact is immense. But here’s the problem: because she doesn’t directly own P&L, she saw herself as being in a “support” role — not a decision-making one. This mindset has quietly sabotaged her for years. She hesitated to own the impact of her work, downplayed her contributions, and, as a result, minimized her role during interviews for leadership roles. This is a common pattern I see with many of my incoming female clients. We have been conditioned for decades to put our heads down, work hard, and only take credit for the direct work we do. We feel guilty for taking credit for the larger organizational impact because wasn't this “team effort"? But the hard truth is, if you don’t advocate for your own impact, no one else will. Inside THE FEARLESS HIRE, my signature career accelerator program, we work on breaking this self-sabotaging cycle so women leaders can show up confidently, own their value, and close high-paying leadership roles. Here are three strategies that help our clients authentically self-promote and 10X their confidence: 1. Reframe Your Role as “Strategic” Even if our clients don’t directly own the P&L, their work drives key business outcomes. The strategies they implement, the vision they shape, and the results they deliver are all part of the decision-making process. Through coaching, our clients learn to reframe their contributions in terms of the strategic outcomes they enable, so they can stop seeing themselves in support roles and start seeing themselves in decision-making ones. 2. Start with Facts, Not Feelings It’s easy to diminish the impact of our work when we approach our career through a lens of self-doubt. Instead, our clients learn to anchor themselves in facts. What are the measurable outcomes of their work? What specific problems have they solved? How can they quantify their contributions with numbers and metrics, like revenue growth, cost savings, or team performance improvements? Facts don’t lie, and become the cornerstone of increased self-confidence. 3. Learn the Art of Storytelling Facts are critical, but they need to be packaged in a compelling way. Our clients develop concise, engaging stories about their key achievements using my SOARR storytelling framework, focussing on the challenges they overcame, the decisions they made, and the results they delivered. These stories are powerful tools for interviews and executive conversations—they help you stand out and stay memorable. Taking credit for your work isn’t arrogance - that's real leadership. When you own your impact, you not only position yourself for high-impact roles, but you also inspire the next generation of women leaders to do the same. Agree?

Women are over-mentored and under-sponsored. The Gender Intelligence Report by #Advance and the University of St. Gallen shows minimal progress in gender equality in Swiss workplaces. Women’s share in management has increased by only 0-2%. Men dominate Power Positions with 75%, leading also to a significant financial gap for women over time. Men are encouraged to take P&L roles three times more than women and are evaluated on potential, while women on past performance. Key leader attributes, like assertiveness, are often viewed negatively in women. Women’s ideas are 70% more likely to be heard and 200% more likely implemented if repeated by men, highlighting the need for allyship. Contrary to myths, women HAVE leadership ambitions. A study by Advance, EY, and CCDI revealed 90% of women desire career advancement across all age groups, with and w/o children. They receive less opportunities though. Men are encouraged to take on leadership positions more than three times as often as women. At the Advance CEO-Breakfast in Zurich, we agreed on the need for change to retain our talent. Sponsorship, if properly implemented, can be a powerful tool, yet as Malvika Singh said, “many sponsorship programs are consolation prizes rather than truly driving talent to advance.” Real sponsors have real influence and invest in their sponsee’s success. Sponsees on the other hand must deliver exceptional results, be trustworthy, and have a distinct personal brand. Key actions: ✔️ Implement conscious career sponsorship for talented women and hold leaders accountable. ✔️ Choose influential sponsors to advocate for and promote women’s careers. ✔️ Propose P&L roles to women and support them with training, mentoring, and flexibility. ✔️ Have candid conversations about development and skills. ✔️ Define clear promotion, succession and hiring criteria and use diverse interview panels to avoid bias like ‘mini-me’. ✔️ Support women before, during, and after childcare breaks. ✔️ Foster a modern, inclusive leadership culture – remember: the gardener not the chess player… ✔️ Women, make your aspirations explicit. ✔️ Parents, it all starts with you: consider values and interests you (unconsciously) pass on to your girls and boys. I am proud that at #Dow, we do have formal and informal female sponsorship programs that make a difference. Most importantly, we have strong male and female influential allies who are eager to own change vs. ticking a box. And, while we are not fully there yet, we can clearly see the significant progress we are making. Let’s all strive for power balance and support our talented women with real opportunity. Do something. Start today. Thank you #Advance team for the insights and a thought-provoking panel: Anna Mattsson Malvika Singh Feroz Sheikh Alison Martin Michael Steinmann and many other committed event participants. It has been inspiring. See comments section for links to more information. Pictures: Linda Pollari Photography, Graph: Advance

𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸: 𝗔 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of #mentoring some brilliant women professionals, who are not just talented but deeply dedicated to their work. Yet, many of them have approached me feeling demotivated, not because of a lack of skills or opportunities, but because their contributions were being overshadowed or outright claimed by others. This isn’t just about #confidence; it’s about #fairness & the #courage to set #boundaries. One mentee, a high-performing manager, shared how her ideas were routinely presented as someone else’s in meetings. Another was disheartened after months of leading a project only to see the credit given to a peer. Their stories resonated deeply because 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲. According to Harvard Business Review, 82% of professionals experience credit-snatching, & for many, it directly impacts their career progression. Through the mentoring process, I've helped them develop strategies to reclaim ownership & ensure their contributions were recognized. Here are some strategies that worked: 1. 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 One mentee began sharing weekly progress emails with her manager & team, clearly outlining her contributions. This simple step not only increased transparency but also ensured her work was visible to key stakeholders. 2. 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗨𝗽 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 During a team meeting, another mentee confidently reclaimed her idea when someone else tried to take credit. She said, “I’m glad this was brought up, it’s something I explored when I worked on XYZ. Here’s how I think we can take it forward.” It wasn’t confrontational, but it was firm. 3. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 I guided another of my mentee to cultivate allies; peers who could amplify her voice in meetings & advocate for her when she wasn’t in the room. This not only boosted her confidence but also created a stronger team dynamic. 4. 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 Many women hesitate to showcase their achievements, fearing they’ll appear boastful. But 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲; 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽. I urged a mentee to volunteer for presenting team results at a leadership forum. Her presentation was so impactful that she became the go-to person for similar opportunities. The transformation in my mentees has been inspiring. From feeling sidelined to becoming confident advocates for their work, they’ve proven that taking ownership is empowering. 𝗕𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲: There's a thin line between standing up for self & self promotion. However, remember that you deserve to be seen & acknowledged for your efforts. As mentors, leaders, & colleagues, it’s on us to foster a culture where no one has to fight for what they’ve earned. #Mentorship #WomenAtWork #Leadership #CareerGrowth #Goals2025