In the fast-paced, demanding world of business, it’s easy to focus on external goals: hitting targets, growing revenue, managing teams, and making the next big career move. But according to over 130 accomplished executive women, the real key to long-term success lies in something much deeper—self-awareness and the ability to advocate for yourself.
Their advice emphasizes that knowing yourself—your passions, strengths, and boundaries—can be the foundation for a thriving career, and equally important is having the courage to speak up for what you need and deserve.
These women, who have navigated and excelled in challenging leadership roles, share this advice.
1. Self-Awareness: The Foundation of Career Success
The executive women emphasized that self-awareness is crucial for success. Their advice? Understand these three key aspects of yourself:
Your Passions: What excites you and keeps you motivated in your career? These women stressed that aligning your work with your passions not only boosts job satisfaction but also fuels long-term resilience.
Your Strengths: Knowing what you’re good at allows you to confidently bring those strengths to the table. Whether it’s analytical thinking, leadership, creativity, or communication, honing your unique skills helps you stand out in the workplace.
Your Boundaries: This is about understanding your limits—both in terms of workload and values. Setting clear boundaries protects your well-being.
Self-awareness, however, isn’t just about introspection. It’s about using that understanding to make more informed career decisions. If you know what drives you, where your strengths lie, and what you won’t compromise on, you’ll be in a better position to make choices that support both your career growth and personal satisfaction.
Key takeaway: Cultivating self-awareness allows you to play to your strengths, make better career decisions, and maintain your well-being. It’s a cornerstone of long-term success and fulfillment.
2. Advocating for Yourself: Own Your Value
In addition to self-awareness, the executive women stressed the importance of advocating for yourself. While self-awareness helps you understand your value, advocacy ensures that others recognize it too.
Yet, for many women—particularly in professional environments—this can feel challenging. Whether it's asking for a raise, pushing for a promotion, or simply voicing your ideas, advocating for yourself is crucial to career growth.
These women shared powerful advice:
Don’t wait to be recognized: One of the most common pieces of advice was to stop waiting for others to notice your hard work. Instead, take the initiative to make your contributions visible. Whether through regular check-ins with your manager or speaking up in meetings, you are your best advocate.
Ask for what you deserve: When it comes to salary, promotions, or projects, advocating for yourself means asking for what you know you’re worth. Don’t hold back. You deserve to be compensated and recognized for your efforts.
Communicate your boundaries: Advocacy is not just about going after opportunities; it’s also about protecting your well-being. The women stressed the importance of clearly communicating your limits, whether it’s workload boundaries, work-life balance, or professional values.
It is important to note the differences between men advocating for themselves versus women. In this Forbes article, How Women Can Negotiate a Raise and Advocate For Their Career, Sara Laschever, Co-Author of the book Women Don’t Ask says, “how women ask can make all the difference.” The article states that “research shows, women need to come across as likable. If women can use their social skills to come across as warm, approachable, and likable, their odds of success increase dramatically.”
Key takeaway: While advocating for yourself can feel uncomfortable, especially in environments where assertiveness from women isn’t always encouraged, it’s essential for career growth and financial success. You owe it to yourself to make your contributions and value known.
Are you self-aware? Do you advocate for yourself?
Now that we know how crucial self-awareness and advocacy are, how can you actively cultivate these skills?
Here are three practical steps:
Reflection Routine: Self-awareness isn’t a one-time achievement—it’s a continuous process. What can you do to create time for reflection?
Track Your Wins: To advocate for yourself, you need to have a clear understanding of your contributions. How can you create your list of wins and commit to keeping it updated?
Practice Speaking Up: Start small by advocating for yourself in everyday situations—whether it’s offering your opinion in a meeting or asking for more responsibility on a project. What is one thing you can do to advocate for yourself today?
The advice shared by these executive women is both clear and powerful: self-awareness and self-advocacy are non-negotiable for success.
Leslie Pagel is a customer experience leader, helping companies create a competitive advantage through the human experience. She is also the founder of Purpose Project– a research study focused on helping all individuals find and realize their purpose in life. She supports Wednesday Women with her interest, enthusiasm, and expertise. In this series, she evaluates the advice of our featured woman to present actionable and insightful content that will keep the Ripple of inspiration going.