When did you experience success “because of” and when was it “in spite of”? And what felt best?
When did you experience success “because of” and when was it “in spite of”? And what felt best?
r/AskWomen
When did you experience success “because of” and when was it “in spite of”? And what felt best?
Comments
Because of: my willingness to change my attitude toward management/leadership in the company.
In spite of: my misogynistic boss
I’ve always been one of those “don’t tread on me” types in the work force (I’ve been in my industry for 20+ years). I fell into the “that’s not my job/you’re taking advantage of my niceness” mindset. I also saw leadership as the enemy. And my boss saw women as “helpers” even though I’m a scientist, so I clashed with him almost every single day.
UNTIL – I decided after 20 years, I needed to take a different approach, because I was getting nowhere. I completely shifted my attitude and tried to think like a manager. What would I want to see? So, I worked hard, put in the extra time, volunteered for engagement events, and put in the extra effort to get to know my managers. I went “the extra mile” while sticking to my base values. Within a year, I was promoted, within 2 more years, I was promoted again and given much more responsibility (which I love). I learned the hard way – likability and hard work mean EVERYTHING. You can go the extra mile without abandoning your core values, and you will make it far.
TLDR: Put down your pitchforks and work WITH your management if you want to succeed.
My high school guidance counselor (we only had one) was the worst. He literally told all of us not to bother with college because we couldn’t afford it. We were all floundering with absolutely no plans for the future. He also didn’t tell me that I needed one more math and one more science class to meet the requirements for our state university system. So I had to scramble with correspondence classes in 12th grade.
Two of our favorite teachers took it upon themselves to hold an assembly where they told us all about financial aid. We had never heard of the FAFSA before this. It was all we talked about for weeks.