Influential Woman by Dion Johnson

Author:Dion Johnson [Dion Johnson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hay House
Published: 2020-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

SHOWING UP AUTHENTICALLY AND INFLUENTIALLY

Decades after that day in Mr Marmion’s office, I remembered the feeling of staring at my four-year-old face in the mirror when I sought the help of a business coach to grow my business and build my brand to make it more visible to new prospects and clients.

The coach explained that everything I use for my marketing should look like ‘me’: ‘People want to know who you are, Dion,’ she explained. ‘People buy from those they know, like and trust.’ I learned that everything I chose should represent me: from colours and fonts to platforms and pictures. But what the heck did that mean? The coach asked questions designed to help her pull my visual brand together: What colours do you like? What words describe you? What do you stand for?

As the questions came thick and fast I felt a growing sense of anxiety. Hot, quiet tears began to form in the corner of my eyes and despite my efforts to hold them back they rolled down my cheeks, proclaiming my shame and discomfort: here I was again, sitting in the realization that I don’t know who I want to be. I don’t know how to show up as me in business, and I don’t know what it means to be me in the public eye.

Today, from my privileged position working alongside many brilliant women in leadership, I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. I’ve learned that you can be a woman at the top – a celebrated CEO, a dedicated director, an accomplished head – and still not know what makes you you; you can still be worried and clumsy about how you’re coming across; and you can still be emotionally invested in trying to manage what others think about you and being what you think is expected.

We can become so caught up with trying to ‘act’ our way through – trying to be like the professionals over there or to behave in the way they expect over here. It’s exhausting, and if we’re going to advance as influencers we must quit trying to be what they want or what they say is expected of us and commit to finding out who we really are. And then be ourselves instead.

It’s time to take seriously the call to show up for real – the call to recalibrate, to get back to centre with our true selves, to realign with who we really are. Our development as influencers of the king calls us and demands that we show up to leadership with radical authenticity. It’s painful to not know, or lack confidence in, who we are. When there’s ambiguity, anxiety or identity crisis, it makes showing up, authentically and influentially, a real challenge.

I’ve come a long way since that day in Mr Marmion’s office. I’ve been on an incredible journey of self-discovery, and I’m still on it. I’ve reinforced that commitment I made back in 2009 to show up for real. I’ve learned how to get to know myself, and in turn I’m learning to let you and the outside world see and know me too.

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