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The purpose-driven woman personified

By Lanre Olusola
22 March 2018   |   4:24 am
What is Power? For this write up, I will be defining power as the capacity or the ability to direct or influence the behavior of others. We live in a society where lots of individuals...

Lanre Olusola

“So often, our fear of failure is what keeps us back” Michelle Obama
What is Power? For this write up, I will be defining power as the capacity or the ability to direct or influence the behavior of others. We live in a society where lots of individuals have the traditional mindset of who a woman is and what the role of a woman should be. From the onset women are trained to be nurturers and they immediately fall into that role. In today’s world, we need to look at empowering women for their various paths in life, whether as a Teacher, House wife, Business Tycoon, Cook, Engineer, Pilot and the host of vocations that women would want to follow today.

The topic of women empowerment can be looked at from different angles ranging from a woman’s sense of self-worth, her right to have and determine choices, access to opportunities and resources, power to control her life and environment, finally the ability to influence the direction of social change in order to create a more social and economic order. Empowering our girls and women is the key to building the future we want.

Barack Obama, 44th US President said “When women succeed, nations are more safe, secure and prosperous”.

Kofi Annan, 7th UN Secretary General also stated that ‘There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women”.

In the book titled ‘Lean In’ by Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook she said, “There is a likability penalty women pay for being ambitious, so while an ambitious woman becomes less liked and less eligible for marriage, an ambitious man on the other end becomes more admired and eligible for marriage.” In addition to the external barriers erected by society, women are hindered by barriers that exist within themselves. They hold themselves back in ways both big and small by lacking self-confidence, not raising their hands and voices to be counted and pulling back when they shouldn’t. They internalize the negative messages they get throughout their lives, the messages that say it is wrong to be outspoken, aggressive, and more powerful than men. They lower their expectations of what they achieve. They continue to do the majority of the housework and child care. They compromise their career goals to make room for partners and children who may not even exist yet. Compared to their male counterparts, fewer women aspire to senior positions in organizations.

A lot of female leaders in today’s world tend to have what is termed the IMPOSTER SYNDROME, where a woman is qualified for a position of authority but feels she is not as qualified as the man and because of this; she feels the need to accomplish more in order to qualify for any role. There is also a confidence gap a lot of women suffer and this affects a good number of them in different aspects of their lives hence, it is important to deal with the woman’s mindset first, then her sense of understanding of purpose and power in order to open her up to opportunities ahead of her.

A woman needs to understand her sense of purpose, because ‘purpose’ is the foundation of power. It is crucial for her to find her lane and discover how to develop herself and stay on that lane. It is equally necessary for women to create wealth and also preserve it. Every woman has a level ground to reach their highest potentials, in whatever sector or phase of life they find themselves.

Despite having natural generic things every woman want, it is essential to find out what you want as an individual as this will serve as a guide in all decisions you will have to make, be it career wise or in your personal life.
In order to achieve success, you have to be willing to fail, rise up and continue to press for progress. Another key point in empowering yourself as a woman is the ability to support one another. It is important to learn how to support one another genuinely and understand the importance of strength in unity.

Finally, it is time for every woman to discover their own definition of what it means to succeed and thrive. Don’t let society force you to be any less than you are capable of becoming. Live like you were designed to live. Find your best life and live it unapologetically. Like the rest of humanity, you have the right to be You!

This article is a summary from BE ALL YOU CAN BE, a radio show hosted by Lanre Olusola on The Beat 99.9 FM every Saturdays at 9:30am. To be all you were created to be, go to www.totalmakeoverprogram/login and sign up for our Life Coaching and NLP Combo running from 14th – 21st of May 2018. For more information, call us on 08077077000 or send an email to info@olcang.com.

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