It’s been a relatively short period of time – only over the past 30 years or so that women have had wider opportunities in the workplace. And over that time we’ve been conditioned in so many different ways. As Marianne Williamson has said, the feminist movement of the 1970s served women in great ways, but it also, ironically, brought about a culture where we as women started to lose our femininity.

Sumi image with manifestoWe’ve been conditioned to believe we have to become men in order to be successful in industry.

My core belief is that it is TIME now to break through all of that and unleash our true power to make an impact on the world.

The Messages, The Strategies

As women have started discussing our challenges in the workplace, we’ve started to come up with various solutions. First it was our job to find the coveted “work-life balance.” We stood up and preached putting our Blackberrys away at night, we let our bosses know we’re not available over to be on call over the weekend and we encouraged ourselves to go technology free on vacations.

Then, we started to talk about theories that “balance” itself is a myth — and that we should be striving for the integration of work and life instead. We talked about bringing our families on business trips, and perhaps not following a typical workday schedule, but being available for family time, free time and business time when the right moment strikes.

Through all of this, never have we talked about being more ourselves in order to succeed and make an impact.

We’ve been encouraged to be more like men. Stop using the word “feel” and replace it with “think.”

And follow the men to the strip clubs on business trips and assert our opinions there in order to not be shoved out of the decision-making process (shout out to Carly Fiorina on this one).

The Simple Shift

It is possible to be our feminine selves, follow our desires AND make a huge impact in the world all at the same time.

Lately, as I’ve started to share my story of transformation and talk about the shifts I’ve made to start owning my power and feeling more joy in my life, I realized it’s actually very simple. It’s what our third grade teachers said, what our mothers, fathers and grandmothers said. It’s what Marianne Williamson means when she says, “To soar high, dig deep. To have an effect, don’t try to. To get anything, give everything. And to win, don’t care if you lose.”

I sat down and realized the key to it all: Be Yourself. Dig deep into the truth of you.

Be Yourself.

That’s the core message of me – of my transformation. Be Myself. Find out deeply what is important to me and Be that. Share that. Do that. Love that.

And by doing so, I love everyone around me that much more.