GRIT by Brit

Word on the street is Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, is positioning herself to run for US political office which is why she’s investing so much time and energy in promoting her new book, Lean In.  I don’t really care what her intentions are.  I just know that after I read the book and heard her speak this weekend, I felt re-energized and ready to CRUSH it.  I like Sheryl and the “Lean In” message because, to me, it’s a modern day, sexy, non-butch feminist movement.  I’m a “girly” girl, but I’m also feisty, aggressive and have lots of GRIT (aka GRIT by Brit).  The way Sheryl describes a feminist allows me to be ME :)

I graduated from Harvard Business School in 2010, so last weekend 2 of my best friends/classmates and I went back to Boston for the Women’s 50 (#W50) Summit.  W50 celebrated 50 years since women were admitted to HBS.  We had a rockstar list of key note guest speakers including Anne Moore,  Karen Gordon Mills and Frances Frei.  But in addition to these high-profile guests,  I learned SO MUCH from my fellow HBS women alumni who simply shared their personal stories.  I left the weekend feeling like…

“I got this. I’m gonna be okay.  It’s all good. The world is MINE.”

I also feel a duty to share the Top 5 Life Lessons I learned over the past 3 days.  I hope these nuggets of wisdom impact you as much as they’ve positively impacted me.

1. Life is about “juggling” not “balancing” priorities.  If we try to be “balanced” we’ll always be disappointed.  It’s not that easy.  Better yet, think of life as juggling and the only way to get good at it is to practice.  In life, we are juggling several balls (i.e. priorities) , family, career, friends, hobbies.  Some balls bounce if you drop them (i.e. career) but others don’t (i.e.family.)  When juggling, the ball that requires the most attention at a point in time is the one that’s falling – Howard Stevenson
2. Dare to be bad.  This doesn’t mean we should act like 16 year old rebellious teenagers.  It means that in order to be GREAT at some things, we have to have the courage and wisdom to be BAD at somethings (i.e. Wal-Mart is not GREAT at customer service).  If we try to be good at everthing, all we achieve is perfect mediocrity.  The road to mediocrity is paved with good intentions.  But daring to be BAD is pathway to greatness. – Francies Frei
3. Attribute your successes to your OWN talents and skills.  This is a key point that Sheryl hammered home which rings especially true for women.  While luck, the help of others and hard work play a large role in our achievements, we also have to acknowledge that we are pretty freakin’ talented.  Men do this much more than women.  But ladies, we need to start giving ourselves some credit when we knock it out of the park.  Like I always say, “Show some Swagger”
4. Leaders adapt and pressure is a privilege.  We should be excited about the challenges in our lives and face them head on, with confidence.  - Ann Moore
5. The most important decision in our lifetime is who we choose to marry.  Frances Frei says, “Plan A, marry the person who energizes you and inspires you to be a better person.  Plan B is to surround yourself with a team of people who do the same.”  No matter who I spoke with this weekend, a key theme I heard is that a happy, supportive spouse played a critical role in each woman’s livelihood,  career success and family health.  Many of the husbands described were willing to help do the laundry and take care of the kids so that these high-achieving women didn’t have to “lean back” from their own careers. – Sheryl Sandberg

Now go CRUSH this week #GRIT