Positioning of women in modern business

After college, I entered a world dominated by men, finance 20 years ago was an area definitely reserved for male colleagues. I could say that slowly but surely, with my knowledge, persistence and orientation towards building relationships with the goal of mutual success, I also built my own success. Different people understand the concept of success differently.

What is success for me, may not be for another person.

Due to traditional upbringing and instilled beliefs, one of the biggest challenges on my business journey was to balance work and family life. When I became a mother, especially after returning from parental leave, the guilt grew stronger and was the trigger of daily inner turmoil because I am a workaholic by nature and no one can set the bar for me as high as I can.

Very quickly I realized that I had to silence the voices from the environment, strengthen my inner voice and intuition in order to be happy and successful according to my own criteria.

We should be able to have a family if we want it and to have the career we want. If more women could achieve that balance, more women would  achieve leadership positions. If more women were in leadership positions, they could make it easier for other women to sustain their careers.

I am of the opinion that women and men have an equal starting position, but through their way of thinking, approach to work and relationships, men progress faster.

Some of the reasons are that men understand the value of networking and visibility much faster than us. Formal and informal social events that men go to often and outside of working hours definitely ensure faster career progress.

We women build relationships and pay more attention to them, but we rarely use them. The sooner we understand that success is not only the result of knowledge and abilities, but also skills, exchange of services, the easier our career progress will be.

Perfectionism and self-criticism are further terms that distinguish us from our male colleagues. To my younger self, I would say do the task and cross it off the list, it doesn't have to be perfect to be good.

Very often we work against ourselves instead of for ourselves and diminish our own achievements while our male colleagues communicate their merits more clearly and loudly.

Looking back, I wish I had a mentor and that I knew what I know when I was younger. We learn from our male colleagues, but we never lose our authenticity, empathy and motivation.

Aligning your values ​​with your career is the most important task of every woman, along the way I realized that in crisis situations I learn, grow, progress, that my success is equivalent to the success of my team and that inner peace has no price.