Cultivating resilience doesn’t necessarily require confronting major adversity, but it always requires authenticity, according to a panel of five former Baton Rouge Influential Women in Business honorees during a webcast this morning.
The webcast—Influential Women in Business: A Conversation About Resilience—featured a moderated Q&A session about sources of their resilience, as well as what has sustained and challenged it, particularly throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Panelists included L’Auberge Vice President and General Manager Kim Ginn, Jani-King of Baton Rouge franchise owner Monique Scott-Spaulding, ExxonMobil Chemical Baton Rouge Polyolefins Plant Manager Angela Zeringue, Emergent Method Director of Training Julie Laperouse, and author and leadership coach Dima Ghawi.
“We think resilience is this Superwoman move we make out of the muck, rising up like a phoenix, but our day-to-day lives are much less theatrical than that,” Laperouse said. “Sometimes, it’s just about taking the next step forward.”
Part of resilience is knowing when to ask for help, said Laperouse, noting the pressure women often face to be perfect. Women often compare themselves to others from afar rather than having honest conversations with them, which can cause them to place unrealistic expectations on themselves, she said. Laperouse recommends letting a few trusted people behind the curtain and swapping ideas and insights to help one be honest with themselves.
“It’s hard sometimes to step back and recognize, ‘I’m in over my head here,’” Zeringue said. “What’s helped my sanity and that of the others around me is realizing that I need to lean into that network and recognize that people genuinely want to help.”
In the midst of a pandemic, adapting to change is also important, said Ghawi, encouraging webcast viewers to “be more like water than rocks” and change their shape and direction depending on what’s needed in the moment. Ginn learned this lesson during her first casino job, when she had five different managers over a short time and had to learn how to work with their different styles; today, she gets her energy from “the excitement of [her] industry.”
Because women tend to underestimate their professional value, Scott-Spaulding stressed the importance of knowing one’s professional worth, including the greater industry to which they belong, the value they bring to the company and their employer’s capacity and needs.
“Do the research and create a space where your value is not only shared with your immediate boss, but with the C-suite,” Scott-Spaulding said. “If you’re in the C-suite, then with the CEO and board.”
Moreover, rather than viewing fear as something to be conquered, it’s important to view it as something to be felt, Ghawi said.
“Realize that the fear will always be there, so feel the fear and take action anyway,” Ghawi said. “Take small, tiny steps forward. With every step I take, I’ll feel more confident and take another step.”
