On September 20th, the women of Greystone, their friends, and clients gathered together in Fort Collins for Greystone Technology’s Women in Male-Dominated Industries (WIMDI) event. The speaker was the incredible Maureen Berkner Boyt, who is changing the way women are taught to be leaders in the world. She has written several books and is the founder of The Moxie Exchange Movement, an organization that is empowering women to create inclusive workplaces, disrupt unconscious bias and wants to reveal in every woman that they are capable of being an extraordinary leader and achieving great success in their lives.
Maureen led us through a workshop that gave a clear understanding of five growth and success factors of high-performing women. As she pointed out, these factors weren’t shocking or new ideas, but rather simple tools and changes to implement in our daily lives that can have a huge impact. A few of my favorite lessons from the event were:
- Create a ‘worst-case scenario’ list. The fear of what could happen in a situation can sometimes be the biggest hurdle that holds us back from achieving (or even dreaming of) goals we want. If you write out every worst-case scenario you can think of followed by an action plan that is the response to each situation, it enables you to stop the fear from overpowering you. Having a plan in place to be prepared for the worst makes that fear look less scary.
- Write a letter to yourself that is five years from now. How old are you in 2022? Do you have children? What is your career like now? Where do you live? The purpose of this is to write out your ideal life in five years and point out what’s changed. Since you can write anything about what your life is like in five years, it gives you the power to create a life for yourself that is different than where you are now. I hadn’t thought of doing this before; rather I had been making quarterly career and personal goals for myself without knowing what they led to in the big picture of my dream for the future.
My coworker Haley describes her favorite lessons from the evening:
“My biggest takeaway was an expansion on the 5-year plan that brought it closer to home and connected to daily life, to better connect daily habits/actions and have them tied to the five-year plan. My five-year plans have always been in the ‘what is achievable’ and ‘what is manageable’ category, but Maureen encouraged us to dream a bigger dream and set it as your ‘ideal life’ which is a real game changer. I have been working on this concept for the last week, and it has opened my mind, the scope of what I consider possible, and it’s a great motivator to make those small daily changes.”
The event inspired unity among everyone that attended and sparked a new-found courage that was special to be a part of. I left feeling more directed and disciplined to know what parts of my life need refinement to achieve my ultimate dream. One thing that stuck with me the most is how Maureen pointed out that women rarely think of their dreams or put much value in what they are in the first place. I wasn’t surprised by this, but it still made me sad to be reminded of it. Living this way results in us working for other people’s dreams instead of our own. I wonder what the world would look like and what kind of problems we could solve if women learned to focus on what they want most instead of living their lives for somebody else’s dream.
Learn more about Maureen and The Moxie Exchange Movement: www.moxieexchange.com
To learn more about WIMDI and how to get involved, email Heather Howerton at hhowerton@greystonetech.com.
