Saturday, July 25, 2009

Humble at work

What does humility mean?

Today, I was told at work that I am not humble. That I assume as though things are a given to me and that I need be more humble.
In the workplace, as I have come to learn, being humble means beign like I sponge...take it all in and dont release until squeezed!

Yep, this is the new feedback at work. The problem is that when one has met her entire objectives for the year, that are measured as revenue for a company, exceeded expectations and has a loving client base...one wonders what the hell a sponge has to do with a promotion?!

Am I to be the next spongebob square pants cartoon character?
You tell me.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Us

So, living in Toronto, Canada I have come to the realization that women in the workplace need to work twice as hard than men do to either get a promotion, get recognized, and be seen as smart, mature women. On top of the fact that there is this commonly known, yet not spoken, demand for us to not surface the fact that we might get pregnant and therefore will leave on maternity leave, or that we might get engaged and therefore our attention will get devoted to planning the wedding and therefore we are "dropping the ball".
At my current job I play a role on a daily basis with senior management to proof myself to them. I don't mean "kiss ass", I mean prove constantly that I am smart, outgoing and that I am doing a great job.
Not sure if you have noticed, but men and even women who are bosses are less likely to make "constructive criticism" to men that report to them. I have constantly noticed, and I am not sure if there is somebody else out there who might think the same or might have seen similar reactions; but overall women and men bosses are more careful of how male staff will respond to criticism compared to female staff. Men tend to react less emotional and more defensive, so senior management are more careful when addressing them. Compared to women who may not react as defensive. If they do so, then they are labeled as aggressive, hormonal, and not humble when taking criticism.
So when it comes to the workplace, do men still have quite the upper hand? and if so, how do we smartly get around it?