[PDJ : Part 4 in a Series]
To Women Everywhere: We Must Advocate for Ourselves
By Bhavana Bartholf, Chief Digital & Transformation Officer for Microsoft Commercial Solution Areas (Global)
T
hank you for joining me on this journey, where I have been sharing my Advocating for Yourself series in Profiles in Diversity Journal. Throughout this process, I have found myself gaining more and more clarity on where I’ve been and where I want to go—I hope you have, too. Today, in Part 4 of the series, I’m sharing my insights into the last two steps of the 5 Steps for How to Advocate for Yourself: 1. Believe in yourself 2. Be proud of your journey 3. You always have a choice 4. Be brave and ask for what matters 5. Find your pack
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2022 Second Quarter
Step 4–Be brave and ask for what matters “Be brave and ask what matters” always reminds me of that famous quote attributed to John Wayne, “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” Courage is literally not possible without fear. And everything we have done so far, in our previous steps, is learning to lean into embracing our fear. You will soon realize that when you know your strengths, acknowledge and work through your fear, and are prepared, this part, “Asking for what you want,” becomes easier. So, I would like to ask you to remember three things when you ask:
Be Clear–Spell it out I remember one time I asked my son to clean his room, and when I checked in on him a few hours later, he hadn’t done anything. When I started to fuss at him about it, he looked at me and said, “Mom, if you wanted me to get it done at a specific time, you should have just said that. I hope you know, Mom, I am not able to read your mind.” Now, obviously, my initial thought was, “You should be glad you can’t read my mind.” But I realized he was right. We don’t live in a world of mind readers, and it isn’t worth getting frustrated or upset when we are not clear. So, make sure you spell out exactly what you want.
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