03/25/2024

Five Steps to Take so You Can Stop ‘Faking it ’Til You Make It’

Always stay true to who you

Early in my career, like so many other newcomers to the workplace, I struggled with self-confidence. Often I was not only the youngest person in the room but also the only female. How, if I were to be taken at all seriously, especially in the technology industry, was I supposed to talk and act? How, in short, could I succeed in being myself?

My personal experience as a young woman in the tech sector inspired my academic and now professional interest in examining the issue of authenticity in the workplace, so much so that I conducted an in-depth study titled Gender equality and authenticity: a study of women in IT leadership that dives into how women leaders in tech have managed to be true to themselves and still succeed.

My doctoral dissertation entailed one-on-one interviews with nine senior women leaders at six technology companies about how they confronted the challenge of being authentic on the job. Eight women worked at Fortune 500 companies, ranging from a C-suite executive and six vice presidents to a managing director and a global director. They had served in tech for an average of 26 years. 

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.