SEARCHING FROM WITHIN

“The only way to find your voice is to use it.” Uknown

In a preparation meeting for an upcoming speaking engagement, I was asked this week “When was the moment in your career that you found your voice?”  This was a very interesting question to me; the spectacular female leader that I am sharing the virtual stage with had an impactful story of the moment that she found her voice.   She had been working for a male dominated CPG company (very similar to Hormel) and had sat in a corner for a meeting that she was supposed to be leading but there were no seats left at the conference table.  Her manager at the time told someone else to move and insisted that she take her seat at the table.  “You are running this meeting; you do not sit in the corner.” Is something I imagine this manager said to her.  She described this moment as when she “found her voice”.

Since I did not have an instant answer or moment to share like my esteemed colleague, I was grateful this was a prep session and not the actual event.  As I flew to Nashville this week for meetings, I sat on the plane drinking my weak United coffee reflecting on “when the moment was that I found my voice”.  As I thought through many impactful events over my 25-year career, I could not truly put my finger on one moment when I “found my voice”.  I had many moments when I had “used my voice”; “heard my voice”; but the most relevant to me was when I started “having confidence in my voice”.

Many years ago, I started writing down my experiences, thoughts and feelings about my 25-year career and personal struggles.  Those writings are what eventually became this blog.  As I wrote and read back the words I had put to paper, I slowly started to realize that “my voice” was always within me.  Word by word, the voice that was always within me came out and as those words went to paper, my confidence in my voice grew.

It is no secret that most women struggle with confidence and therefore in a corporate environment may also struggle with making their voice heard.  However, the truth is that YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE CONFIDENCE TO DO CONFIDENCE.  You may not FEEL confident, but you can ACT confident and the amazing magic that happens when you act confident?  You BECOME confident.

So, as I reflected on that question of “when I found my voice?”; the answer is that I never “found” it.  My voice was always within me.  I over time just started listening to my voice, documenting my voice, believing in my voice, trusting my voice and sharing it with anyone that was worthy enough to receive it.