Don’t be like all the other girls
In honor of Mother’s Day, I feel moved to pass along one bit of advice that I got from my mother. This advice is relevant to girls/women and boys/men on a career search — or the ambitious employed who want to stay employed or get a promotion.
Although Mom died in 1968, I can, at times, still hear her voice reciting one of her many pieces of advice.
“Don’t be like all the other girls,” she’d say if I wanted a pair of white boots just like all the other girls were wearing in TEEN magazine.
“Don’t be like all the other girls,” she’d say then proceed to tell me about the twin girls who used to live down the street and who had their own way of dressing and being in the world.
“Don’t be like all the other girls,” she’d say on any occasion to encourage me to be who I was and not someone else.
Mom was right. When I left for college, all I wanted to be was normal and like all the other girls. A bit of a challenge to figure out what normal was since I wound up at the University of California at Berekley during the height of the Free Speech and Vietnam War protests.
As I’ve gotten older, however, and worked my way into leadership roles and developed a business providing leadership coaching to executives, I embrace the essence of her message. Her message: to be fully present and let others know the unique qualities you possess and the great skills you bring to the table.
Today with the economy the worst since the Great Depression, women and men looking for work—or working to keep their jobs—have to stand out, to not be like all the other girls/boys, to demonstrate their unique brand of passion and how they will contribute their skills, abilities, and talents to the workplace.
Mom would like the person that I am today. I’m not like all the other girls. And not like all the other women I know. I’m me. And that’s a good thing.
Sit back and reflect on how you stand out with your own unique brand.
Then wish your mother and other nuturing women in your life a Happy Mother’s Day!