Page 11 - Shaw Wall of Honor

learner. Even if I fail spectacularly I will gain the opportunity to learn something new—and usually that something new is about myself.
The third strategy I have worked on is knowing when and how to ask for something. I employ the thought process of “help” and “proven.”. Humans are more inclined to say yes (and more likely to say yes in the future) if you ask them for help, let them know how much you appreciate them, and then ask them how you can help them in return. An example of this is that for three years our agency placed right behind another as being one of the top agencies in the nation with a carrier; although he was my competitor, after the third year I asked him to help me understand what skills he utilized to achieve such success. The next year I implemented a lot of what he shared, gave him updates of how much this helped our agency, and at the next leaders conference when we leaped ahead of him in the rankings, I told him how much his advice made that possible. I asked him how I could help him in return and he responded that I had helped him feel more successful and instead of being threatened by our success his was elated for
us. We continued to stay in contact regularly until he retired and he let me know how proud he was to be a part of my career path. When you have proven success like this example, that is when you ask for something. I see too many people ask for things even though it is not merited, but I also see too many who do not ask enough, so they get left behind. My favorite sentence after proven success is, “I am honored to have achieved this with you and am looking forward to doing even more, so can we....” It is said that the worst they can say is no, but I believe that asking at the wrong time is not only a no at that point but but also pushes you away from a future yes. Worse than that is never asking at all and too often women do not speak up.
The external challenges of being female in our industry are still prevalent and it has been wonderful to see efforts to improve these. The truth is that internally we have always had the power to build skills within, so hopefully some of the ones above will become a part of your personal arsenal.
Three Strategies
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