Have you ever read a book that was truly life changing? That shook up your status quo and helped shape a better one?
A few come to mind for me. Among them was a book I read at the same time some proverbial doors were opening. And within that book is a quote that began the status quo shaking:
“Women need to shift from thinking "I'm not ready to do that" to thinking, "I want to do that- and I'll learn by doing it.”
The book was Lean In; the author, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg. In it, the author lays out how men and women view opportunities much differently. Men are more likely to take an opportunity regardless of having related experience; women, on the other hand, preferred by and large to gain experience before taking an opportunity.
It was a fork in the road moment. Should I bypass these opportunities and then try to gather piecemeal experience while waiting for the same doors to open in the future? Or do I jump in feet first and rely on helpful colleagues and a willingness to learn?
I’m a different person today because I chose the latter. My real-time grappling with this book’s central theme profoundly changed my perception of opportunity, including the many available leadership opportunities with AADE.
Diabetes education is predominantly a female profession, and AADE, a predominantly female organization. While second-guessing opportunities is not exclusive to women, too many women regularly commit to a hesitant style of self-talk. The cumulative effect of our individual inclinations to put experience before opportunity means our profession and our association risk losing momentum.
As a volunteer leader much more comfortable with leaning in, I now find myself echoing Sheryl’s sentiment to other women who are on the fence about opportunities of their own. In many cases, it takes just a few reassuring, confidence boosting words to put the risk into perspective and the reward into focus.
So ask yourself…and ask your colleagues…what is it that you want to do in the field of diabetes in 2015 and beyond? And let’s remind each other not to let a lack of experience stop us from doing it.