For more than twenty years, the mission of my work has been the development and support of women. A recent conversation I had with a local female leader reminded me why this targeted investment in women is so needed. It also reinforced the purpose of writing my new book and inspired the title.
Allow me to share more about this brief, fated interaction. A mutual friend introduced me to this leader at a local networking event, and I sincerely enjoyed the brief conversation she and I shared, so I reached out and invited her to join me for a cup of coffee—my treat! For about an hour, she shared with me all about her professional and personal journey, which was filled with impressive accolades and accomplishments. Her decisions impact the lives of hundreds of people every day, she has a seat at some tables that have a significant influence on the health and future of our community, and she mixes all of her professional responsibilities in with a busy family life as well. From the outside, this woman has it all together.
After sharing her story, she looked me straight in the eye, and with a touch of skepticism, she asked me why I had invited her for coffee. I met her gaze straight on and said the first words that came to my mind: “Because I see you. I really see you.”
She put her face in her hands right in the middle of that busy coffee shop and silently but sincerely wept . . . for what felt like a long time. I let her. She very obviously needed it. When she finally paused and caught her breath, she looked up at me, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and said,
“So few people do. Thank you.”
I know. That’s why I wrote my new book titled I See You: A Guide for Women to Make More, Have More and Be More – Without More Work. It is not a book full of quick tips and strategies. I am not here in a position of authority, swooping in to impart my sage wisdom upon you; in fact, I’m not even here to position myself as the expert teacher and you as the student. You are all experts in your own right, even if you don’t know it yet. (Spoiler alert: helping you understand how astonishingly brilliant you are is one of my biggest goals in the book!)
Women like you and this new friend I met for coffee don’t need a complete system overhaul. You may need some updates to the way you think, which we will work through together, but more than anything, you need to know that someone sees you . . . someone sees all of you.
I wanted you to know today that I see YOU too. I see you out there doing the brave deeper healing work that will allow you to grow an even stronger, healthier business in the future. I see you refereeing conflicts between employees that feel annoying and childish. I see you juggling the demands of parenting with the demands of full-time work and the majority of our world’s unpaid labor. I see you trying new ideas that flop and trying some that are home runs. I see you carrying the weight of decisions based on limited certainty about what the future will hold.
How One Company Has Been Changing the Global Coffee Trade(Opens in a new browser tab)
I see you and I think you are amazing.
Link to order the book: https://www.amazon.com/See-You-Guide-Women-More-Without/dp/1774584425/ref=sr_1_1
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