Ever sold yourself short in an interview? Chickened out of asking for that raise? Creeped your Instagram friends with envy — the ones who took the plunge and started their own business? Odds are, you aren”t alone.
“Women want to learn how to boss up, they want to show up as leaders,” says leadership coach
Jeboria Scott, who is from Nashville, Tenn.“And we need to show more women how to do that so they can get, and rock, those coveted leadership roles.”
Women can be forces of nature in the workplace, but unequal opportunity and internalized sexism have kept them from shooting for the top rungs of the corporate ladder. Globally, women hold only 31 percent of senior management roles.
“It’s time to even the playing field,” says Scott.
Scott is the founder of Drive By Conversations, a platform that provides leadership train
ing to new and emerging leaders, employees and businesses to maximize their leadership potential. Scott is all about playing hard and working harder. A lover of fashion and travel, she knows the importance of being a multi-dimensional leader in the new decade. Her business is grounded in her mission “to help women and minorities avoid some of the heartache and pitfalls that muddy the path to leadership — heartache and pitfalls,” she says, she knows all too well.“Early on in my career, I had a horrible boss who didn’t know how to lead, and she made my work life and everyone else’s jobs miserable,” says Scott.
“But at the end of the day, she made me want to be a better leader and help others learn to lead, too.”
With more than 18 years in the professional learning, public policy and non-profit world, Scott is no stranger to the challenges of leading as a woman of color. Her greatest hope? That her new book, How to Get Promoted Fast: Your Guide to Becoming the Boss of Your Own Destiny, Getting Noticed, and Moving Up the Corporate Ladder will take the guesswork out of leadership for others. If you ask Scott what she thinks is one of the most important skills a leader can have, she’ll tell you it’s the ability to lead yourself.
But what does self-leadership look like?
“It means being the author of your own life,” she says.
“Sometimes, people wait for the opportunity, the job, the right moment. But it’s the day-to-day…every comment, every keystroke…that teaches people who you are and what you stand for.”
Jeboria Scott is a Nashville-based leadership coach, raised on the Caribbean Island of Grand Bahama and educated in Belgium, Spain, and the U.S.
To learn more about Scott, visit DrivebyConvos.com or visit her YouTube channel.
This article first appeared on Blacknews.com.