Lucy Gernon (00:02.029)
You are a competent, capable woman in senior leadership and you’re used to being the one that others rely on. But what happens when you need support? If your first instinct is to keep pushing, I invite you to listen to today’s episode of the 360 Leadership Podcast as I share the fourth mistake of five that I see that many high achieving women leaders make. You don’t want to miss this if this resonates. Look forward to hearing you too in the next.
Okay, cut that. He made no sense. Okay.
Lucy Gernon (00:41.612)
There is a hidden trap that so many ambitious women fall into without realizing it. You are competent, you are capable female leader, and you are used to being the one that others rely on. But what happens when you need support? If your first instinct is to keep pushing solo, I invite you to listen to this week’s or this day. my God, sorry.
And again.
Lucy Gernon (01:25.112)
Are you a female leader falling into the hidden trap that many ambitious women in corporate leadership make without realizing it? You are competent, you are capable, and you are used to being the one that others rely on. But what happens when you need support? If your first instinct is to keep on pushing solo, I invite you to tune in to today’s episode of the 360 Leadership Podcast as I am revealing mistake number four of five that many high achieving women leaders make. You don’t want to miss this.
Lucy Gernon (01:57.698)
Hello, lovely lady and welcome back to our fourth of five episode in our five part mini series for high achieving women leaders on the mistakes that I see that you make. Now I know that these mistakes are super common because I’ve worked with literally hundreds of women leaders over the past five years from senior director, director, VP, executives, social directors, managing directors, all the directors, all of the things.
And there’s a few things that I have noticed that I really wanted to bring to your attention because lots of times when people come to work with me, they say they felt like they were alone. And I wanted to shine a light on these mistakes so you can avoid them. So today we’re going to dig into a trap that so many ambitious women leaders fall into without realizing it. And that is being a lone wolf, trying to do it all alone.
Especially right in male dominated industries. I feel like we try to prove ourselves that bit more because the further up the ladder you go, the less women you’re going to see. And when you get there, it can feel like you need to nearly like morph into a different personality at times. And there are so many women at senior levels who feel totally isolated. So if that’s you, I want you to know that lovely lady, you are not alone. OK, and I’ve got you here today. You’re here with me, just me and you and.
all the hundreds and thousands of others who are listening to this too. Because maybe you are the only woman at your level. Maybe you’ve been burned by toxic team dynamics and maybe you think that asking for help is actually weakness. But here’s the truth. Just because you’re a leader, just because you’re strong, just because you’re experienced and just because you have a skill set and just because you think you’re resilient on the outside.
The truth is that going it alone slows you down. It slows you down and it makes things way harder than it needs to be. So do you ask for support easy or do you like to just do everything yourself? Does perfectionism and the need to control stop you from being present with your families? Because I know that that was me. The reason I know all of these things is because I’ve made the mistakes guys and I want you to know that
Lucy Gernon (04:20.342)
You deserve to feel supported. If you don’t have that support in your life, you deserve it. You deserve it. You don’t have to do everything alone. And I know for me, like when I started my business, I shared before I thought I had to figure everything out myself. I delayed getting support. I delayed joining Masterminds or hiring help because I wanted to prove I could do it alone because I’m a high achiever and I love a good challenge.
But it cost me a lot of time and energy and clarity and money as well because I wasted time and time is your most valuable resource. And it wasn’t until I found the right community and coaches that things truly started to shift for me. And I still have my community and coaches because I know how valuable it is. When I was in the corporate world, I did I did have coaching, but I didn’t have a community of like minded women around me.
that truly understood my challenges because while I had called friends at work who were work colleagues and they were also my peers, I was being calibrated against these. And, you know, there’s certain things that you don’t want to be vulnerable in your own workplace necessarily. So that’s exactly why I found the 360 leaders club. As I’ve explained to you, if you’ve been listening all week, it’s to solve this problem of you feeling alone and like you have to have all of the answers. It’s totally different to
any professional coaching you’re going to have done in work because it’s just, we blend CPD accredited training, you’ve got the community. So it’s not just about leadership, it’s more about you leading yourself. And there’s nothing else on the market like it. But anyway, that’s a side note. But there is a story I want to tell you that one of our members, I’m going to say her name, I don’t want to give her name away, but I’m going to say her name is S. And she was in a senior leadership role.
global senior leadership role in the scientific industry, let’s just say. And she joined 360 because she wanted to build her confidence in her executive presence and she wanted more time, which is why most people joined 360. But she didn’t realize how lonely she was until she joined the club. And she said to me, she’s like, it’s like having a personal board of directors who just get it. But the difference is we have a laugh and they’re also my friends.
Lucy Gernon (06:38.304)
I mean, like how cool is that? Like she didn’t even realize she was lonely because you don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t know that, you know, there’s other ways of being supported if you don’t know about it. But I want you to know that you can feel so supported and so held in your leadership role. It doesn’t have to actually feel as hard as it does. And if it does feel really hard, well, isn’t there other companies we can connect you with to get you the dream job? And that’s what I’m all about. I love connecting women together. So if this does sound like you.
Here’s how it’s going to show up.
If you are a lone wolf and you like to figure everything out yourself, how it’s going to show up is you’re going to downplay any challenges and carry the load alone and say, it’s OK, I’ll take care of it. You won’t ask for help even if you’re overwhelmed. And you might avoid community or connection or relationship building because it feels like one more thing. And you might think that vulnerability is weakness. You might think that like you have to have this
corporate mask and portray a certain corporate persona. But lovely lady, that is bullshit. Because I’m all about being authentic. You will hear that on the show. You know me now at this stage in my voice. I am real. am honest like me or loathe me. I am who I am. And for years, I couldn’t do that. I didn’t feel I could do that. And I’ve shared this story in the podcast before that at work in the corporate days.
When I had a breakthrough after working with one of my coaches back in 2020, I think this time was, yeah, it was 2020. I started showing up fully. Guys, I went on Instagram in a pink suit and like had a blazer on. If you scroll back through my feed, you’ll find it. With like my tanned leg in the air, like having like a JLo moment because I wanted to, I felt like it was like a rebirth. I felt like I was finally reconnecting with myself. And I knew I was going to leave the corporate world in about a year, but I still had to walk into work on Monday morning.
Lucy Gernon (08:37.57)
and I still had to see those people that I thought would judge me. But I just decided to give no F’s anymore. And the thing is, is that when I started being more authentic and when I started just being Lucy Garnon, who I really am at my heart and at my soul, the people I thought were gonna judge me actually, I’m not gonna say looked up to me, admired me. And they told me that because I was being myself. Does it mean they all liked me? No, it doesn’t.
But when you’re shining your authentic light, it gives other people permission to do the same too. And I really, really hope that when you’re in my presence, that you know you can just be who you really are. You can just be who you really are. OK. So why does this even matter? Right. So leadership is not about doing everything yourself. It’s actually about creating a strategic ecosystem of support. Without it, you’re going to have burnout, resentment and decision fatigue is going to creep in fast. And here’s the reframe for today.
Strong leaders seek support. One of our members, Caroline, her name is, she’s an SVP in corporate secretarial in the finance industry. And she said that she had heard about coaching, but she didn’t really know too much about it. Like she’d done courses and work and whatnot. And she said that when she started making inquiries internally with senior leaders, that she found that it was very common for them to engage a coach. And she said that she felt very naive thinking that these people
got to where they were without any additional support. And hello, Caroline, if you’re listening to the podcast, because I know you listen still. So then she kind of realized, hang on a minute, I’ve been trying to navigate this on my own. What the hell am I doing? So she’s in 360 now for over a year. Like she’s renewed her membership and everything. She loves it so much. just if you love learning, you love 360. And if you want that support in that community, you got it in spades. So with that being said, I’m to be back to you tomorrow.
We are going to be on our fifth and final mistake tomorrow. And this is a big one. This is huge. This is a huge one. It’s all about the confidence myth and why so many brilliant women are waiting to feel ready. You don’t want to miss us digging into that one. And like I’ve shared with you yesterday, our wait list for our next cohort is open right now. So if you want to get yourself on the wait list, now is your opportunity. Just go to 360LitresClub.com
Lucy Gernon (10:59.886)
forward slash wait list. And if you are ready to take back control and if you are ready to let’s go for the last quarter of this year, if you’re listening to this live, I would love to see your name popping up on the wait list. Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn, Instagram, email, ask any questions you want. Myself and my team will reply with anything. I’m always there to support you. And if you’re listening to this later, please don’t worry. Everything still applies. can still reach out to me and ask when we are.
taking on your clients again in 360 because we are growing, we are having fun and it is the place to be. The magic is unreal. So until tomorrow, go have a lovely evening. I hope this has given you food for thought. And I would invite you just as I sign off to reflect on one question. Why don’t I allow myself to be supported? Where does that come from? Where does that come from? I leave you with that. See you tomorrow, same time, same place. Bye for now.
