All language subtitles for 4 - Hold Your Space English

I'm here with my wonderful friend and lead author, Sally Helgason.

We just finished a new book, How Women Rise.

I'm so excited about our book.

It's designed to help successful women achieve higher levels of positive influence in organizations.

You know, Sally, one of the things we talk about are challenges faced by successful women.

One of them is we call minimizing.

Can you share minimizing?

What does that mean?

Minimizing means using your language or your body in a way to minimize the importance of what you're

trying to convey.

Starting sentences with.

I just have one thing or I only want to make one tiny observation or this might not be appropriate,

but I think etc. So it's a way of minimizing or discounting.

And women often do it, especially as they're on their way up and it undercuts what they do.

You can also use your body language in that kind of way, making yourself smaller.

I'll give you an example.

I'll give you a great example.

I went to a board meeting in New Orleans and there were about half women, half men there.

And a number of people came in late because a plane had been light.

And as the people, as the late comers started to come in, it was a very tight room.

What I noticed was that all the women began literally making themselves smaller, scooching up in their

chairs, putting their handbags under the chair, saying their body language was saying, there is room

here for you.

I'm small enough to accommodate you, whereas it was really interesting because the men in the room

kept sprawling in their arms out here and their legs were there and they had stuff in front of somebody

else's place.

They didn't seem to.

I'm not advocating that.

We're not advocating that.

But it is interesting the way women can.

It undermines your authority.

It undermines your influence.

And it says, I'm not important.

It's not a leadership message.

Great example.