You are a woman (or a man) who finds it hard to toot your own horn.
Women are not alone in having difficulties finding the breath required for horn tooting, but they do seem to suffer this condition in greater numbers than men.
Many, even those who have risen to the highest levels of professional success, find it difficult and uncomfortable to talk about their accomplishments.
Some say, “It feels egotistical.” Others don’t like to be the focus of attention.
I used to find it difficult to list accomplishments on my resume without the qualifier “as part of a 5 person team,” or some-such, until I was told, “Everyone knows most people don’t work alone these days, so you don’t need to keep pointing it out.” Done.
A New Frame
Reframing a problem often leads to changes in behavior, and the reframe pictured below, of toot your own horn, has made that difference for a number of men and women to whom I’ve passed it along.
It came to me by way of a senior executive who runs a 300 million dollar business unit for a well-known software company. She believes her role extends far beyond the success of her business. She holds herself accountable for spreading the word about how success is achieved. She refers to this as creating “epiphanies of scale.” I like it. And I believe it goes to the heart of the matter for those who see talking about their accomplishments as self-centered. With this reframe, you are sharing the wealth, in the form of knowledge, wisdom and lessons learned. Better yet, it is your obligation to do so.
Your turn. Toot your own horn here, for the purpose of paying it forward and creating epiphanies of scale.