64 PSYCHOLOGIES MAGAZINE APRIL 2020
>>>Dossier
the lead
You take
Right now, the feminine is rising and we’re being asked
to step up, lean in and lead. But how exactly do we do that?
Anita Chaudhuri explores the nitty-gritty of how to find
a leadership style that feels comfortable for you – so you
can be the leader you aspire to beW
hen I was just 24, I got promoted
to the coveted editorship of the
business magazine that had
employed me as a junior reporter
fresh out of journalism school. Unsurprisingly,
although fizzy with ambition, I felt scared,
overwhelmed and ill-equipped to take on
such a high-profile role.
Sensing this, my publisher sent
me for management training, an
innovative move in journalism at
that time. Alas, the leadership guru
took one look at me and shook her
head. ‘No, no, no,’ she declared.
‘This simply will not do.’
Bewildered, and also baed
because I had yet to open my mouth,
I couldn’t fathom what she meant. She seemed to
be referring to my appearance, but how could that be?
I was wearing my new power suit with sharp shoulder
pads and matching thigh-high mini skirt. The
finishing flourish was a large jazz-themed brooch on
my lapel. ‘You look like a strumpet with a trumpet,’
said the coach. ‘All of it has got to go.’
For the next hour, she interrogated me about my
‘management style’. I’d been promoted from within,
and that could be a poisoned chalice, she warned. Did I
socialise with my colleagues? Did I ever get drunk with
them after work? I didn’t dare tell her I frequently gotdrunk with them at 8.30am because this was the
era of Ab Fab-style champagne breakfasts!
She impressed upon me the importance of taking
myself seriously and having a strategy. ‘Ambition
isn’t enough – you have to know what you want to
do with it, otherwise, you’ll be toast.’ Sadly, I didn’t
follow her counsel and within a year I was ejected
from the editor’s chair. But I have
never forgotten her advice and it
has served me well ever since.
We hear a lot these days about the
concept of ‘women rising’. But how
you handle power once you get it and
what you choose to do with it is as vital
as having the necessary drive to take
you there in the first place. How can
we create a pathway to the corner
oce without losing ourselves? Here, top experts in
the leadership field reveal five strategies for success.REDEFINE BEING THE BOSS
When it comes to applying for the top jobs, many of
us feel hesitant because there are still relatively few
positive role models of empowered female bosses.
For some reason, the very word ‘ambition’ conjures
up an image of those shrill candidates on The
Apprentice. If you have to turn into that person
in order to get the top job, no thanks.
‘Start thinking of being a leader in terms of being“The very word
‘ambition’ conjures
up an image
of those shrill
candidates on
The Apprentice”