Local Profile's annual Women in Business summit is an incredible experience that brings together women in all walks of their careers, to inspire and build them up.
In this recap, Fox 4 "Good Day" anchor Lauren Przybyl shares valuable advice for women leaders in business, broken down into five steps just for you!
Since joining Fox 4 in 2009, Lauren Przybyl balances family life with her broadcasting career. All the while, she highlights the kind of news stories that pull her local community together on social media.
She has two children, 8 and 4 years old, and in 2018 she almost lost her life to HELLP Syndrome, a life-threatening form of preeclampsia which forced her to deliver her son 34 weeks into her pregnancy.
Here are her tips on becoming a true leader in business... especially for the women leaders out there!
Tip #1: Choose to build resilience in our changing world.
As we move into the future, those who will succeed are those who are resilient.
Usually we don't have the words "positive" and "stress" in the same sentence, but they say those who can deal positively with stress will thrive.
And many of us work in constantly connected, always "on" highly demanding work cultures where stress and the risk of burnout are widespread. That was the headline in the news that I read the other morning, on "Good Day." They were talking about how burnout is causing the "great resignation." There are so many people that are just quitting, they're simply just giving up. Well, if you choose to stay in your line of work, you know the pace and intensity of your work world likely isn't going to be changing anytime soon. So it is more important than ever to build resilience skills. -- so you can be a leader, so you can bounce back.
Tip #2: Learn from failure.
Everybody at some point is going to receive some sort of critical feedback, or maybe experience work failure. So how can we learn to be resilient? Because there are skills that you can learn -- I learned them being a news anchor for the last 20 years.
I've covered thousands of news stories, and I have seen firsthand heartache, pain, tragedy, violence, you name it. I have met people who have seen the worst. I have met them at their worst on that that really, really bad day.
But I have also been able to see such grace, such beauty, and such triumph from people who, in my mind, define resilience.
Tip #3: Make your mess your message.
Years ago, I interviewed broadcaster Robin Roberts, who battled cancer and bone marrow disease. I asked her about deciding to be so open about her treatment and what she was going through. She said when she was struggling with how she would to go public with it, her mother told her this: make your mess your message.
Boy, that stuck with me. From that moment on, I kind of took that on as as my own, and I've tried to be an open book as well: on air, on social media, and in my personal life... from having a miscarriage, to having a life threatening scare during my delivery with my second child, to being diagnosed with HELLP syndrome.
When I went back to work, one of the first stories I set up was a story with a doctor on HELLP syndrome. I wanted to warn others about the dangers of HELLP syndrome, and what they needed to do. Make your mess your message. By doing that, you can help others. You can be a leader. You can lift others up.
Tip #4: Your resilience will have a ripple-effect.
Look for the positive in things. I know that can be hard. But there's always something.
I spoke with a woman who does resilience training for companies. Yes, that's a thing! This woman goes into companies, talks about resilience and trains people on how to be resilient. She told me that since the pandemic, she is now swamped with companies hiring her to do resilience training. She also told me something that really stuck with me: when employees can stand tall in the face of hardship, so can the business.
Tip #5: Change starts with you.
Be a fighter, not a victim. Focus on what you can control. Be bold and brave. Make your mess your message, and share it with others. Talk with others, because being a good leader is about being a good person. You alone can make a difference.
I always say change can start with one; every day I see it in the news. And I bet you can you see it around you as well. Change can start with one; you can be resilient.
Watch Lauren's whole story and more advice for women leaders below:
