Take out the young white male in this Fed Ex commercial, and insert a woman. NOW I can relate. Except most of the time I don’t even speak up to let people know. Does anyone else relate to being overlooked or ignored in the workplace? Do you think as a woman your opinion doesn’t matter quite as much sometimes? What do you do to battle it?
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5 thoughts on “Can You Identify?”
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LOL! I’ve been there many times. I used to cry a lot. Or vent to a friend in the women’s bathroom. But, I think I’ve gotten a little bit tougher in the last few years. Most of the time I’ll speak up, but in a joking kind of way, like, “Hey, that was a great idea. Good thing, I thought of it first.” And then I’ll laugh at myself and hope others will laugh, too. It’s a good passive-aggressive approach. 😉
I’ve struggled with feeling like I have to downplay my contributions or apologize after making a point. A lot more men, I notice, just put their shit out there and sit back, assuming everybody will thing it’s great. I’ve tried to do that more – state my case clearly and confidently, then let it stand. Sometimes I’m more successful than others. And sometimes I do find it’s the guys who get (take?) the credit. It’s especially hard to be confident in a creative setting, where it feels like ideas say a lot about you and it’s easier for people to judge a concept as good or sucky. Maybe the commercial is right. Maybe it’s the hand gestures:
“These aren’t the droids you want…”
“This idea is really, really good…”
The tough thing is, ideas often take on a life of their own. One person has a germ of a good idea, another builds on it, and by the time it comes to fruition, it can be very different from where it started. But I do think the more vocal and bold you are with your ideas, the more (smart) people will eventually notice. “Hey, she’s pretty good. She’s got some good ideas.” I try to hang onto that hope, rather than struggle with getting credit for a specific idea I contributed.
Hi, cara and wmag as a whole. I just wanted to say hi, and tell you that your doing great work. I was impressed to be able to find articles from newspapers around the country paying just dues to wmag. Keep up the good work!
Cara, thanks for teaching me about blogging. It’s a wonderful forum.
http://www.lakebid.blogspot.com
I’ll give wmag a plug on my page!!
I kid you not, this just happened to me. It’s happened before but never to the magnitude it hit this week.
For weeks, I pitched an idea that was either downplayed or ignored. But when corporate sends out a memo with the same exact idea, only then was it brilliant! Grrr.