Women of Color in Leadership
Currently, only 5% of C-Suite leaders are women of color.
According to The First, The Few, The Only by Deepa Purushothaman, that 5% are often the only or one of the only people of their race or ethnicity in the room, and this increased visibility can lead to their being held to higher standards and pressure to represent their gender and race.
Women of color are far more likely than white women to experience disrespectful and othering behavior, such as surprise at their language skills or other abilities. The result is that women who experience microaggressions are twice as likely to be burned out and less likely to stay at the company, according to the 2018 Women in the Workplace report.
These external stresses amplify the voices of the inner critic, damaging self-confidence, even in the face of tremendous achievement. The resulting anxiety and self-doubt often lead to self-sabotaging behavior, compounding the difficulty for women of color to attain the higher leadership positions they deserve.
Coaching for female executives, particularly women of color, must include techniques that help them overcome cultural biases and their damaging inner critic to move from their zone of excellence to their zone of genius.
Coaching Areas