What I’ve learned from being a Female CEO

Summary

• I never use being a woman as an excuse for why things don't get done in the workplace; it's essential to focus on personal skills and command respect regardless of gender.
• I've observed that attributing lack of respect or other workplace issues to gender can sometimes be a convenient excuse that covers up other deficits that need improvement.
• In my experience, honing in on skills, like sales, and delivering excellent performance is more effective and rewarding than using gender as a reason for success or failure.
• Utilizing gender as an excuse can also backfire by creating mental barriers – if advantages are attributed to being a woman, disadvantages might be as well, which is not a constructive mindset.
• I encourage everyone, especially women in leadership positions, to assess their go-to excuses critically and consider whether they are genuinely helpful or hindering progress.
• Instead of leaning on external reasons for lack of success, such as gender or other attributes, focus on aspects you can control and improve upon, such as commanding respect and setting clear boundaries.
• Success is achievable regardless of gender; by refusing to accept failure based on immutable characteristics, you open the door to personal growth and accomplishments.
• Embrace a mindset that promotes actionable, positive change rather than dwelling on unchangeable and potentially disempowering excuses.

Video

How To Take Action

A good way of doing things differently is to really focus on what you are good at. Don't use being a woman as an excuse for why things don't happen at work. Instead, work on skills that make you stand out like knowing how to sell things or being a leader. This way, you get respect because you are good at what you do, not because of being a woman.

To get better, it helps to think about excuses you might use and if they are really true or just making it harder for you to do your best. Ask yourself if the excuse is helping or if there's something you can do to fix the problem.

Here's something practical you can do: When you think an issue at work is because you are a woman, stop and think if there's another reason. Maybe you need to speak up more or be clearer about what you want. This helps you find ways to improve.

Remember, success can happen no matter if you're a man or a woman. If you work hard on things you can change, like how you act or do your job, you'll grow and do well in life. Try to think more about what you can do instead of things you can't change. It's more useful and will help you get ahead.

Quotes by Leila Hormozi

"I never use being a woman as a reason for why people don't do things I want them to do or things don't get done in the workplace"

– Leila Hormozi

"If one woman on this earth has been able to do something in business that is extraordinary, so can you"

– Leila Hormozi

"Maybe it's the fact that you don't command respect and maybe saying that it's because you're a woman is a very convenient excuse to cover your other deficits"

– Leila Hormozi

"I just want to use sales skills like anybody else and that's what I did, I honed in on the skill of sales and I learned that"

– Leila Hormozi

"You are literally justifying your failure with something that you cannot change"

– Leila Hormozi

Full Transcript

want to share with you is why i never use being a woman as a reason for why people don't do things i want them to do or things don't get done in the workplace as many of you know i'm a woman some may argue in the youtube comments that i'm not because my voice is low promise you a woman you can ask my husband that being said you know this is something i get asked a lot and it actually always tends to get brought up when i'm talking to you know higher level uh female ceos as well as like my management team and my leadership team that are female what i notice is the same thing that happens with anyone who has a good reason for something right and i'll tell you two stories one is i had a female leader come to me this was probably about three months ago and she felt as though people in the workplace were not respecting her she said you know i really just think it's because i'm a woman and i said well maybe right like maybe they just don't respect women however they respect me so that doesn't really make much sense to me right because if they didn't respect all women then you and i would be equal in that plane whether i'm you know higher in the company or not the second piece of that is maybe it's the fact that you don't command respect and maybe saying that it's because you're a woman is a very convenient excuse to cover your other deficits and she was like oh crap you're freaking right and i was like yes we've been working on this anyways we've been working on the fact that you need to command respect from a room whether it's men or women it's irrelevant but that's a skill that we've been trying to work on i said you're just pointing to the most convenient thing possible to blame to say this is what it is it's not me it's this thing outside of me right because to change the thing inside of yourself to change that skill of commanding a room demanding respect in that way earning respect in that way is much harder it is so much easier to get a off-the-shelf excuse for why something isn't working and it's like oh here we go it's because i'm a woman i'm just gonna say everything's because i'm a woman right because it's super easy to point to i say this because there have been so many instances in my life when in the last five years particularly what i could say that it's because i'm a woman you know when i first started off in my career i joined multiple sales teams at big box gyms i was one of the only females i got a ton of flack they're like oh if you want to get clients show some skin do some of this put some picks up with half clothes all the stuff and i never did any of it because i was like i don't want to ever think that the reason i did or didn't get clients was because of you know me being or not being you know an attractive female right i was like i just want to use sales skills like anybody else and that's what i did i honed in on the skill of sales and i learned that i didn't say oh i'm going to go like flaunt my body because then i feel like what that does for you is if you use it to your advantage it can also be used in your mind as a disadvantage which is like i get things because i'm a woman and i don't get things because i'm a woman i'm not saying there's anything wrong with females like showing their skin stuff like there's plenty people do that as careers i don't care do what you want like live your life for me what it meant though was that if i can rely on being a woman to get something i wanted i could also say it is why i do not get what i want if you're following so that's how i explained this employee that came to me i was like every time you use it as an advantage then it also will adversely your brain is going to use it as a disadvantage for yourself and she was like oh my gosh you're so right like i'm literally using it to hide behind the other things that are my deficits it's just like an easy reason to put out there another way that this kind of came about and it's not about being a woman but it's about looking at just things that we can point to that are easy excuses that are convenient right off-the-shelf solutions off-the-shelf excuses um we had dinner with one of my friends and her two sons and they brought one of their friends and she wanted us to meet them because they were young and they're like thinking about starting businesses and she was like i think you guys would be really inspiring and so we met with them one of their friends that they brought he was a really short redhead the entire dinner he's telling us how his girlfriend broke up with him and he's like dude like i just can't get other girls because like i'm a short redhead and i was like it's so funny because i actually have a friend who's a short redhead and he had so many girls and this guy was like there's no way like show me a picture et cetera et cetera and i was like here you go and it was like mind blowing to him and i explained to him the same thing i was like you're just pointing to the thing that seems like the easiest to point to you're like oh well i have no control over this and the thing is is it's freeing and it's also creating your own prison at the same time because you're saying i'm free i don't need to do anything about it because it's because i'm short and have red hair or it's because i'm a woman but at the same time you create a prison because there's nothing you can do about it right so there's no way out of the box and so that is why i never use the reason for anything getting done for anything not getting done for anything happening or not happening for me as the fact that i'm a woman because i truly don't believe that that is a reason i believe that if you were to take everybody off the street 10 people each person would have a reason that they could point to that is an a very convenient reason for why things are not happening for them in life i could also use the fact that i'm persian and my father's an immigrant right and it's like oh you know they don't like whatever you know people from other countries or immigrants and all that stuff like if i you know i'm sure that i could find other things to point to like that and many people do and i'm sharing this because i i just noticed it's this default that so many people go to particularly women go to it in the workplace but everybody has their go-to right like what's your go-to excuse for why things don't happen for you i think it's something to really think about and then the question to ask yourself is what if you just didn't allow yourself to use that as a reason and you might be thinking well layla that's you know that's kind of not fair because it is a reason that a lot of things don't happen like there's been studies done for example on you know people who are more attractive get more things that they want women get paid less women get less this and that well true but is that a helpful thought is that going to help you in this situation is that going to help you progress is that going to help you get better the answer is no it will not it is a not a useful thought at all and so if you're trying to think of if you're thinking of these things and these thoughts are coming into your brain about why you can't do things and it might be because you're a woman in the gender gap and all these things but the question to ask yourself is is this a good question is this a good thought for my brain to think is it useful for me to think this thought no i have found that that is not a useful thought to think i share that because i think that women who like to say that the reason things aren't happening and they just let it slip like it's not it's not like a huge thing it's not like i'm talking like extremists that are like everything is because i'm a woman it's just like it slips you're like i think it's just because i was a woman but like what if you didn't let yourself say that what if it was for another reason a reason that you could do something about i would just challenge you to replace that thought oh it's because i'm a woman with oh maybe i'm not commanding enough respect oh maybe i'm not prominent enough oh maybe i'm not setting enough boundaries oh maybe i'm not setting the tone oh maybe i have too low of tolerance maybe it is all of those things instead of the fact that you're a woman because i promise you if one woman on this earth has been able to do something in business that is extraordinary so can you it's the same goes for anyone else who believes that they have a reason why they shouldn't succeed you are literally justifying your failure with something that you cannot change and you know what that means if you cannot change the thing that causes failure that you are always going to fail so that's all i've got for you guys today i just it was top of mind for me i can't i can't do it i can't think those thoughts they're not useful for me and i hope that if you are thinking them you challenge yourself to think the opposite because even if something is true if it is not useful for you then why are you thinking it so um go ahead if you guys like this video you want to hear more about this gender in the workplace and things like that which is the only video i have on gender go ahead hit subscribe i'll see you in the next one