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About the book
Own Your Space is the ultimate ‘toolkit’ to unleash your true power. It’s for the woman who wants to take her career to new heights and who is ready to fulfil her true potential.
Excerpt provided courtesy of Shed Marketing and is published by Pan Macmillan SA publishers.
On failure and dreams
‘We have more of an emotional connection to failure then men do. Perhaps it’s in our psyche as little girls. We have been taught to grow up without failure, and to be accepted is to be perfect. We aren’t encouraged to fail.
I wonder if we have big enough visions for our own lives. I wonder how many women say they want to be the president. Why don’t we?
I feel our dreams are way too small. We need to dream big dreams and never stop working towards realising them, and that in itself will encourage other women to realise their own dreams.’ - Tracey Webster, former CEO of the African Leadership Institute, CEO of the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship and co-founder of the Starfish Foundation
Setbacks and facing challenges
‘I’ve had setbacks – with my health and with my career. But setbacks are just setting you up for your comeback. And working through the challenges gives you more credibility and authenticity.’ - Melissa Dawn Simkins, US brand guru and President of Velvet Suite
Don't be so hard on yourself
‘I do not know anybody who is prominent and successful and has not had a challenge in their lives or dealt with anxiety.
And when those people share their stories, they affirm my humanity. They make me cut myself some slack for the times when I don’t know what to do. And I always ask myself before taking action, Redi, what is your intention?
And if my intention is to succeed for myself, there’s nothing wrong with that. But I think that in life you should have a philosophy by which you live, and my philosophy is, How do my actions touch humanity?’ - Redi Tlhabi, 702 talk show host and author
Let your voice be heard
‘Even if your opinion is wrong, at least it’s an opinion. You become amazing when you are willing to be accountable for something.’ - Anele Mdoda, 94.7 drive host, TV presenter and media personality
Always try to look for a solution
‘I am a very solution-orientated person. In most cases, there is an answer, but sometimes the problem needs to be tackled in a different way. Look for different avenues to deal with an issue and seek advice and help.
If there is no solution to a particular problem, accept it, and do the best you can to accommodate the position and move on. A major hurdle to problem-solving is trying to deal with a mass of information in one gulp.
It all looks much more intimidating than it actually is once you take it step by step.’ - Sharise Weiner, High Court Judge
Seize the opportunities you get
‘We are living in very interesting and exciting times. As women, we have so many opportunities. In Africa and South Africa, we have many more opportunities than our global counterparts.
It’s about how we seize these opportunities without losing ourselves or who we are.
We have to be brave, brazen and courageous. The multiplicity of roles that we play is the biggest strength we bring into the boardroom, and it’s about how we balance that.’ - Nomkhita Nqweni, Chief Executive of Wealth, Investment Management and Insurance at Barclays Africa Group
Own your voice
‘One of my strongest traits is courage – not only the courage to own my voice, but also the courage to take on difficult tasks. If people challenge me when I am about to take on a task, it motivates me even more to go out there and do it.
If you don’t believe in yourself then you can’t test yourself, and you can’t take on tasks that are important, that are bigger than you, because you keep yourself in a state of self-doubt.’ - Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice Principal of Research and Innovation at UNISA
Up your game
‘Success is about stepping up to the game every day. Do not allow setbacks to put you back too far; come back as quickly as you can. I am always redefining what I am doing, who I am and what difference I want to make in the world.
I am always trying to live in a space of mindfulness.’ - Professor Shirley Zinn, CEO of Shirley Zinn Consulting
Don't apologise for being ambitious
‘Ambition, focus and hard work accelerated my career.
'What I’ve observed is that some of the people I grew up with who were brighter than me and maybe came from better-off families, but lacked ambition, didn’t have the drive, and they tended not to do well later on in life.
If I had to choose one quality required to achieve success, it would be ambition.’ - Judy Dlamini, Executive Chair of the Mbekani Group
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READ MORE:
How to own screwing up at work (without getting you fired)
'Surround yourself with women who support you' - Black Porcelain
What I’ve learnt as the only woman in an all-male team
