Be your own rockstar - authenticity & visibility

Authenticity, adaptability, creativity, empathy, joy, vulnerability.

I had the honor to be part of Forbes first Women's Summit «writing future codes» in Zurich and am thankful to have met a lot of creative, courageous, smart and inspiring women and men from Switzerland and abroad. They shared their very personal stories and experiences with clear statements: 

• Angela Matthes, CEO, Baloise Life (Liechtenstein): There is no courage without vulnerability. If you want to make an impact, you need to be courageous. 
• Robin Errico, Partner, Chief Risk Officer and Diversity & Inclusion Leader, EY: Whatever your path is, your career; don’t let anyone break your confidence.
• Janina Kugel, Chief Human Resource Office: If we repeat biases in our codes, we make things worse. If we want to achieve change and avoid the world getting worse, we have to make conscious decisions. We have to take responsibility as managers, leaders, founders and hire different people to experience diversity. Technology on its own will not make the world better, it needs us to write these codes.
• Rap Star Kelvyn Colt: there are lots of haters in this world, however, love wins. 

Are You Your Own Rockstar yet?

Thanks to Forbes for having me on stage to lead a breakout session on «be your own rockstar», how to position yourself and become visible. A topic that is crucial for moving forward in our careers as it is in fact exposure & visibility that determines success. Performance and results at work just contribute 10%; the huge rest depends on how and if you are perceived by others, as a study from IBM shows.

In my breakout session group, 50% said yes, they felt like a rockstar, 50% didn't feel like rockstars, yet. How come? What challenges do we face in stepping on stage, raising our voice, sending our messages? 

The answers during the lively session were that we miss the right mindset, we feel and are insecure, we fear failure and are led by mindfuck.

To overcome those challenges and difficult moments, we agreed on asking ourselves one simple question: «what’s the worst thing, that can happen to you?». This puts everything into perspective and allows us to concentrate on ourselves and being proud of who we are: 

• Believe in yourself
• Be faithful 
• Be authentic and live by your personal values 
• Fail and learn
• Have the courage and confidence to step back
• Breathe 

Commit, Connect, Grow

I had the chance to share my experience, my failures as well as my personal learnings and beliefs on being my own rockstar: don't reinvent yourself - you are already the best version of yourself. Positioning needs time, practice and no one is born a master. Be an inspiration for yourself before you are inspiring others, keep the offline world in mind even though we live in a digital age, because there is no photoshop in reality. To get the most out of your time and to enjoy being your own rockstar, focus on these three core values:

• Commit: yourself to being your own rockstar; believe in your strengths and follow your vision. 
• Connect: with yourself, connect with the audience, be authentic, listen, communicate, interact and start dialogues.
• Grow: play our own music, so to speak, again and again: find your favorite song, your main message. You fail? You grow. 

Different Perspectives on Writing Futures Codes

Further relevant topics to write future codes were covered by Sunnie J. Groeneveld (Inspire 925), Robin Errico (EY), Patricia Widmer (University of St. Gallen), Melanie Kovacs & Chanel Greco (both Master21), Wies Bratby and Forbes: 

• Coding: Codes and diversity matter – let's recode. 
• Leading: Leadership matters.
• Negotiating: We are worth something, our value matters.
• Networking: Trust and personal contacts matter.
• Making money: Money matters.

Forbes' Women's Summit 2020 will take place on September 18 at Park Hyatt Zurich. Save the date.

You like the pictures? Me, too, they were taken by Matthias Heschl, Forbes.