Often, we downplay our aspirations; we say we “stumbled” into success or attribute achievements to luck rather than worth. We pepper our conversations with disclaimers – “I’m not an expert but…”, “This may be a silly idea yet…”, “Sorry to bother you with this…”.
As women, we must redefine ambition on our own terms. This means tuning out the societal voices urging us to take up less space, be liked, be cautious, blend in – the same voices that tell us to squash our dreams because they seem unrealistic or too ‘out there’.
Making space for women in leadership.
The data shows women are still held back from leadership roles. Only 24 women are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and less than 10% of FTSE100 companies are female CEO’s. Women make up less than 30% of political and business leadership globally.
Women may be less likely to hold the top leadership roles, but we are starting to see a shift. For years, the share of Fortune 500 companies led by female CEOs hovered around 8% but, in January 2023, more than 10% of the list was led by women, for the first time in the Fortune 500’s 68-year history.
Things may be heading in the right direction, but let’s not pretend that most women in the workplace don’t still feel like ambition is a dirty word.
The whole far exceeds the sum of individual parts.
Let’s be clear: underselling ourselves does not make space for others. It only makes it easier to dismiss our contributions and deny women seats at decision-making tables. Without a doubt, ambition left unchecked can become toxic, but the central problem is not ambition itself – it is the lack of balance between our drive to achieve individually, and our sense of social connection and interdependence with others.
“Redefined” ambition balances individual and collective good. Ambition fuelled, not by ego, but by purpose, creativity, and care for our communities can allow us to own our potential while empowering others to do the same.
“Redefined” ambition harnesses the power of community, allowing us to share ideas, make introductions, and spotlight the work of others. Moreover, it is important to recognise that, without others nurturing us along the way, we could not succeed.
This is what we aim to create at AllBright – space where community participation is encouraged, where business leaders can share and innovate and where we can harness collective ambition to support entire communities of women, lifting groups to produce results far beyond what any one person could achieve alone.
Owning ambition.
But we do need time first to reflect inwards and redefine what ambition means to us each individually. The great news is that ambition is not a limited resource where one person’s success detracts from another’s – there is room for all of us to achieve greatness in our own ways.
For some, reconnecting with lost ambition may be a struggle. To rediscover the dreams we had before the world imposed its limits on us will take time. But, bit by bit, the world will become a place where we can start to reconnect with our core vision, our long-held, long-buried ambitions.
Only when we silence societal noise and redefine what ambition really means – seeing it as something empowering, rather than something distasteful – will we be able to take big, bold steps forward and fulfil our true potential.
