To advance in your career, you have to have good ideas, but if you can’t get people to pay attention to them, it doesn’t really matter. Research shows that when women speak up and champion themselves and their good ideas, they get ahead. If it’s so simple, why don’t we do it more often? In my experience personally and with clients, I see too many situations where women try to pitch, don’t do well and then define themselves as “bad at it.” Sometimes they do this so early in their careers that this self-definition has baked into them for decades. Sometimes they even convince themselves it’s their ideas that are no good. And this isn’t true at all!
Pitching is a skill, not an event. Some ideas will get shot down (and will deserve to), but over the course of your career you’ll have many opportunities and the better you get at it, the more of your ideas can make it. Being good at pitching means practicing, and choosing people to practice with who don’t take pleasure in your failure, but build you up. No one’s really born with this skill, it takes some personal development. But when you get good at it:
- You gain more influence.
- You get better results.
- You become known for your ideas (even when they get shot down once in a while.)
Watch this short video for my pitch on why your pitch is worth an investment.
Learn the art of the good pitch in a safe and supportive atmosphere. Sign up for this complimentary webinar this Thursday (September 6th), to learn the biggest mistakes we all make and a simple format for putting your strongest pitches together. Submit in advance to get your idea reviewed in the webinar!
