Ambition

“Ambition – the drive to succeed”

Have you ever noticed that when your antenna picks up on something, suddenly that’s all you see or hear or observe.

For me this week it has been ambition.  So often in a woman’s world, if another woman is ambitious, it is not always viewed positively.  It immediately conjures up the picture of an aggressive woman clawing her way to the top.  But is that fair?

We all have different definitions of success, and who are we to judge what someone else wants out of life?  Yet, in a recent interview about super-successful women entrepreneurs, the observation was made that at times, while they don’t suffer self-doubt in terms of their ability, what they do question is more whether it is OK to be so ambitious, to enjoy work more than family.  Perhaps they worry that at the end of the day, they will regret the choices they’ve made, or always be judged for them.

Yet, sometimes women use their peers as the stepping-stone to forward their careers. Taking credit where it is not due, and ruthlessly taking advantage of someone else’s ideas and claiming them for their own.  That to me is when ambition has gone awry. 

When I worked in government, I was ambitious too, but to achieve my goals, I chose to  take on extra responsibilities or projects that would stretch me.  I don’t regret that, I learned a lot from the experience, including that I didn’t really want to move up the ranks.  I was better designing and implementing programs, rather than managing others. 

Then this morning an interesting blog found its way into my inbox – the title Outrageous Ambition.  So given my week, I felt compelled to read it.  Based in England, the author was writing about his daughter, who has cerebral palsy.  All his blogs are focused on his quest to improve the situation of people with disabilities.  In this particular blog, he talks about how his daughter inspires him, and how she drives him to have outrageous ambitions - for her and other people with disabilities.  Touchingly written, I was moved by his ambition and goals.

Three different takes on one word.  It is the motivation and methods that make the difference. What do you think?

Ask yourself why?

“What’s your vision?”  I was asked.  And there was a silence as I pondered over the question.

Coming from the non-profit sector, a vision to me was often some lofty goal of saving the world, etc… And so I really hadn’t spent too much time figuring out what my vision was.  I was just too busy doing it.  

Plus … when I started Company of Women, beyond wanting to meet up with other like-minded business women, I really didn’t have a vision or a even a mission statement for that matter.  Basically I was finding it lonely working at home and craved the company of others who were in the same situation.  Nothing altruistic there.  My plans were quite self-serving.

Little did I know that a couple of years later I would be giving up my consulting practice to pursue this further.  But even then, I can’t say I was super- ambitious.  No, I preferred to grow the organization organically.  Quality was more important to me than quantity, so the thought of having chapters across Canada just seemed too unwieldy and hard to manage.  I chose to go deeper with my offerings rather than wider.

It does seem ironic however, that now, ten years later, I am actually moving in that direction, with a chapter opening up in Winnipeg this fall and discussions underway about Vancouver. 

Having still not answered the vision question, I turned the conversation around to why I do what I do.   This I could speak about passionately and from the heart. My whole career in fact has focused on women and their needs – from young mothers to abused women and now to business owners.

I am driven  to making a difference; to helping women achieve their potential.   Company of Women just happens to be the current vehicle through which I deliver my dream of women being successful on their own terms, believing and investing in themselves and others. 

And as I noodle this over, I realize I do have a vision.  It was just tough to articulate what it was. 

What about you?  If you are struggling with what you want or what your long term goals should be, ask yourself why are you doing what you are doing?  Because maybe then you will tap into your core reason for being. Maybe then you will have the big picture vision of your life before you.