The Lift Up Insights YOU NEED for 2023

Have you set your sights on progressing your career? Is it your dream to reach the C-Suite? You’ve got a challenge ahead of you, but these Lift Up Insights (garnered from some of the top women in Life Sciences) can make your journey more manageable.

Rather than tell you to watch all of our Lives from 2022, we’ve collected some of the best information so that you can stay on top of the best methods and strategies moving into the new year.

The best Lift Up Insights of 2022 are:

• Be Unapologetically Confident
• Aim Higher
• Sign Up For Extra Projects
• Get A Mentor
• Speak Their Language

Keep reading as we explore these in more detail.

Be Unapologetically Confident

The biggest Lift Up Insight from successful female leaders came up time and again: “believe in yourself!”.

As women, we tend to only apply for jobs and promotions if we tick between 80-100% of the requirements. When you consider that, generally, men aim for 50-60%, the disconnect becomes obvious.

Job requirements aren’t a guaranteed marker of who will or won’t get the job, and skills can always be learnt.

One potential cause for this is Impostor Syndrome or a lack of self-belief. Additionally, while everyone experiences Imposter Syndrome, minority groups (like women) experience it more often.

Take pride in your abilities, and realise that even if you don’t check off every requirement, you’re still fully capable of doing the job.

Aim Higher

One of the biggest issues women in life sciences encounter is actually part of their mindset. We don’t aim high enough.

In the first ever Lift Up Live, Anjana recounted that when asked what position she could see herself in, she went with Director. Her mentor responded with four words.

“Why not a CEO?”

Having that kind of support and validation from an external source is brilliant; sometimes, that’s precisely what’s needed. But it’s crucial that we set our own goals higher too.

Don’t set yourself a limit, thinking that’s as far as you can go. Instead, set your goal as what you really want to achieve. You’ll be much more likely to attain your dreams.

Sign Up for Extra Projects

If you want to find long-term success, you need to put yourself forward for new projects and additional work frequently. These extra projects are opportunities to prove yourself, especially if you’re going for regular promotions.

This helps keep you front-of-mind, especially to key decision-makers.

However, if you’re putting yourself forward for projects and keep getting passed over, there are some solutions.

The first is to respectfully ask the decision maker if there are any specific reasons, or if there is something you could do better to ensure you win the project. There could be a crucial element you’ve forgotten, which is holding you back.

On the other hand, if the feedback isn’t helpful or you enact the changes and are still getting passed over, it may be time to switch jobs. The right environment should recognise and value your contributions — if they don’t, you may need to find somewhere that does.

Get a Mentor

Not having a mentor is like having one hand tied behind your back. You can still progress and make your way, but it’ll be a longer, more intensive journey. Mentors have already been through similar struggles, and offer unique perspectives to help guide you through your career.

Even being removed from the situation gives them perspective on the best way to guide you forward. Mentors are a crucial tool, and a good one will help you to do your best.

You should choose your mentor by who’s best equipped to help you reach the next stage of your career. This can mean having a range of mentors across your career, each helping you accomplish your personal and professional goals.

You may even decide to mentor younger women as they enter the life sciences.

If you’re unsure where to find a mentor, read our post: Top Places to Find a Mentor.

Speak Their Language

It’s no secret that men and women communicate differently. It commonly leads to misunderstandings between genders, and if not navigated properly, can negatively impact your career.

One crucial Lift Up Insights we found is: make yourself more easily understood by speaking to people in their ‘language’. For instance, men typically prefer receiving clear and direct answers. This can lead to projects or suggestions being more readily accepted.

Additionally, if you’re offering solutions to a problem, it’s worth suggesting multiple options rather than just one. By providing multiple choices, decision-makers can weigh the pros and cons and choose the plan that corresponds with their mission.

Of course, we’re not suggesting that women have to ‘act like a man’. Finding and using your own voice is essential to long-term success.

But ensuring you communicate in a way that lets you be easily understood is crucial to establishing long-term connections with various people. It is an essential skill that can help you dramatically improve your career prospects.

Have You Joined Lift Up?

These Lift Up Insights were only collected from the Lift Up Lives we hosted in the last three months of 2022. There’s more top-tier information coming, guaranteed.

As Lift Up continues to grow and expand, we’ll only get access to more inspirational and influential women in the Life Sciences space. That means we will continue providing you top-tier information for free.

Lift Up (and all our content) will always be free and easily accessible to everyone. So join this growing community and help us change things for good. After all, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain!

You can find a library of all our Lives and Podcasts on YouTube