Ishreen Bradley started by explaining that the biggest barriers that people face, women particularly, in the workplace are managing profile and personal/career development. Therefore, developing and keeping with the network is absolutely key in someone’s career as well as building long term relationships out of it. Ishreen insisted on the fact that most of our strengths are focused on delivering results. So, it is essential to use a high level of emotional intelligence and focus on doing a good job, great results and getting notice.

Ms. Bradley explained that the way we behave is driven by our purpose and passions and very often those two can be invisible to us so we need to find them in order to be successful. She shared the following tools and technics to do so:

First, the “Mountains and Valleys” process can help us determine our top 5 values by creating a life timeline with up and downs and define what values were missing during our “down periods” and which ones were helping us feel good in the “up moments”. Second, it is important to understand what we are not available for and be clear on that, and know what we care about and motivates us at work. Additionally, we have to determine who is empowering and motivating us and who is not contributing to our success.

Therefore, Ishreen Bradley described 5 strategies for success:

Strategy #1: Getting to know our authentic purpose

Ishreen’s purpose is to make sure that all the human beings have great opportunities and women in particular to get to be successful as they can be and aware of their opportunities. That is her work.

Strategy #2: Branding ourselves

It is essential to understand and communicate out our authentic brand to the stakeholders by following the 3 C rule. Our story needs to be Consistent in all areas where we can be seen; Congruent with who we are and Consistent with our personality and brand. Thus, it makes it easier to move forward.

Strategy #3: Picking your battles

We tend to fight for fairness that can sometimes take us down a blind alley which can be extremely bad for our career. So, we need to choose the causes that are worth to put effort in and let the other complaints go by mastering our emotions to be successful.

Strategy #4: Getting a virtual board

We need influencers and mentors with specific skills who have an impact, experience and can guide us and help do the job.

Strategy #5: Apply strategies used by successful women

Successful women manage challenges and are successful. Therefore, we should hold on to challenging projects, understand the bigger picture and avoid any unproductive situations. Besides, Ishreen encouraged us to take roles outside of our comfort zones, learn on the job and become trusted advisors.

Finally, in order to be successful, we need to visualize ourselves as leaders by focusing on roles that play to strengths, understanding our teams’ assets, weaknesses and aspirations, and managing conflicting priorities.