Recently I travelled approximately 14,000 miles round trip from New York to Dubai for the International Women in Leadership Conference hosted by Ibukun Awosika, renowned business leader and former chairman of First Bank, Nigeria.
It was a transformational experience and connections made with great women from different countries.
Here are some nuggets to help you in this season (especially as you contemplate/prepare your next move). They have helped me in my journey and continue to help me gain clarity as I help others.
1. Be bold and just go for it even if you don’t know anyone in the destination. This is something I learned more than two decades ago when I consulted in tech in several European countries.
I accepted roles and just went for them – new territories, different languages and cultures!
Opportunity has a time slot. Take it.
I shared some back stories in my books, e.g. “Assigned: No More Procrastination.” Have you read it yet? It’s available where books are sold.
2. Be intentional about your movement. “Ponder the path of your feet” (Proverbs 4:26).
Before you make the move, have a plan.
- What’s your reason for going?
- What do you want to achieve?
- Who do you want to connect with?
3. Be intentional about your presence. Walk into the room with confidence and understand that everyone there is relevant (including you).
These keys from the conference in Dubai will also help your implementation phase:
4. Hire correctly.
“Hire people who are smarter than you. Empower them with the resources so that the potential of your enterprise will be limitless.” – Joe Tsai, Co-founder, Alibaba, Governor Brooklyn Nets
5. Define how you finish.
“How do you picture your life at age 70? How do you want to finish where you really want, not how you are forced to?”
– Ibukun Awosika
“Have a sense of destination. Define it and you can refine it. It’s your responsibility to define how you finish. Give yourself a target.” – Ibukun Awosika
“Have a gap analysis about your life, what you need to fix and where you should go. What do you need to do differently?”
– Ibukun Awosika
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Belinda is a Global Privacy and Cybersecurity Consultant, Corporate Trainer, Writer, and International Speaker with a unique blend of law and technology expertise. In addition, she is a digital entrepreneur, ordained pastor, mentor to women ready to impact their generation. She is the host of Destiny Chats podcast and lives in New York with her family. For consultation , click here
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