They won’t let me.
Just four little words.
Yet together they make up one of the most disempowering sentences in our language.
A sentence we are all guilty of using from time-to-time.
The sentence that can become a sentence.
It’s an old habit. ‘They won’t let me’ was the catch-cry of childhood.
Asking the permission of our parents and teachers to eat and pee was fine when we were four.
But we aren’t kids anymore.
And what happens when in our career we really do want something.
And someone our senior ‘won’t let us.’ For reasons that may not be in our best interests.
We will always have bosses in one form or another. Even when you become the boss, your shareholders/ your board/ your clients will be your boss.
So if you really do want that ‘something’. If you have a great idea, or a cool new initiative. If there is a business trip you should go on, a team you want to work with, a new role you were made for…
The look for another way.
Go above, go around, go damn-well through if you have to.
Then go ahead…
…and completely nail it.
Because there is power in being known as the girl who gets s**t done.
And people will be much less likely to try to stand in your way in the future.