Successful women share their best career advice

Successful women share their best career advice Everyone- women, men, old, young- can use some guidance in their careers. Mentorship has long been established as a huge difference-maker, especially for people just starting out or people embarking on a new professional path. This level of support has proven especially beneficial for professional women, who do best when they’re able to get insight and advice from other professional women. Yet according to a study of professional women by talent scouting firm Egon Zehnder, only 54% of women have access to that kind of mentorship by other women. That doesn’t mean that those of us without those resources have to go it alone- rather, we can take inspiration from successful women who have been willing to share some of their hard-won knowledge and insights. Let’s look at some of the most inspiring career advice out there, from women who’ve made it.Be open to opportunities.â€Å"Be prepared to spot growth opportunities when they present themselves- because they are the key learning opportunities. You’ll know because they make you uncomfortable, and your initial impulse may be that you’re not ready. But remember: Growth and comfort never co-exist.†- Ginni Rometty, chairman, president, and CEO of IBM  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Always take on new challenges- even if you at not sure you are completely ready.†- Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook  Ã¢â‚¬Å"If a job’s not scary, it’s not worth doing.†- Jasmine Whitbread, Chief Executive at London First  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Don’t cut off your career branches too early. Don’t step away from your career based on what ‘might’ happen.†- Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors  If you wait around for the exact right opportunity, you might find yourself waiting around while your skills and experience go to waste. If you’re a new grad, or looking for a new job, it can be tempting to not go for opportunities that aren’t exactly like you envisioned your career, or that feel like a stretch for the experience and skills you have. But really, what do you have to lose by stretching a little? The worst possible outcome is the word â€Å"no,† which is rarely fatal. And in the best case, you could be hired for a job that challenges you and makes you grow as a professional.Be resilient.â€Å"Life’s a marathon, not a sprint. When things go wrong, dust yourself off.†- Kate Grussing, Founder and Managing Partner at Sapphire Partnership  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Take criticism seriously, but not personally. If there is truth or merit in the criticism, try to learn from it. Otherwise, let it roll right off you.†- Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State  Failures and disappointments are going to happen occasionally, no matter who you are and what industry you’re working in. Sometimes these will be your fault, and sometimes they won’t. The one thing that all failure scenarios have in common is that you can move on from them. No matter how embarrassing it may feel, or how dire, all you can do is accept that things happened the way they did, understand why things happened what they did, and learn what you can do next time to help avoid the same kind of catastrophe.Build your team wisely.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"You are only ever as good as the team you build, so be a talent magnet and surround yourself with the best and the brightest.†- Marianne Lake, CFO of J.P. Morgan Chase  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†Never be afraid to recruit people brighter than you are, and never be afraid to recruit people who are different than you. That is sometimes hard to do, but incredibly powerful if you want to create a team that is really effective.†- Judith McKenna, COO of Walmart  Think of it as career #squadgoals. Every successful person has worked as part of a team at some point in their careers- and in fact, teamwork is one of the qualities most prized by employers. The important part is making sure that your team is able to support your goals. That may mean being a more engaged and supportive colleague yourself, or if you’re in a management role, it means recruiting the best possible people to help you grow achieve your own goals.Everyone has his or her own career goals in mind, and it can feel like we need to step on others to achieve those, but things will go much more smoothly- not to mention more easily- if you focus on building ways to work together instead of taking everything on yourself.Be yourself.â€Å"Be who you are. You’re unlikely to be first or last- your journey is your journey.†- Desiree Clarke-Noble, Director, Head of Brand and Marketing at Royal Bank of Canada  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Sit down and ask yourself, ‘What is the most important thing to me?’ What grosses me out the most? What makes me the most upset - is it healthcare? Is it so many people being hungry in our culture? Is it sexual abuse? Mix that with doing somet hing you love, something you could keep doing forever and ever. For me, it was ending violence against women, and I mixed it with music. And I’ve had a 25-year career. So that’s my advice: Find something you really care about and mix that with something you love doing.†- Kathleen Hanna, musician and activist  If your professional self is more aspirational than authentic, you’re likely to find yourself dissatisfied with the career path your persona has chosen for you. Whatever choices you make- job, relationships, skill-building- should be ones that fit with who you are, not necessarily who you think you should be.Find your focus.â€Å"The thing people want most is your focus and attention. You destroy that when you think you’re multitasking, because you’re not accomplishing either.†- Wendy Clark, president and CEO of DDB North AmericaMultitasking can be seen as a prized skill, in a world where there are about 40 digital distractions every minute and ever-increasing demands. Instead of focusing on the number of things you can do this minute, try thinking about the quality of what you’re doing and learning in the moment. Being able to send an email while half-listening to a colleague and compiling a report will get more things checked off on your to-do list, but how many of those things are you actually doing well? If you try to bring mindfulness and thoughtfulness to your to-do list, you are upping the quality factor of your work.Project confidence in all you do.â€Å"Speak slower; be more executive and more authoritative. When you speak quickly it’s hard to distil big messages and put a good case forward to your customers and your team.†- Helen Sutton, Vice President of Enterprise in Northern Europe at DocuSign  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Don’t be afraid to ask questions; that’s one thing that differentiates women from men.†- Claudia Palmer, Chief Business Officer and Chief Financial Offi cer at ReutersOne of the best things you can do for your career is to take control and ownership of your professional path. That means expressing yourself clearly, and being an advocate for your own interests. Whether it’s negotiating a salary increase or trying to get ahead, being timid or hesitant is unlikely to get you what you want. The more you can project confidence and competence, the more you’ll be able to build confidence in your abilities.If you have any of your own favorite pieces of career advice for or from women, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

How to Use Dual Prepositions in German

How to Use Dual Prepositions in German Most German prepositions are always  followed by the same case, but dual prepositions (also called two-way or doubtful prepositions) are prepositions that can take either the accusative or dative case. What Are the Dual Prepositions in German? There are nine of these dual  prepositions: anaufhinternebeninà ¼beruntervorzwischen How to Decide Whether A Dual Preposition Is Dative or Accusative? When a dual preposition answers the question where to? (wohin?) or what about? (worà ¼ber?), it takes the accusative case. When answering the question where (wo?), it takes the dative case.   In other words, the accusative prepositions typically refer to an action or movement to another place, whereas the dative prepositions refer to something that is not changing location.   Think about the English phrases he jumps into the water versus he is swimming in the water. The first answers a where to question: Where is he jumping? Into the water. Or in German, in das Wasser  or  ins Wasser. He is changing location by moving from the land into the water. The second phrase represents a where situation. Where is ​he swimming? In the water. In German, in dem Wasser  or  im Wasser. He is swimming inside the body of water and not moving in and out of that one location.   To express the two different situations, English uses two different prepositions:  in  or  into. To express the same idea, German uses one preposition -   in  - followed by either the accusative case (motion) or the dative (location). More About Using the Accusative Case If you want to convey a direction or destination in a sentence, youll need to use the accusative. These sentences will always answer the question where  to/wohin? For example: Die Katze springt auf den Stuhl. |  The cat jumps on(to) the chair.Wohin springt die Katze? Auf den Stuhl. | Where is the cat jumping? On(to) the chair. The accusative case is also used when you can ask what about/worà ¼ber? For example: Sie diskutieren à ¼ber den Film. |  They are discussing  the film.Worà ¼ber diskutieren sie? ÃÅ"ber den Film. | What are they talking about? About the film. More About Using the Dative Case The dative case is used to indicate a stable position or situation. It answers the question where/wo?  For example: Die Katze sitzt auf dem Stuhl. (The cat sits on the chair.) The dative is also used when there is no particular direction or goal intended.  For example: Sie ist die ganze Zeit in der Stadt herumgefahren.|  (She drove around town all day.) Remember that the above rules apply only to dual prepositions. Dative-only prepositions will always remain dative, even if the sentence indicates motion or direction.  Likewise, accusative-only prepositions will always remain accusative, even if no motion is described in the sentence.   Clever Ways to Remember  German Prepositions Arrow verses Blob Some find it easier to remember the accusative-versus-dative rule by thinking of the accusative   letter  A  on its side, representing an arrow ( ) for motion in a specific direction, and the dative letter D  on its side to represent a blob at rest. Of course, how you remember the difference matters little, as long as you have a clear understanding of when a two-way preposition uses the dative or accusative.   Rhyme Time   Use the following rhyme to help  memorize dual-prepositions): An, auf, hinter, neben, in, à ¼ber, unter, vor und zwischenstehen mit dem vierten Fall, wenn man fragen kann â€Å"wohin,†mit dem dritten steh’n sie so,daß man nur fragen kann â€Å"wo.† Translated: At, on, behind, near, in, over, under, before and between Go with the fourth case, when one asks where to The third case is different: With that, you can only ask where. Dual Prepositions and Sample Sentences The following chart lists an example of the dative and accusative cases for several dual prepositions. Preposition Definition Dative Example Accusative Example an at, by, on Der Lehrer steht an der Tafel.The teacher is standing at the blackboard. Der Student schreibt es an die Tafel. The student writes it on the board. auf on, onto Sie sitzt auf dem Stuhl.She is sitting on the chair. Er legt das Papier auf den Tisch.He is putting the paper on the table. hinter behind Das Kind steht hinter dem Baum.The child is standing behind the tree. Die Maus luft hinter die Tr.The mouse runs behind the door. neben beside, near, next to Ich stehe neben der Wand. I stand next to the wall. Ich setzte mich neben ihn. I sat down next to him. in in, into, to Die Socken sind in der Schublade.The socks are in the drawer. Der Junge geht in die Schule.The boy goes to school. ber over (above), about, across Das Bild hngt ber dem Schreibtisch.The picture hangs over the desk. ffne den Regenschirm ber meinen Kopf. Open the umbrella over my head. unter under, below Die Frau schlft unter den Bumen.The woman is sleeping under the trees. Der Hund luft unter die Brcke.The dog runs under the bridge. zwischen between Der Katze stand zwischen mir und dem Stuhl.The cat is between me and the chair. Sie stellte die Katze zwischen mich und den Tisch.She put the cat between me and the table. Test Yourself Answer this question: Is  in der Kirche  dative or accusative? Wo  or  wohin?   If you think that  in der Kirche  is dative and the phrase answers the question  wo?  then you are correct.  In der Kirche  means in (inside) the church, while  in die Kirche  means into the church (wohin?). Now you see yet another reason why you need to know your German genders. Knowing that church is  die Kirche, which changes to  der Kirche  in the dative case, is an essential element in using any preposition, but especially the two-way ones. Now well put the  Kirche  phrases into sentences to further illustrate the point: Akkusativ:  Die Leute gehen in die Kirche.  The people are going into the church.  Dativ:  Die Leute sitzen in der Kirche.  The people are sitting in the church.