Not “VP Material”
As a woman of colour I had been tracking up through my large hospital quickly. I was the bright star in the first few years and has steadily taken on more and more responsibility. As I found my footing, I began to speak up more and more about health equity and inclusion in the workplace. I always knew there was a risk in doing this, but I felt I could handle the backlash by always minding my tone and approach and making myself invaluable. I was wrong. After years of delivering results, I asked my CEO how I might be able to track into a more senior role. Her feedback was blunt: I did not always “act the part” and this held me back from being seen as “VP material”. My CEO said this to me behind closed doors while championing EDI publicly. She had absolutely NO awareness of what she had just done.
The most important thing I have taught myself is to be prepared for biased feedback and to come prepared to speak up when it comes my way. I verbatim write out what my response will be so that I am not overwhelmed with how to respond in the moment.
I left. I knew in that moment I had to leave the organization. I took me about a year and half to actually go, but that say the wheels were set in motion.