Women’s empowerment may be defined in several ways, including accepting women’s viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising their status through education, awareness, literacy, and training, and of course, helping them get started on the well-known corporate ladder. A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that although women have more college degrees than men and represent half the workforce, very few of them are in the role of CEO. The article stated, “Women today lead 167 of the country’s top 3,000 companies. That’s more than double the share a decade ago, but still under 6%.” At US Insider, we wanted to dig deeper and speak to Karolina Gujska about what female leadership is as one of New York’s most up-and-coming influential females.
Karolina Gujska is a New York-based influencer and global tech leader who helps the Fortune 500 thrive in the current business landscape and innovate for the future with technology. With 15 years of experience in various industries and incredible know-how in different innovative strategies, this rising woman leader helps the Fortune 500 succeed every step of the way—but that’s not all she does. She is also an advocate and a mentor for women of all ages, helping them find their “why,” considering that they may be just entering the workforce, looking for a change, or trying to develop their leadership skills.
Karolina has spoken at top universities to inspire more girls into STEM fields. With her expertise and perspectives, Karolina Gujska shares her thoughts about female leadership, mentoring, and how females need to be mentally empowered, saying, “You are what you believe. Any of us women can achieve what we want so long as we put our minds to it. If we believe we can get that promotion or CEO role, then we will. If we encounter obstacles, we can overcome them if we believe we can.”
Keep reading and dive further into Karolina’s opinion about climbing the corporate ladder as a female.
Q: “What do you consider the main differences between the masculine and feminine approach to work and business?”
A: “All women are created with equal innate strength. Let’s remind ourselves that we are strong and smart enough and can be leaders in business, medicine, law, the arts, and whatever field we want to pursue. I would start with a simple consideration: males and females are physically different, and I believe this leads to a different way of dealing with life, and specifically, work. The woman’s generally more flexible, patient, and inclusive approach can be attributed to having a body used to hormonal changes and capable of transforming to accommodate a new life within itself. Men tend to have a more explosive, focused, and all-encompassing approach. In my experience, women seem to have more developed organizational skills and a greater ability to manage programming and complexity. I think men get to the point more easily, and they are often more serene… All too often, women must prove their worth constantly, and it’s quite exhausting.”
Q: “In a business world dominated by masculine principles, what can the inclusion of feminine ones bring?”
A: “More than ever, today’s business world needs to include the feminine principles of acceptance, empathy and understanding. Having more women leaders will certainly aid this change. During training sessions, I often encounter ‘half-people’ who remove their souls as they put on their work clothes. Instead, we need complete human beings, freed from ostentatious virility (I’m talking not just about men, but also those women that forget their feminine energy trying to be like a man); people who have learned to combine strength and tenderness, joy and emotion, incisiveness, and empathy. I believe that gentleness, sensitivity, and the ability to listen are qualities that are worth their weight in gold in the world of work but are often underrated, especially by women who think they must act like men to bolster their position.”
Q: “You just gave me a thought. Have you ever been in a situation that was demeaning, or were you ever misunderstood as a female?”
A: “Quite the question. I have been in many situations in my career where I have lost count. But I will tell you my favorite. A few years back, a partner company of ours came to present their capabilities and why we should partner further. The company was new and upcoming, and they had never met us in person. I was far displaced from it, but my manager was leading the conversation. As we settled, I was the sole female in a room with ten men. A director from their organization saw a notebook and pen on the table and handed me the items stating, “I presume you are taking notes.” Little did he know, I was the leader in the room, but I decided to take a cue on it alone and took the notebook and pen from him without a word. The meeting started. Everyone took turns presenting, facing me as I ran the room and asked questions and feedback, providing my guidance. At one point, I looked across the table, never to lift the pen to write, to see the beet-red face of the man who thought I was the lowest rank because I was the sole female. After the meeting, the man was apologetic and embarrassed, and I simply told him I hoped he learned a valuable lesson today to further his future self.”
Q: “As a mentor, what are your guiding principle? In other words, what is your why?”
A: “Empowered women empower women. As a female business leader, I have a duty to lift the women around me. We all have this duty, and we need to recognize it. We should empower each other to succeed. I am one of the many people who believe that empowerment is contagious. If we tell others around us they can achieve whatever it is they dream of, then they will. For us women who are in a leadership positions, we are responsible for other women around us too. Let us share our journeys and expertise and be role models to other women. All women should be active mentors. Mentoring is one of the first things many women leaders think of when they consider how to help other women succeed. There’s good reason for it — many of us, I know I was, were probably helped along our path by our own powerful female mentors. As professional women, we are responsible to the younger generations of women struggling with the same issues we are. We must pay it forward.”
Follow Karolina Gujska on Instagram and learn more about her as she helps Fortune 500 brands and mentors women of all ages in business.
