What He Said, What He Meant

Everyone, Thank you for attending FountainBlue's August 11 When She Speaks program, on the topic of 'What He Said, What He Meant'. Please join me in thanking our esteemed panelists.

Our panelists represented a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives and upbringings, but they had much in common.

• They embrace an abundance mindset, genuinely believing that the enabling and empowering of others benefits us all.

• They are inquisitive, open-minded, and hard-working, dedicated to the success of their organization and their team.

• They humbly and energetically tackle the tasks and challenges in front of them, collaborating with others to meet goals and expectations while embracing the values, mission and vision for the organization.

Below is a summary of their thoughts and perspectives on how to better connect and communicate across genders.

Work as a Team

• Embrace the challenges and opportunities in front of you, collaborating with others on your team to deliver results.

• Create safe spaces and networks so that people can share and learn from each other. 

Be Open and Communicative

• Be respectful curious about miscommunications and misunderstandings, and courageous enough to ask questions with an open mind to understand.

• Be respectful and productive, even if you have to call someone on something. 

• Practice active listening with an open mind.

• Be courageously direct and curious when someone says or does something which makes you (or someone else) uncomfortable.

• Know when to make a stand and when to let something go. (Connect with trusted others who can help you decide what to do if you're not sure.)

• Listen to your gut if it can guide you into make a good choice for a relationship or a project. With that said, also look at the data about what the gut is saying to you, and don't in generate act and speak when flooded with emotions. 

• Be sincerely apologetic when you mis-step, and humbly and quickly learn from these missteps. 

Build Networks and Relationships

• Build ongoing allyships and relationships rather than counting on developing a relationship when you need help.

• Accept the mentorship and support from those who see your potential and pay them back by backing and sponsoring others that follow you.

• Manage yourself when emotions run high to honor your brand, your network, your relationships.

Be Productive and Resilient

• Be hardworking and purposeful growing and learning, and flexible and nimble about your path to that career. 

• Challenge yourself to stretch to the next level, leveraging the learnings, experience and relationships from your past experience to add value.

We ended with a list of what men (or women) in charge can do to be better mentors and sponsors for others:

• Adopt an abundance mindset, believing that the empowerment and engagement of everyone serves us all.

• Create guardrails and expectations centered around the values and beliefs of the organization and gently point to these guardrails when someone crosses a line.

• Be the mediator and translator when there are miscommunications and misunderstandings so that you can all work as one team.

• Gently stand up for others on your team and across the organization when an action or behavior damages the culture you're building.