Why Women Leaders Need to Share Their Stories

[00:00:00] Ladies, I got news for you. Your story has power and the world needs to hear it.

Too often women hold back sharing their journeys, thinking their experiences aren’t significant or polished enough.

But your story isn’t just about you. It’s a tool to inspire, connect and lead.

In today’s episode, in honor of both International Women’s Day as well as Women’s History Month, we’re going to talk about why storytelling is a leadership superpower for women.

I’m going to share with you how to craft a compelling message as well as how to confidently share your story, both in professional and personal settings. 

[ I used to hesitate to share my story, especially professionally, what was going [00:01:00] on with me personally. Mostly I thought, who am I to speak about this? But also, what will other people think of me if they know this about me, right? What would people think of me if they knew the full version of me and not just the professional one that they see every single day? And it wasn’t until I had a call with my speaking mentor, Jess Ekstrom, who at one point challenged me after learning the extent of everything that I had gone through.

For those of you who are new here and don’t know my story specifically, I led my family’s business for over 15 years and in a five year time span experienced multiple traumatic events ranging from a miscarriage to leaving an abusive marriage to having a very high conflict divorce to then later when all the dust had settled losing my post divorce partner to suicide.

I still had to show up each and every day at work to lead, even with all these other things happening in the [00:02:00] background, and I never thought to share them. And it wasn’t until my mentor Jess had pointed out to me that looking at my LinkedIn and seeing all the accomplishments I had that she never in a million years would have guessed what I had gone through in order to achieve that. And she really encouraged me to start sharing that as part of my story. And that’s ultimately what I’m doing professionally today.

And when I did the very first event that I did, I remember I was terrified to share anything that authentically vulnerable and that much of a public setting as a professional speaker. But when I did, it was so empowering to see how impactful it was for the audience. I was approached by people of all walks of life who found some part of my story that resonated with them because they had experienced something similar.

And it was through this [00:03:00] process that I really understood. What an impact just my story can have and how valuable it could be for other people to hear it, especially when it comes for them at the right time.

There are so many reasons why women in particular will hold back sharing their stories. First one is what I had mentioned earlier, fear of judgment and criticism. I was so terrified. What would people think of me if they knew what I had going on behind closed doors, the type of behavior I accepted in my own house, when it came to the abuse, how would they view me like showing up to lead in an office?

I was terrified to share that. So definitely the judgment and criticism. 

Next up is thinking that their experiences aren’t big enough to truly matter. Which, again, I personally experienced because I felt that everybody had situations like this behind the scenes. Who was I any different? Who was I to be the special one to get up on a stage and share it?

And last but not least, believing they have to have all of the answers before they’re [00:04:00] qualified to even share.

Over the years I’ve learned that there are four different steps that I took to be able to share my story in an authentic, albeit confidently vulnerable way that’s appropriate both in personal as well as professional settings. And I’m going to walk you through that today.

First is to identify your defining moment.

Think about all the key moments that shaped you into who you are today. These are things like challenges, breakthroughs, pivotal moments, right? I speak so much, if you’ve ever seen me speak at one of my keynotes, I talk about pivotal life moments, how your life after the event happens is always different than how life was before, right?

How do all of these challenges, breakthroughs, and pivotal moments, how did they lead up and how did they become defining moments in your life and career today?

Next is figuring out how to connect this story with your audience, whoever it is that you are delivering it to.

Stories are most powerful [00:05:00] when they create relatability. So ask yourself from the other person’s shoes, which part of my journey would help somebody else feel seen and inspired.

And here’s a great tip for you on that too. When you were doing this, you want to make sure that you’re framing your story in a way that it highlights the lessons that you learned as part of that experience, right? Because it’s the lessons and how other people can apply them to their own lives that people find truly valuable.

Next is you want to make sure that it’s simple and structured.

Any great story has a beginning, a middle and an end. So you want to make sure that there is some sort of structure to what it is you’re sharing. And you’re not just rambling off for the sake of rambling.

So in the simplest terms, one of the best frameworks you could take is starting off with the challenge, right? So what is the challenge that you overcame? Move from there into when the turning point was. And then lastly, end with whatever the impact or lesson was that you learned.

And last but not least, practice sharing your [00:06:00] story and do so with confidence The more you share your story, the easier it becomes. So don’t wait for it to be perfect. Just get started. You’re always going to be able to improve and hone in on your storytelling the more times that you tell it.

One great way to get started if you are terrified of sharing your story is to do so in small groups. Start with people that you trust. It could be close friends, family, people who really know you and know what you have been through. Start there to really hone in on your story, the framework, beginning, middle, and end.

What sort of lesson will be applicable for the people around you, so that then from there you feel more confident bringing it to a larger stage. Whatever that stage may be.

Today we talked all about the power of storytelling and how for women in leadership, sharing our stories and our journeys now is more important than ever. We talked about why it’s important and how to go about crafting a compelling message that has value.

Your next step today is to identify one [00:07:00] defining moment in your life that you can use as a teaching point to share with others. Write it down, then practice sharing it with at least one person this week. 

Need some help structuring this? I’m available both as a professional speaker working with groups of women to share their stories confidently, as well as a coach. And there’s multiple different ways you can work with me at my website, www. corrielo. com.

Thank you so much for joining me today on The Next Step with Corrie Lo. Remember, your story is powerful. Don’t keep it to yourself.

Next week, we’re going to talk all about how to lead through difficult times.

We’ll talk about what it takes to stay strong, make tough decisions, and ultimately inspire confidence in others when things are challenging.

I’ll see you there.

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