Overcoming Fear!

I lead salary negotiation workshops on behalf of women.nyc often to an auditorium of men and women of all races. I make sure to keep the dialogue moving so we can get through all of the information but I will take a few questions from the audience. If the query is too specific I’ll ask them to speak to me afterwards. However, they are often great hard questions and I can see the audience suddenly sit up to listen. “How does race play a role in this strategy?” or, “What happens if I follow all of these steps and they still say no?” and, “I feel at my age I can’t risk asking for more and causing waves. No one hires people over 50.”

These are real concerns with real life consequences. I make sure to acknowledge the fear and pain and answer everyone to the best of my ability with examples from my work. These are the types of questions that keep me up at night. Step one of getting paid your worth is having information. That’s why I started Wager. However, the harder part is step 2, overcoming fear and I’m finding that this is where the true problem with the pay gap lies.

I love this interview with “Josie”. She needed a raise and getting resentful was not an option. She asked herself, “What do I plan to do differently?” Read below on her action steps.

Yours truly,

Cindy