Old stories, new beginnings
I was intending to write a lighter article but today was the last day of the month.
At the close of day one of my young (female) EA colleagues announced that she too had resigned. She still had a copy of her resignation letter in her hand and she was beaming.
My colleague is bright, young and attractive. She’s also very nice. But somehow bright, young and attractive doesn’t rhyme with being taken seriously. Her boss – a woman, lawyer and director of the legal department – asked if she was leaving to become a model. The EA, who had only been given the title that week after battling for 2 years, told her that she was leaving to start a Masters course in Management and International Development. Her boss was odious to her at the beginning and then finished in tears. Yikes!
I take my hat off to my colleague. She finally realized she was getting nowhere fast. So she put in place her strategy: she saved very hard, waited to get the title of EA and now is leaving to study in another country.
I am happy that her talent will be developed and that she is mindfully making a career decision. She deserves so much better than what she has put up with these past few years.
I am sorry for the organization that continues to relegate ambitious and intelligent women to passive roles, that does not realize what talent could be exploited for the greater good of the organization, that cannot identify talent, that cannot offer mentoring, that cannot provide support. I am sorry that some women – and the lawyer isn’t the first nor unfortunately the last – cannot accept that women in subordinate positions may want more.
