Guest: Tara O’Sullivan, Chief Creative Officer, Skillsoft 

Host: Rachel Cooke, Chief Operating Officer, Brandon Hall Group

In this episode of HCMx Radio, we interview Tara O’Sullivan, Chief Creative Officer at Skillsoft. Tara has more than 23 years of experience in B2B technology marketing, including leadership positions in Oracle, IONA Technologies, SAS and TES Global. She is regularly featured in the news, including The Huffington Post, Training Magazine and We are the City.

We discuss the successful initiative Skillsoft launched on Women in Action.

Tara offers advice on the changes that need to be made and talks about what women need to do, and some things other people – including men – need to do.

Tara begins with what women need to do:

• Where we sit – Stop sitting at the edge of the room. Sit in the middle of the conference table, which conveys status, and raise your hand. Take part and help drive the conversations.
• We need to own our success – Women often credit anything good that happens to the team, or to good timing, while men attribute theirs to innate qualities and skills. They own their success, and we undermine ours.
• Just, not, sorry – This language choice is such an issue that there is a Gmail plug-in for it. The plug-in analyzes your emails to make sure you are not using diminishing words like “sorry,” “just,” or “I think.” We need to stop qualifying our message and diminishing our voice.

• Ban bossy – Stop calling women bossy – it’s called leadership skills. When a woman speaks in a direct style or pushes her ideas, she is often called “aggressive” and “ambitious.” When a man does the same, he is seen as “confident” and “strong.” When women are being talked about negatively because their behavior is perceived as too aggressive, we need to pause and challenge it.
• Step up – Men apply for jobs when they meet 60% of the criteria; women wait until they have 100%. We need to help boost other women’s confidence and encourage them to reach for all opportunities they’re interested in applying for.

She wraps up with how men can play an instrumental role with these simple take-aways:

• Stop mansplaining – Women get less airtime in group discussions. We are interrupted more — by both men and women — and given less credit for our ideas. When a woman is interrupted, interject and say you’d like to hear her finish.
• Sponsor (not mentor) today — Mentorship and sponsorship are key drivers of success, but unfortunately women often miss out. Men tend to gravitate toward mentoring other men because they have shared interests. Commit the time and energy to sponsor a woman today.
• Feedback on style – 66% of women receive negative feedback on their personal style, such as “You can sometimes be abrasive,” compared to less than 1% of men. Men are expected to be assertive and confident, so co-workers welcome their leadership. In contrast, women are expected to be nurturing and collaborative, so when we lead, we go against expectations—and often face pushback from men and women.

To listen to the interview, you can download or stream the podcast anytime at the HCMx Radio site