I felt I had to be likeable

"I used to believe that certain responsibilities at home were mine just because I was a woman. I kept telling myself that my ambitions had to take a backseat. It took me years to realize that the only person who needed to approve of my choices—was me."

"For the longest time, I felt like I had to be ‘likeable’ to be respected, to be ‘accommodating’ to be accepted. Until one day, I asked myself—who put those lines there in the first place?"

"I was constantly compared to other men’s wives—how they adjusted, how they prioritized their families first. It took me a long time to stop measuring myself against a standard I never agreed to in the first place."

Many of the limitations we women face at work aren’t just external—they’re deeply internalized. We are often conditioned to be accommodating, to avoid conflict, to prioritize harmony over ambition. We hold ourselves back, not because we aren’t capable, but because we’ve been told—directly or indirectly—what we should and shouldn’t do.

But these barriers are meant to be broken.

At our 1000 Women Leaders Programs, we help women develop a Protagonist Mindset—challenging the beliefs that keep them from owning their ambition.