Ambition Unmasked

As a feminist, I have been able to rise to power though not always hold onto it. Once I had my seat at the table, I conformed and fit in. I never earned the C-Suite role I so desired in a corporate setting, yet in my volunteer organization I am viewed as a Director and sought after to host events leading teams of 20 or more people. This is something I want to figure out as I have a couple decades to go in the work force. It is no longer about climbing to the top of an organization. It is about earning a position of power in order to create space for others. I am not black, though I can recognize when someone is being marginalized.

Stacey Abrams is my Black in Business nominee. Coincidentally, she is also a Noble Peace Prize nominee for 2021 for her role in voters rights activism. Since she is so well known for her role in politics, I wanted to talk about her under her pen name of Selena Montgomery. Stacey is a well-known politician, lawyer and voting rights activist. Did you know she also wrote eight romance novels? What caught my attention about Stacey is that she put herself out there for battles she knew she wouldn’t win and many she did. She has a lot of firsts. My goal is not to highlight her political journey. My goal is to highlight her as a person. Each time she was faced with adversity or disappointment, she still moved forward with grace. Her power is organic. When I have been faced with those challenges on a smaller scale, I let doubt set in and think maybe I shouldn’t be doing this and back off. On a day where she should have been celebrated there were violent events in our country. I wanted the country to take a pause and recognize this woman.

As I was on my journey to learn about Stacey Abrams as a person, I decided to check out her romance book collection. Instead, I found a book which was written by Stacey Abram’s under her own name and narrated by her on Audible. The book is amazing. It is helping me re-examine my purpose and my why for leading my volunteer organization. She shares that we cannot always have power, but we can start to be comfortable with its components. Ambition, fear, money, failure, opportunity and access are components of power. I never heard it broken down this way before.

Stacey raises questions we must ask ourselves for any endeavor. What do I want? Why do I want it? How do I get it? She goes on to talk about confidence, insight and bravado. I am in awe of her grace and power from within. The name of the book is, Lead from the Outside by StaceyAbrams. I also asked Alexa who is Stacey Abrams and was charmed to hear Stacey reply in her own voice.

When I regard Stacey, I laugh when she talks about an ego Christmas list. That is how I used to think about leadership. I wanted to be in charge of others because that is what was modeled for me. What she is really about is a balance of power and providing opportunity and access for others. Without knowing, I sometimes took this approach in my career. There are different kinds of power and more than one way to get things done. While some people run for office to be a figurehead and bask in the glory, Stacey’s style is to engage and create community. She talks about the choices we have in each battle. Do we concede? Is it best to compromise? Or do we fight? From my view I no longer want to help maintain the status quo for a system that does not make room for everyone. I also look forward to watching Stacey Abram’s documentary called All In: The Fight for Democracy. Please join me honoring Stacey Abrams!