March 11, 2020 6:46AM

By virtue of my role as an executive coach, I have the opportunity to work with women (and men) who’ve taken it upon themselves to accelerate their rate of professional and personal growth. As for the women, their intensity and drive to succeed makes them a joy to work with. Usually, they learn way faster than the fellas. As one of my favorite fishing guides put it, “I can teach a woman to fly fish in half the time it takes with a guy… because they listen better. Mid-way thru a point of learning with a guy, he’s already thinking about what he’s going to say next. The woman is still listening and absorbing.” Ding!

As serious as a heart attack about setting and achieving ambitious goals, their Commitment (capital ‘C’ intentional) is unbridled, as evidenced by the fact that, at 6:46AM, I just completed a 45 minute coaching call with a female client. Their networking skills are off the chart. Guys, I love you too, but you’ve got real competition, maybe for the first time ever. The fact that you no longer hear foot steps behind you likely means that your female competitors have taken off the high heels, are running barefoot, and they’re running hard.

Do they always hit the mark? Of course not. But almost to a person, when they come up short, the absolute last thing you hear is a woman blaming the outcome on someone else, or a system that is rigged against them, even when it is. Much more so than guys, they get up, dust themselves off, and quietly get back in the game, determined to do better. Fears? Maybe. Tears? Seldom. Pity? Never. 

Recently, those of us in the US have witnessed two very formidable women, US Senators and serious candidates drop out of the Presidential race after outlasting a whole passel of contenders. Despite a cacophony of pity partiers from the cheap seats, neither of them has whined or complained, and they won’t, because that’s not who or what they are. 

Women are slowly but steadily making their way into the C-suite and indeed the corner office, and businesses, governments and other organizations are better, much better because of it. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that one of them is about to get a lot closer to the Oval Office.