Rachel Stocks

One of the biggest learnings in building my career is to not focus on results alone. Yes hard work and results are important, but you need to have sponsorship from above to champion you, help you get noticed, and navigate to the next position. This person can start out as a mentor, who sees your results and supports you. I find that where women are focused on doing a really good job, men are focused on doing a really good job – but also getting to the next level. For example, I haven’t always been open about my career ambitions, and by not showing this ‘getting to the top’ enthusiasm I was considered by my male boss, and his male boss, not to be serious about my career; they viewed my humility as a weakness. This could have not been further from the truth. As I never had a clear indication from my boss that I had the ability to ‘take a seat at the table’, I concentrated on driving results and fostering leadership through authenticity. Once I received the signal - it was a turning point in my career. My advice for men is – tell women they are good enough because they will always have ‘imposter syndrome’, and women – don’t be afraid to take a seat at the table with the men…because you are good enough.

I strongly believe that all companies need to be doing more to promote gender equality and pay equity. I’m proud to be an official Gender Pay Equality Ambassador on behalf of American Express, and have signed a commitment to ensure we continue supporting gender pay equality. We continually look at how we can improve and educate our employees on this subject and continue to raise the bar so that we can change the future of our people.