Let us get back on our seldom thread, a time you think about your career path, strategy and moves.
Today is going to be a bit of a hard pill, but just the trust I have been observing. Know that I might be wrong in my view and like to hear what you think.
Gone are the days where being male gives you all the advantages in career entrance world, in fact in our world today though it gender is getting fluid like never before (though I don’t see many Africans buying the fluidity yet). Being female is better. And I wish I can just end it there to avoid this sensitive topic, but NO that is too shallow.
Many big organisations of today are looking to get press, conform to standard and defy normal by looking for female all level. You know in life you have to compete with a lot of people knowingly or unknowingly, just think of how many applied in Jamb to your University and didn’t get in. So also the competition is for a male dominated world. But this is changing.
Just imagine that humanoid AI can now apply to many jobs with man, that is less market for man, I am not even talking about intelligence now but just that the is another category of competition(you will see the connection soon).
There will then be a percentage quota for man and machine. I used this example purposely to drive home an overall point of human being in general is facing newer competition. But first to our context so also is female now have to compete for more roles in this world. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to be gender biased and why I even mentioned a general humanity competition.
The point simply is that as a male you need to be 10x better because companies now have D&I (Diversity and Inclusion) policy, and even as a founder of a company I want to sell investors with a narrative of support to the extreme by if possible just hiring females for all roles.
This is so in many career opportunities now. So as a male like we used to say on this thread that “nothing beats competence”, you need to get better. People might not be taking a lot of chances on you earlier like the pass especially if you don’t have background advantage or uniqueness. But overall we all need someone that can exceptionally deliver.
This post is not a message for the male alone, for the female no better time to start looking at industry that you will be more appreciated, not hairdressing, or make-up, I have nothing against those lines of career, but it has definitely historically been female dominated. No better time to think about your career, and take up this opportunity.
You can be more asset to a team now because of been female, but don’t let it be that alone, what is the point of being on a team because of being female when you know you are been used to sell a narrative but when the real brain work needs to be done others will you be among those to do it. Nobody should like that, right? So max up knowledge, and get competent as well, while position in the right industry.
Overall for everyone here being black/African has already given you a con and in fact a pro in life, some teams right now need a black person to balance up their D&I goals, remember what I said about competence, just where we all need to work on now, and be positioned in the right place.
In conclusion, even in Africa you have access to more support and funding as a female now, as there are investors that fund only female led teams. So male it is time we double up or like we said earlier 10x so you can still be relevant. I am sure you are already seeing the application saying “females are needed”. So if you have a female significant partner/friend as well no better time to invest in her, remember we rise by lifting others.
Female’s no better time to be taking advantage of this, it only looks lucrative now because a lot are not taking advantage of it yet, improving oneself is just the center of our discussion because that is what matters. GROWTH, at the end I wish you all the best with your moves, even as you become the master of craft and take advantage of every opportunity to be world class
YES see you on top.
Cheers.