Authentic Influencing & Role Modelling
What exactly is Authentic Influencing and why do we talk about Role Modelling?
I think most of us understand the term Role Model, but to put us all on the same page, here is how Wikipedia defines it: A role model is someone who is worthy of imitation. To put it another way, when we’re exposed to someone who we see as worthy of imitation, they become role models.
Okay. So keep that in mind when reading this: According to Global Media Monitoring Project, only around 1 in 4 people heard or read about in the news are women. This is probably part of the explanation for why we are not exposed to enough female role models. Or could it be the other way around? Is the reason for only exposing 25% women in media – or news – because there are not enough female role models around? We think not. We meet exceptional and amazing women every single day!
But we need to understand why so few women choose to pursue being someone worthy of imitation. Becoming a role model is the first step towards becoming an Authentic Influencer. Authentic Influencers make impact, they leave a footprint and put dents in the Universe (as Steve Jobs would put it). Why aren’t more women interested in making an impact? We know the answer is complex. It for sure takes time and effort, it will most likely mean less time spent with friends and family, at least for a while. And sadly, in addition to so many other reasons, we know female role models who are out there, using their platforms to make impact – experience so much hate and misogyny.
This is why we have built Authentic Influencing.
We want women to step up and use their platforms to influence. Countless reports point us to a new reality. A new era in which we need to rebuild and restore trust in society, experience more inclusivity and equality and we need a new and different kind of leadership. We know that a substantial part of the solution is more female influence.
We want to encourage more women to claim their well-deserved space. By building the Authentic Influencing community we are going to help them however much we possibly can, by providing what they need to become authentic influencers. Public role models. Women we can look to for inspiration to do good, worthy of imitation.
We are reaching out to female leaders, experts, politicians, and activists. Female leaders run businesses, families, organizations, and themselves. We tend to think narrow when it comes to leadership, but the fact is that we are all in capacity to lead. We just need to get serious about it, if not for ourselves, we must do it for our daughters and for a society in desperate need of more female influence.
If we resign, women’s and minority rights could be reversed, Gen Z and the new Alpha generation would have to go through all the struggles our generation and the generations before us have already fought, and everything we have achieved would be for nothing.
There are so many reasons we need to step up and get to work and action now. If not us, who? And if not now, when?