WOW Woman of Worth: Empower with the Power of Collaboration

By Christine Awram

Let’s get raw and real, as fourteen influential women talk about the many ways that collaboration became a powerful game-changer in their lives.
 
Competition is an old paradigm. Great women empower other women to be great, and behind every collaborating woman is a tribe of women who have her back. Everything&rsq

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspire Higher Consulting Inc.
• Release date: Aug 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781775094951

Book preview

WOW Woman of Worth

Empower with the Power of Collaboration

Christine Awram

Published by Inspire Higher Consulting Inc. September, 2018

ISBN: 9781775094944

ISBN: 9781775094951 (e-book)

Copyright © 2018 by Christine Awram

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Editor: Danielle Anderson

Typeset: Greg Salisbury

Book Cover Design: Judith Mazari - www.judithmazari.net

DISCLAIMER: Readers of this publication agree that neither Christine Awram, nor her publisher will be held responsible or liable for damages that may be alleged as resulting directly or indirectly from the use of this publication. Neither the publisher nor the author can be held accountable for the information provided by, or actions, resulting from, accessing these resources.

This book is dedicated to my dear friend Tammy Moyer. She was the morning anchor on News1130, and was a passionate supporter of women’s causes and WOW. Her sudden loss to pancreatic cancer was a tragic blow to all who knew her, especially her 7-year-old son as she was a single mom. Tammy was one of the most powerful role models for Collaboration that I’ve ever known, so I changed the name of our Woman Of Worth Awards to honour her memory. I will miss you and love you forever Tammy Bear. Thank you for making the world a better and brighter place.

The WOW Credo

I am a Woman Of Worth

My worthiness is inherent and infinite –

it is my natural state

My value is a reflection of who I AM –

and I am magnificent

Who I am always makes a difference –

because I MATTER

I am successful –

coming from my true power which lies within

I am empowered –

making choices from the clarity of my heart, mind and spirit

I am an empowered leader –

impacting others from quiet acts of kindness to leading a nation

I am abundant –

manifesting success from my core values

I cherish my relationships –

they are part of what makes me strong

I am a Human BEing –

as my BEing is of far more significance than my DOing

I play, laugh, and bring beauty and light into the world –

I am RADIANT

At times I despair and I weep –

when I feel the pain of a world that has momentarily gone mad

Yet even when I tremble through a dark night of the soul,

I renew my faith and my courage in a single heartbeat because my spirit is indomitable

I feel, and I care, and I am passionately alive –

with a heart as open as the universe

I AM A WOMAN OF WORTH, AND I AM GLORIOUS

Acknowledgements

This entire book could be filled with the names of all the people I want to thank, for the many ways you’ve all helped inspire this book to become a reality. Heartfelt gratitude to the tremendous community I call my WOW Tribe. You rock.

To the fabulous females who are this book’s contributing authors, you have staggered me with your willingness to show up 100%. Each and every one of you share my burning desire to make our world a more joyful and empowered place, and you’ve been the most courageous and extraordinary women to collaborate with. It has been an honour.

To my publisher Julie Salisbury, for taking my hand every step of the way while sharing your brilliance and making this adventure fun. You shine a very bright light my friend.

To my family and closest friends, you are the inner circle of my Tribe. I have no words to express how grateful I am for your love, and that you always have my back.

And especially to David Samuelson, my beloved Manly Man. You always believe in me, and see the best in me. I couldn’t have done this without your love, faith and support. You are my heart.

Contents

Dedication

The WOW Credo

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Let’s Talk About Collaboration: Christine Awram

Collaboration Saved My Life: Kristal Barrett-Stuart

It Takes a Village to Raise a Grown-Up: Amy Reedman, RA® EOT®

From Attitude to Gratitude: Victoria Cottier

Living Beyond Ourselves: Dianne Jackson

Come Play: Christine Henry

Failures, Collaborations, and Opening New Doors: Treva Gambs

Ideas + Collaboration = Dreams Come True: Denise Walker

The Magical Life: Kyra Wong

Becoming a Radiant Woman: Mariah-Jane Thies

Be Brave – Ask for Help: Karalee Greer

You Got This, Mama – Moms Empowering Other Moms: Michelle Keast

The Naked Truth About Collaboration: Janice Otremba

Foreword

by Linda Edgecombe, Celebrity Humorist

Collaboration: a Woman’s Journey

From Lonely Lone-Wolf to Collaborating Content-Chick

In the Spring of 1976, in two transformational minutes I decided that I would never rely on anyone, especially men. If I ever needed something, I was going to do it myself.

Let me elaborate. I was sitting in my Grade Ten Biology class and Mr. Bentley was about to begin the day’s lesson on something about cells, when in walks three Grade Twelve students promoting the Red Cross blood donation clinic that was taking place in the library that day. They got us all ramped up about how we could save lives if we donated a pint of our blood and make the world a better place, and I was keen to take part. YES, I said, I’ll do it! And then I got the news. Oh sorry, you are a girl, and you have to be an adult to donate blood, so you don’t qualify. But if there are any boys in the class who want to… What? Wait a minute How come they get to donate and I can’t? Their reply: Boys are considered adults at the age of sixteen, but girls are not until they are eighteen. Then my very wise biology teacher spent the next hour of class time explaining how NOT equal we are as genders. And in that one-hour lesson, I thought to myself, Screw this! I’ll do everything on my own.

Off I went for the next thirty years of my life, forging my way in the world as a Lone Wolf Woman who didn’t need help from anyone, man or woman. Now don’t get me wrong, being pissed off can motivate you to take action, take risks, and stretch yourself, mostly just to prove you can do it – I have come to call this method of getting things done the FU Method of Motivation. In hindsight, this is probably not the healthiest way to walk through life. As I approached my fiftieth birthday, I realized that not only had I never reached out to anyone to ask for help, I also hadn’t gone out of my way to collaborate with others, and I was really very lonely. So, I had to take a long, difficult, clear look in the mirror and figure it out. How and why had I become this woman?

Up to this point in my business, I had been asked by dozens of women to collaborate on various projects, and I had mainly just skirted around the requests with lame excuses. After much thought and introspection, I came to recognize the barriers to collaboration that I had put in my own way.

The Roadblocks to Collaboration

One of the biggest reasons most of us never collaborate on projects is because we want to stay in control of what’s going on. We believe that if we give part of what we’re doing away and the other person screws it up, we will look bad. We have all had the group projects in college where one or two people do all the work and the others float on by, and yet you all get the same grade – it happens in our work, too! We think and believe that no one can do it as good as we can, so we don’t even bother asking for help. However, being in control is an illusion, and in our meek attempts to stay in control, we burn ourselves out and stay lonely throughout the experience.

Another reason we may avoid collaboration is that everyone wants to be recognized for what we contribute to our work, and to our lives in general, and we fear that someone else will get the spotlight for work that is ours (although maybe I’m just talking about myself here). The issue is that no one gets to the top by themselves. Learn to become proud of the work you put in, and most importantly of the outcomes you have produced. Congratulate yourself for these achievements, and if you get a pat on the back for it as well, then yippee! But I don’t recommend waiting for someone to create a celebration of your contributions, although I do recommend you surround yourself with others who understand how to celebrate each other. Make it a practice to celebrate all your own benchmarks from this moment moving forward.

My biggest barrier to collaboration was that I simply didn’t want to share my intellectual property, ideas, stories, processes, and training activities. But, think about this: when was the last time any of us had a truly original idea? In truth, most of our ideas have already been put out there. Creativity is actually amplified when we pool our ideas and thoughts together. When we can let our egos go and drop the importance of who gets the credit, we can get way more shit done.

Another barrier I personally came across was that I had several fears about collaborating with people. Would I look dumb, weak, or not strong enough? What if my ideas or thoughts were stupid? Would I look needy if I asked a female colleague to mentor me? I had so many doubts, so I just kept trudging along in my lonely path of doing it by myself. I watched the women around me catapult their speaking careers and supporting each other, and secretly, all I ever wanted was an invite to that party. It was just like high school, when you are not the most popular and you sit just on the edges and watch the cool kids have more fun than you. I finally got a business coach for this one. And I’m not even exaggerating when I say that after one month of working with her, my career took off like a rocket. The success of this collaboration came down to one thing: I believed that she believed in me. I trusted her belief – and her expectation – that I was literally and figuratively worth more than I was asking, and that I was under-delivering. I had way more in the tank than even I thought. Who knew? Well, I guess lots of people did, as I have heard this same statement many times since then.

Collaboration is still not a part of my daily work. As a one-woman band, my entire last twenty-six years have been by myself. I have colleagues that I see once or twice a year, and I have professionals that I contract out to such as bookkeeping, accountants, and my office cleaner. Even as I write this foreword, I am doing it alone in a hotel room in Cleveland. I took myself out for breakfast, then went shopping, and then came back to my room. Tomorrow I will speak at an event with 800 people attending, but really it’s a very lonely business. I’m actually pretty comfortable with this most of the time, and it suits me well.

However, over this past year I have been collaborating with a colleague and friend to create some new programs. I honestly had my doubts when we started; not about her, but about me. And as I have thought about this more, I actually think it was more of an accountability issue than anything else – did I really want to be accountable to anyone else? In the end, though, this collaboration is the best thing I have done for myself, hands down. For both of us, working around our own businesses, families, travel schedules, dog walking commitments, and the need for pedicures and wine have all been part and parcel of our collaboration commitment. Our motto is If it’s not fun, what’s the point? And if and when it’s not fun, we will stop.

But when I really look back over the past couple of decades of my business, I realized that I have been collaborating in various ways. Fifteen years ago, Christine Awram asked me to speak at her first ever Woman Of Worth WOW event at a golf course in Surrey. While I had spoken