It’s time to flip the script!

What does women-helping-women actually look like? In a world where women in business are often pitted against each other, a new fiction novel An Audacious Partnership flips the script, showcasing the power of collaboration over competition. Here, the author summarizes 6 ways women in business can lift each other up!

1. Be a connector. Helping other women in business not only makes you feel good, it makes people want to help you. When meeting a fellow business woman, ask her her goals and ambitions, and consider who in your network could be helpful to her. Offer to connect her, and then do so the very next day with a personal introduction via email or telephone introduction. 
2. Suggest a woman. For the job. For the promotion. For the board seat. For the government role. For the leadership role. For the spotlight. For the feature. When a woman is equally qualified to a man, suggest a woman. Women in business need more airtime to shine and opportunities contribute their highly valuable skillset. If you hear of something, chime in and suggest a woman. 
3. Do a collab. Collaborations are very popular these days and for good reason. It gives both brands exposure to the other brand’s audience. Find a woman business owner that has a similar target market to yours and reach out to see if you can create a collaboration that would be beneficial to both of your audiences. 
4. Give personal invitations. In some industry events or meetings there will be very few women in the room, and if you are nervous about being the only woman, then other women likely are too. Instead of arriving in an air of trepidation, call a fellow woman in business to personally invite her to the event. This can be done within a company – check with a co-worker to encourage them to come, or in general at networking events or trade-specific events. In both cases, the phone call or personal invite email builds camaraderie and a feeling of support. 
5. Stay or leave the door open. It’s no secret that sexual harassment still happens in the workplace, most often by men to women. You can help reduce the potential for these encounters by being aware of who is in the room you are leaving and potentially leaving the door open or staying. Of course, this is not appropriate or necessary all of the time, it is simply something you could do if it feels right. 
6. Advocate for salary transparency. Be transparent and vocal about pay for women in business.  It doesn’t matter if you are anonymously commenting on Glassdoor,  telling your book club what you make vs what your co-worker makes, pointing out your department’s pay gaps to executive leadership, or calling the DEI representative at your employer weekly. Any and all of these things inform people about potential pay discrepancies, and that is most likely to benefit women greatly. 

It’s time to stop reading this list and start taking action. Want to be accountability partners? Which of these 6 items can you put into action this week? Tell me in the comments! OR have you been the beneficiary of one of these 6 ways women in business can lift each other up? Tell us about it in the comments!

Corinne Cavanaugh is a Storyteller

As an acclaimed author, successful entrepreneur, woman speaker, and strategic board director, Corinne has mastered the art of bold reinvention—from launching a pioneering social media agency at 26 to driving over $550 million in Azure revenue at Microsoft.

Drawing from her early experiences of adversity, Corinne developed remarkable resilience and empathy that now shape her approach to leadership and storytelling. Her journey from Harvard University graduate to successful entrepreneur, and from corporate executive to novelist, demonstrates the power of embracing transitions with audacity.

Through her novels “An Audacious Woman,” “An Audacious Partnership,” and “An Audacious Love,” Corinne explores themes of transformation and courage, reflecting the same authentic vulnerability that makes her keynotes so compelling. Her work spans multiple sectors, including 20 years in marketing, 12 of which included service in global health, tech, and media organizations. She currently serves as Board Member and Fundraising Chair for Malaria Partners International.

Corinne resides in the Seattle area and spends her free time reading books, petting cats, and keeping her toddlers alive.