Dove recently ran an interesting campaign to determine how women see themselves. Their goal was to see if women see themselves less accurately than strangers do. The results were dramatic and the campaign offers proof in the form of forensic sketches.

They invited seven women of different backgrounds in for a day and asked them to describe themselves to an FBI trained forensic artist who then sketched them based on their descriptions of themselves. Then they spent some time with strangers. The strangers then described these women to the same artist and guess what? The strangers viewed these women very differently than the women viewed themselves. The strangers saw them as much more attractive. Surprised?

It is clear that we don’t see ourselves the same way others do. We look at ourselves through a negative filter. We focus on the flaws while others see our beauty. This poor self-image affects everything we do in our lives and our careers. It creates self-doubt and a lack of confidence to put ourselves forward and stand in our authenticity and power.

I have an exercise for you. What are your unique strengths? Take some time to think and write them down. Look at the adjectives and descriptors and reflect for a moment. Now take a piece of paper and pencil and draw yourself as a SUPER HERO. Use your imagination and have fun with it.
How did your sketch turn out? What are the SUPER HERO qualities that make you stand out?

How can you use your super powers to help others?

Now keep this sketch visible in your workspace and use it to fuel your actions to do your best work and let others know how you can contribute.

What did you determine your super powers to be? I’d love to hear from you.

Whoops. Gotta go help a woman who needs my super powers to accelerate her career!