Yesterday, I enjoyed a mentoring and networking call with an impressive University of North Carolina undergraduate student, Avery Elder. On our call, I learned of Avery’s favourite professor. Meet a Likeable Badass, Dr Alison Fragale, on Woman Power Wednesday.
Avery is a Morehead Cain Scholar, Kenan Flagler Business School, Honors Carolina student studying Business Management with an emphases on sustainability. Last summer, Avery traveled in the UK where she took her impressive golf game to the links in an effort to learn about sustainability as it relates to golf courses and the surrounding lands. Check out her substack called ‘Swing Green’ where she wrote about her learnings. So well done and a great example of young professional showing the ability to combine her skills with her passions.
And speaking of someone doing the same, Dr. Fragale is a research psychologist and award-winning professor dedicated to empowering women to succeed in work and life. With expertise in status, negotiation, and influence, she offers entertaining presentations tailored to high-performing organisations. She is a professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC, holds a Ph.D. from Stanford, and has been featured in many major news outlets.
Her book, Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve was released in September. It combines strength and warmth as a way to create a respected leadership style. Fragale believes to be an influential leader, one must balance being assertive, competent, and confident (the badass aspect) while also being approachable, friendly, and empathetic (the likeable element).
Key points:
- Dual Aspects of Leadership: Effective leaders are not just tough or strong, but they also connect with others on a personal level. The fusion of competence and compassion is essential for sustaining influence.
- Warmth and Strength: Warmth builds trust and motivates others to follow, while strength commands respect and shows capability.
- Overcoming Gender Stereotypes: Fragale emphasises that women in leadership roles often face unique challenges due to gender stereotypes, which can make balancing strength and likability more complex.
- Practical Strategies: The Likeable Badass approach involves practical ways of communicating assertively while maintaining warmth, such as using inclusive language, showing vulnerability when appropriate, and leveraging humour or personal stories to connect with others.
The book encourages leaders to develop hard and soft skills, blending authority with empathy to foster productive, positive, and respected leadership.
The video below is excellent, with Alison explaining how women can gain status and advance in the workplace.
Woman Power. Go Avery! Go Dr Fragale! Go Tar Heels!
