The Chemistry Behind Successful Female Advisors
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In a profession heavily dominated by men, female financial advisors need women to serve as mentors, role models, confidants and champions.
Over the last 18 years serving financial advisors as a referral and business coach, I’ve often heard female advisors confess that they experience a sense of loneliness and isolation. As it turns out, the lack of this layer of female support within the profession is bad for the health of female advisors.
In researching this topic for my Amazon best-selling book, A Woman’s Way: Empowering Female Financial Advisors to Authentically Lead and Flourish in a Man’s World, I discovered several studies by scholars who have proven that when women connect with other women for support, it’s not only good for their business, but it’s good for their health as well.
In an article posted on HuffPost Women in January 2013, “A Compelling Argument About Why Women Need Friendships,” by Dr. Randy Kamen, several studies were highlighted. One was a landmark study by Laura Klein and Shelley Taylor that revealed that women need other women when they are experiencing stress. The authors stated, “When life becomes challenging, women seek out friendships with other women as a means of regulating stress levels. A common female stress response is to ‘tend and befriend.’ That is, when women become stressed, their inclination is to nurture those around them and reach out to others.”
Total Health Magazine also featured an article, “Female Friendship Good for Your Health,” by Gloria Gilbere, PhD that stated, “Women connect with each other very differently by providing support systems that help each other deal with the stresses and difficult life experiences we all encounter. Physically, this quality girlfriend time helps us to create more serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression, and can help create a general feeling of well-being.”
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