Acquiring power to do good

THROUGHOUT my 30 colourful years of career, spanning finance, banking, payments and fintech industries, I am very grateful to have had many mentors and sponsors to whom I owe my success. Over the years, I also found joy in mentoring as my way of giving back. Having mentored many talented women and men, the one common fear unique to women mentees - even among the successful and confident ones - is the fear of being seen as too ambitious or power-hungry. And I find this odd, as this is rarely a concern among the male mentees.

Women have come a long way, but even today, the deep-rooted fear of being perceived as power-hungry, I believe, stems from decades of traditional cultural beliefs that the desirable feminine traits are caring, nurturing, empathetic, sensitive and so on. This is the complete opposite to traits traditionally viewed as masculine such as ambitiousness, strength, courage, assertive and so on. Feminine traits ascribed to women tend to also be the ones that are required, which explains women's fear of being seen as too ambitious and power-hungry as it is not consistent with social and cultural expectations.

I find the stereotypical view of feminine and masculine traits unfair, as I have personally come across many successful men with admirable traits traditionally associated with women and vice versa. I would like us to rethink power. We need power to do good - it allows us to shape a better and more equal future for all. Everyone can learn to acquire power. In fact, all of us are already doing it every day.