You can learn and achieve much now to move into 2025 with power and purpose. (Photo by Andrey Popov)

Change is going to come —not by itself but when you take action.

Looking to the upcoming close of the calendar year 2024, the end of the quarter, and what you have the capacity and intention to do now to make changes professionally and personally is worth your time.

As Take The Lead celebrates 10 years of successful and meaningful work toward the mission of achieving gender and racial parity across multiple sectors, through a wide variety of platforms, programs, and events, it is appropriate to apply the finite measure of 10 to strategies you can use today for yourself.

At a recent event at the Art Institute of Chicago, Margaret Atwood, 84, the iconic author, playwright, scriptwriter and poet, told a rapt audience of over 500 fans about her takes on life, aging, publishing, and predicting the future.

“What will happen is already happening,” said Atwood, who has published more than 50 books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Her words have turned into graphic novels, a ballet, an opera, movies, and of course, the unforgettable TV series based on her 1985 book, “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

“I’m not a clairvoyant, there is not one future. There is only one past, but many possible futures.”

“I’m not a #clairvoyant, there is not one future. There is only one past, but many possible #futures. — @MargaretAtwood on #aging, #publishing, and predicting the future. ”

What that future delivers for yourself, your organization, business, and ideas, depends on not just what you imagine and plan, but what you do today.

As Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead, writes in her book, Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone's) Good, “We must learn to embrace the awesome power of our intentions and must do it now.” She adds, “Your potential is tangible.”

Here are 10 key strategies you can start now and address during the final months of 2024 in order to manifest in 2025 the changes you are working to implement.

1. Familiarize yourself with AI tools. The fears about Artifical Intelligence robbing you of your job have mostly dissipated and have instead turned to how you can augment your efficiency using AI smartly. At Take The Lead’s recent PowerUp Conference, Stacey Engle, Take The Lead board member, founder of Authority Lab and CEO of Twin Protocol, introduced Gloria Feldt’s digital twin. A digital twin can reach out to new clients, customers, colleagues, and potential allies with answers to questions that one person or staff cannot answer as quickly. Other new AI tools include Perplexity, for instance is a free search engine that can assist in research. Elicit is a tool that instantly analizes research papers and complicated content that you may not have time to do.

Read more in Take The Lead on AI tools.

2. Step up by sharing your story in messaging. The power of storytelling in business is undeniable. If you have been reticent to share your own story of how you began in life and in enterprise, consider the impact it can have on colleagues and those you mentor—when told well. This is about messaging not on large social media platforms, but internal messaging about you and your history and its relevance to your team and to your clients.

Recently, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer-Prize winning presidential historian and author of six other biographies, spoke about her latest book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, underscoring the need for everyone to know and share their history. “What mattered was I learned I was part of something bigger than myself,” Goodwin said.

“What mattered was I learned I was part of something #bigger than #myself — @DorisKGoodwin on writing her most recent work: Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.”

This is also one of Take The Lead’s 9 Leadership Power Tools created by Feldt, “Know your history.”

Sandy Coletta-- now retired-- and former president of Kent Hospital in Rhode Island, told Take The Lead, “It really struck me that in the C-suite roles, you are distant and people are afraid to talk to you. But in the daily newsletter a few times a week I would talk about issues with my children and sometimes be funny, reflective or provide a personal example,” says Coletta, the author of The Owl Approach to Storytelling: Lead With Your Life. “It was an amazing way to break down the barriers between staff and leadership.”

3. Take to the stage with keynotes and panels. Expand the reach of your thought leadership by signing up to deliver keynotes at conferences and to be on panels in your industry. Share your wisdom in carefully scripted talks that demonstrate your ability as a leader to deliver ideas in a way that is extremely effective. If possible, apply to deliver a TEDx talk in your field, your community, or as an alum of your school, college, university, or institution.

If the fear of public speaking is holding you back, Minda Harts, best-selling author, global public speaker, and role model for leaders, told Take The Lead in 2020, “We get to define success on our own terms and run our own race. Fear has the ability to stunt our growth and the world needs your gifts.”

“We get to define #success on our own terms and run our own #race. Fear has the ability to #stuntgrowth and the world needs your #gifts. — @MindaHarts”

4. Honor your mental health. The new Lyra State of Workforce Mental Health Report 2024 reports that 65% of U.S. workers report that mental health concerns interfere with their ability to work. “The sheer volume of stressors on the typical worker—salaries outpaced by inflation, mass layoffs, and a feeling of helplessness amid international wars and climate-related disasters—makes it tough, if not impossible, to manage them without support.”

Take The Lead reports, “Real self-care not only impacts us as individuals—it also has a cascade effect in our relationships, communities and workplaces and society at large. It is what we need not only to buffer ourselves but to change the systems that are not serving us as women,” Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine and founder of Gemma, writes in her 2023 book, Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included).

5. Schedule time to learn from key leaders in your field. Seek opportunities with conferences, trainings, seminars, and webinars to learn the latest from recognized global experts in your industry or connected industries. Attend author events online or in-person to learn about new insights or approaches to leadership and daily work. Take a class online or a local college/university to refresh your thinking. This is the premise of Take The Lead’s 9 Leadership Power Tools Course available in two different approaches—for those looking to advance their careers, and for entrepreneurs. “It’s time for a new way to think about power so you embrace it and get results with confidence, authenticity, and joy,” says Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead, who is leading the monthly course models and Q&A sessions.

Register here for the new 9 Leadership Power Tools Course

“It’s time for a #new way to think about power so you #embrace it and get #results with #confidence, #authenticity, and #joy. @GloriaFeldt1 on taking classes to advance your career. ”

6. Declare your wealth a priority. Assuring that not only your business succeeds financially as does your personal wealth—leaving you more options in retirement and a higher sense of security, paying attention at every step of your career will literally pay off later. Get expert advice on investments. Listen to the wisdom of financial advisors who understand your life needs. Noting the gender wage gap injustices at play, UBS recently reported, “In the US, women working full-time earn around 21% less on average compared with men on an annual basis. Various factors contribute to the gender pay gap, including being penalized for flexible work. Pay discrepancy occurs even when a woman and a man do the same job, and have the same experience and skills.” A woman will earn around $800,000 less than a man and will have 38% less wealth by age 85. And she will likely live longer.

At the recent Take The Lead PowerUp2024 conference, key financial leaders discussed pathways to personal wealth and wealth management. Angela Franco, the president and CEO of the Washington, D.C. Chamber of Commerce, explained, “The first process is to ask yourself, ‘What am I afraid of?’” Franco added that needs to shift to the declaration, “I deserve to have a certain level of income, I deserve to buy this house. The most successful business people are mission-driven. When you have a mission, money will follow.”

7. Volunteer, donate in and outside of your field. The connections many women make in the process of volunteering on non-profit boards, or donating to charities, can yield not just a sense of purpose, but also key connections for your own entrepreneurial and business needs. Get in touch with your alma mater—high school, college, graduate and post-graduate schools—to see where you can assist in training or time donation.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Nearly 51% of the U.S. population age 16 and over, or 124.7 million people, informally helped their neighbors between September 2020 and 2021 at the height of the pandemic,”” according to the latest Volunteering and Civic Life in America research released today. “And more than 23% of people in that age group, or 60.7 million, said they formally volunteered through an organization during the same period,” the report shows. In both arenas, more women than men volunteer both formally and informally.

Generation X, or people ages 41 to 56, had a 27% rate of volunteerism, with teens 16-17 volunteering at 28%. These unpaid volunteers contribute $200 billion in value to U.S. communities, according to Team Stage. More than 1 billion people volunteer worldwide.

8. Refresh your social media platform presence. Take it from someone whose work website has been hacked (including in the past week), you want to make sure that the image—personal brand—you project on all social media platforms is something you are proud of and want people to associate with you. Of course you will not have sloppy social media photos or entrees on X, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook, that distract from your professionalism.

It matters what you say and post anywhere and everywhere.

“In a survey conducted by The Harris Poll, 70 percent of the employers who responded said they believe every company should screen candidates’ social media profiles during the hiring process. Moreover, 78 percent of employers believe that current employees should maintain a work-appropriate social media profile,” Business News Daily reports.

According to a key 2023 report examining leaders’ attitudes on the digital future in 2030 from Dell Technologies, “Too many businesses (61%) are held-back by an insufficient digital vision and strategy, manifest among other things, by a lack of ROI data to demonstrate the value of digital transformation and lackluster senior support and sponsorship. The same proportion are struggling with a skills gap, lack of employee buy-in and a workforce culture that’s resistant to change.”

9. Sign up to mentor. Connect to others in your network, or with your alumna association to see if there is someone in an earlier career stage than you, or someone returning to work after time off, or even switching careers, whom you can assist with what and who you know. You will gain insight into yourself by sharing your insights with others. This can be in-person, virtual or by phone exchanges. Be willing to answer questions, but also ask questions about what may be difficult to understand and why. This will also help you communicate better.

Gloria Feldt writes recently about mentorship, “How many times even in our adult lives have we failed to realize the power we already had in our hands when we wanted something that seemed out of reach? And how many of us can point to something we learned from a mentor, whether the mentoring relationship was formal or informal, that influenced us for the rest of our lives?”

“How many of us can point to something we #learned from a mentor, whether formal or informal, that #influenced us for the rest of our lives? — @GloriaFeldt1 on the importance of #mentorship”

10. Be grateful. Moving through the world with a sense of humble gratitude will draw more people to you than moving through the world with a sense of deserved entitlement. This means it is important to fully acknowledge gratitude for what you achieve, what others around you contribute, but also for lessons in failure and episodes that fell short of your expectations. Yes, you can have a gratitude journal, or you can simply close each day with the words, “Thank you.”

“Moving through the world with a sense of #humblegratitude will draw more people to you than moving through the world with a sense of deserved #entitlement. #begrateful #gratefulleader
”

Gratitude attracts great employees and retains them. If you are known as a leader who sincerely appreciates the efforts of your team members by regularly acknowledging great effort, the word will spread. People will want to stay on and be a part of a culture where each person is seen and heard and noted for their accomplishments and contributions.

Leadership Takeaway of the Week:

“Real self-care not only impacts us as individuals—it also has a cascade effect in our relationships, communities and workplaces and society at large.”

—Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, assistant professor, George Washington University School of Medicine, author and founder of Gemma

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com