So, here’s one best-kept secret for you: about 87% of successful male executives have a (leadership/executive/career) coach to help them navigate their careers.

In fact, these days in most corporate environments, the executives that are viewed as having the highest potential are offered an executive coach to take them from good to great, or from great to exceptional.

But since it’s not openly discussed, we, as women, believe that we need to ‘go it alone’ on our own career success journey.

We often act in a vacuum and keep our struggles or challenges to ourselves, fearing that to show that we need help in developing certain skills or figuring out the not-always-transparent corporate environment is a sign of weakness.

In order to keep pushing towards our goals, we need to make the mental shift: declare that there is strength – and not weakness, as so many of us have believed – in asking for help on our journey to greater career success.

And while professional executive or career coaching is, in my experience, the most efficient way to address and transform most workplace challenges that arise in a corporate environment, it is also very valuable to selectively (strategically!) reach out for help directly within the organization.

Done correctly, this can result in being rewarded with tools, advice, and mentorship that has been withheld from you to date while you’ve been maintaining your “I got this” persona.

So, I’m curious. Have you ever felt like you needed to handle everything on your own because if you didn’t you would be perceived as weak or ineffective by your peers or superiors?

I invite you to join me in my supportive Facebook community, dedicated to ambitious women who want MORE in their career, and who are done with going it alone: toniapatterson.com/community . I look forward to connecting with you there.