What Do You Need? Quotes

“Every connection should be mutually beneficial”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Organisations are scrambling, and they assume DEI (Diversity, equity and inclusion) won't bring in revenue, so they give it the smallest budget. Then they allocate what little DEI money they do have to programs and events concerning hiring rather than retention, professional development, education, or training. That might help bring in new entry-level employees of color, but if you don't dedicate resources to retention and development, how are you going to help advance these workers to executive positions? If you don't invest in progress, no one is going to suddenly work miracles.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“The chance to lead a project or speak at an important panel or submit yourself for a promotion - these things don't come around every day”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“No one wants to be surprised or shot down, especially in a group setting. So the person who needs an answer, if they are smart, will have already led individual members towards their side. Conversations are happening behind the scenes so that by the time the big meeting takes place, the person pitching the idea already has buy in.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“In fact, when you're doing business with friends you should be even more deliberate about discussing startegy and outlining clear goals and business practices. I didn't want to risk the relationship by having these hard conversations or seeming unsupportive, so in the end I said yes... and our friendship was still affected.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Relationships are tricky and always changing. Successfully clibing the prefessional ladder is just one more variable that can make them that much more complicated. Knowing how to hold the boundaries between your personal life and your professional life isn't just about getting ahead, it's about maintaining some joy while you do so. It 's about keeping your relationsips intact on both sides of the line. Conquering your career can feel like a lonely business, so you'll need your people by your side - at home and at work”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Remember, people ebb and flow, but your reputation will follow you wherever you land.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“I can't stress enough: when doing business with friends, the agreement needs to be ironclad. The terms need to be crystal clear. THe more you leave open to interpretation, the more one party will make assumptions based on friendship rather than business. Sometimes we avoid these conversations because we don't want our friends to think we don't believe in them, but it's always better to discuss contingency plans before you need them.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“There will always be new business opportunities. If you say no to one deal, another will come along. But you can't replace a friend. Sure you will make new ones, but the people who have known you outside the office, maybe since before your career even started, those relationships can't just be replaced.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Burnout can result in a person being unresonably short with colleagues, missing deadlines, and doing work that isn't up to their usual standards. It ccan cause you to be unmotivated and unfocused, or dissatisfied
and uncaring when you do have an office success. But burnout can also manifest physically: it can lead to insomnia or, conversely, extreme fatigue.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Women of color are called on to fix the racial disparities in their companies, and it's a huge and exhausting undertaking, especially because it's ultimately not the people of color who still create the change. The workers in the majority groups, and leaders in power - those are the people who will foster change. Everyone else can support the effort, but it's the power players who will be calling the shots.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“First, review everything you do before you hand it in. I cannot tell you how often I receive work with misspellings or careless errors because someone rushed to hand it in. Most of the time these mistakes could have been easily fixed with a once-over before hitting send or submit. Don't forgo this step because you know you'll need to revise the work anyway. Whatever you hand in should, in your estimation be as good as final.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Keep in mind, you want to leave on good terms with as many people as possible. Industries are small. It might be tempting to try to burn it all own in your wake, especially if you feel mistreated, but don't take the bait. Looking out for yourself means parting ways with as much dignity as possible because it will behoove down the line.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“I think we are doing ourselves a disservice when we say, "Everyone should be an ally!" because by giving the impression that it's so easy that everyone can do it, we diminish the role and the power allyship has. I'd rather have fewer people declare their intention to be an ally if those who did actually did the work required and did it right.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“What do you need?" is always a more productive question than "How can I help?". It helps you learn about a person or a group, and it doesn't put the burden on them to instruct you on how to be an ally.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“I know an invitation might seem like a minor act, but sometimes the little things seem so little that they get overlooked entirely.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“If you are a part of a conversation in which your colleagues of color are being othered, it's incumbent upon you to speak up. Be the person to say, "This is not right" or "It's time that you learn her name", or "She actually doesn't look anything like the other woman you are confusing with her, except for the fact that they are both Asian".”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“In its simplest terms, allyship is about mentorship or sponsorship across race lines. It's about creating opportunities for colleagues of color that can help them advance in their careers. Think promotions, attendance at conferences, nominations for awards or speaker-positions, inclusion on high profile committees, teaching your young colleagues of color the soft skills and rules of the game that they might not have learned otherwise. Ask what they need, share what you can offer, and see what makes the most sense. Don't assume you know what they need, and don't ask for kudos for your behaviour. Contribute to the change and know that the benefits of your efforts will come back to you.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Acknowledge your mistake, apologise, own it and move on. Simply say, "I should have known better, that was not my intention, I'm sorry”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Being specific with your needs and understanding why you need them is critical to fulfillment. When you've lost your way, when it feels like the journey you planned is no longer the journey you're on. "What do you need?" can be your North Star. Even one small step in a deliberate direction can reorient you back on your path.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“If you take nothing else from this book, I hope you'll remember this: fulfilling your professional needs will lead to a fulfilling professional life. Your career takes up a lot of space - most of us will work 40 hours a week, or more, for decades. That is a serious undertaking, and it has serious implications for our happiness and satisfaction. But sometimes we get so caught up in the weeds that we forget that we chose our specific career because we had an interest in or talent for the work.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Playing it safe doesn't inspire anyone to stop and take notice. It might make you reliable and dependable, and there is value in that, but it will rarely help you advance.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Work relationships are not dating. You can have meaningful work connections without ever meeting that person's family or their significant other. I say this beacause it's more important to create a large number of strong-enough connections than a single superdeep one. Those may come, in time. But honestly, it's fine if they don't”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Research shows that where you grew up, where you went to school, and even where you work currently can give you up to a 12 times advantage in gaining access to opportunity. Which is to say, if you weren't handed professional connections by your parents or your neighborhood or your boarding school alumni network, you need to build them on your own.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“A person is not going to share everything (or everyone) they know the first time they chat with you. Start by taking a genuine interest in getting to know them. During your first one to three touchpoints, ask questions: Who are your mentors? Who do you mentor? Has anyone been instrumental in your career? What are some of your proudest wins, and how did you achieve them? What professional organizations have you been involved wih, and have they been beneficial? These questions apply across the board, no matter the level of the person you are talking to.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Do you know an executive leader in your industry who you can call on to help you navigae a problem? Someone at the midlevel who can tell you about job openings? Someone at the junior level who can help you take the temperature of employees just starting out, or teach you what the newer members of the workforce are prioritizing in the office? Someone at the junior just starting out, or teach you what the newer members of the workforce are prioritizing in the office? I always say it's important for me to know someone in every decade of life. Eventually the 60 somethings will retire and the 20 something contacts will move up, before you know it, that junior level employee you knew back in the day is running her own company and thanks to years of building a relationship, you have in.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“A reputation is built on widespread beliefs about someone - one person does not make a reputation.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“The point of mentoring someone, after all, is to help that person get ahead. But these moments can also serve as a wake-up call to a mentor that things have shifted and changed, and that is not always a welcome change. People like to feel needed, so if you don't need your mentor/sponsor/etc... anymore, it can feel like a punch to the gut for that person. They might feel jeaous or surprised or simply unprepared, and that can put a strain on your relationship. But this is part of your growth, and growth always comes with its own set of challenges.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“If you kow the right people, or if you have the ear of people all across your industry, your exit from a job where things aren't working out will be more pleasant all around. Your employer will treat you carefully rather than toss you aside. They will coddle you a bit, and maybe offer you a package when they otherwise wouldn't, because they know you have a line to important people and they are fearful of what could happen if the separation doesn't go well.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success

“Think about what you need in exchange for the added value you are offering your employers so that you can ask for what you need when the time comes.”
― Lauren Wesley Wilson, What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success