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Like the Chameleon, Adapting to Change

Change

I thought that a chameleon changes its colors because it was hiding or afraid. A cursory internet search proves this theory to be incorrect. The chameleon knows when it needs to be seen and when it needs to be unseen. Hiding in plain sight or blending into the background until the time comes to reveal itself. 

Are we so unlike the chameleon? There is such a similarity in needing to be something different when the time suits us. We can’t be everything to everyone, although we try in moments where we have to. 

It’s not so much just a physical change. The chameleon can literally change its skin with the weather. Humans, while we try to change so quickly, there are other elements involved. Like the chameleon, the weather can make us change into a sweater, but can it change our way of existence so quickly? For the chameleon, a quick change can save their lives. Human beings call that code-switching in some places. 

Unlike the chameleon, however, our changes are not realized or fully recognized instantly. They come over time from environmental changes, with mood changes, and with the change of circumstances. It may take some time to look in the mirror and see that you lost weight, but the difference is there. Social changes take more work. They take a more collaborative effort. How many people are involved with these changes? Are we influenced by other people? The conversations that we have change us. The words people use affect our moods. The ability to realize that there is an experience that is not your own may change your perspective. 

What can we learn from the chameleon? 

Be ready for change. It is the only thing that is consistent in the world we live in. We have to be open to the possibility that we may be challenged with a new idea or concept. Ask questions about the idea, learn more on your own, and make changes that you feel safe to do so without compromising your authentic self. 

Recognize that something around you is changing. There are times when it’s okay to blend into the background and be still. There are other times when you will need to act and move faster than you would like  If you feel it happening, ignoring it doesn’t mean that it’s not changing. It only means that you aren’t participating in the actions.

Acknowledge your feelings around what is changing. If the change is something you disagree with, remember what your core values are and what emotion is rooting that disagreement. Are you disagreeing because you are afraid? Are you in disagreement because it’s unfair or wrong? Take some time to sit with your reasons why.  

Finally, not all change has to happen overnight. Some are slow and give you time to grow into what is occurring around you. Others are external adjustments to our lives and we have to adapt who we are at our core to meet the needs of those changes. Whatever your response to change, it is happening.  

Be the chameleon, Sis.

Brandy Collins
About the author: Brandy Collins is a Bay Area native full of Scorpio magic and self-proclaimed Professional Aunty telling stories for Oakland Voices and numerous group chats. Follow on twitter @gurl79 or Instagram @story_soul_collecter

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Three Skills Women Should Cultivate For Their Career Growth

Last Friday, we interviewed three amazing women leaders from DocuSign, Denali Therapeutics, and The Teaching Well. This is the first of four blog posts that captures their insightful responses to our questions. For more information about our panelists, read their bios here.

Your positions in leadership are inspiring to other women. What would you say is the number one skill an aspiring female leader should cultivate as she grows in her career?

Julie Ziegler

Question submitted by founding SIS Circle member, Julie Ziegler.

“Figure out what you want to do, ask for help when you need it, and create a plan.“
– Lena Waters, VP Integrated Marketing at DocuSign

Lena’s response (slightly edited transcription from interview):

Make sure in a professional environment to ask for what you want. It seems like a small thing but sometimes women find themselves in a position where they are so busy taking care of others we forget to take care of ourselves. If I am trying to make my way from A to B in a career in a company I should have a plan. There’s no problem making a plan when I am at work. I manage accounts, projects, and teams, and I would never do anything without having a plan.. When I started to think of it that way, it got simpler and it didn’t mean that my plan was really good, and it didn’t mean that it worked out, but it allowed me to stand out of myself and when I needed help or if there was something I wanted to do to advance the plan, then I could ask for it. It gave me the backbone of what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it and allowed me to disassociate myself from feeling bad or guilty.

Figure out what you want to do, which is the hardest part, ask for help when you need it, and create a plan. Think of everything you do as a project. We all do that from day-to-day. That’s been the one principle that I’ve kept with me from when I was very young and I still do it today.

“Professional resilience.”
– Dr. Meredith Calvert, PhD, Principal Scientist at Denali Therapeutics

Dr. Calvert’s response (slightly edited transcription from interview):

Professional resilience; I know that’s multi-faceted but also critical to success in any field. Professional resilience is the ability to work very hard. It’s to put absolutely everything into it, to believe in it, and to work really hard for it. That’s the number one ingredient for success.

At the same time, professional resilience is the ability to take criticism and not let it break you down. To be able to understand and hear constructive criticism but at the same time with resilience, you have to believe in your own ideas too. You have to be able to take criticism, but also recognize when it doesn’t resonate with you and to decide that you’re going to stick with your ideas anyway- and be able to distinguish the two.

“Believe in our own genius.”
– Sonya Mehta, Director of Partnerships at The Teaching Well

Sonya’s response (slightly edited transcription from interview):

I recently read a Harvard Business Review article that talked about a study they did on leadership competencies between men and women. It compared men’s and women’s performance, and also how women rated themselves with how men rated themselves. Out of 19 competencies, women outperformed men in 17 of them, and yet consistently rated themselves lower in all areas. That’s consistent with other findings on how men often read job descriptions and meet 30% of the criteria and apply anyway, using their other talents and charisma to advance in the process. Women do just the opposite. (They) read job descriptions where they meet 90% of the criteria and choose not to apply. As women, we often get in our own way because of societal conditioning that has taught us not to take a chance on ourselves.

So, it’s clear to me that women don’t really need to develop any talent other than believing in our own genius. Everything else is already there. When we look at disparities, so much is culturally transferred from one generation to the next. I think our generation has the ability to move out of that and invest in our own abilities as women.