Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone.

Erica: Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum. We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder.

Erica: It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com. Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Women are being cut down in the workplace every single day.

Erica: From downplaying achievement to being undermined to straight up being left out or ignored. And y'all, I haven't met a woman today that hasn't somewhere felt or experienced this, and this has a name. It's called the tall poppy syndrome. I covered tall poppy syndrome early on in the podcast, y'all.

Erica: So if you're interested, check out episode 27, but I am bringing it back up today because there was an international research project led by the women of influence plus that I just had to share with you. If you have never heard of tall poppy syndrome, which I may call TPS for short on podcast, it occurs when a person's success causes them to be attacked, resented, or criticized. It cuts them down. It devalues their achievements by suggesting, you know, maybe they didn't deserve the attention. It's when you're attacked, resented, disliked, all because of your success.

Erica: The more successful you, the more likely you will be under attack. The more you're gonna face these aggressions and microaggressions, not just from people in positions of seniority, but also from your peers. Now I know that I have experienced this head on. It's shown up in my life personally by having both men and women tell me that like, oh, you just got that job because you knew this person, which if you read between the lines is saying I'm not qualified. I didn't deserve that job.

Erica: You know, nevermind my years of experience, education, hard work, and proven track record y'all. So what about you? Do people encourage your achievements or express concern because you work too hard? I have first on gotten that one. Now it might not be these in your face attacks.

Erica: It could be little things where they insinuate, you know, they may give you feedback, like, quiet it down a little bit. You know, you're making others uncomfortable. Or, you know, your ambition's a little overkill. How about you dial it back a bit? Y'all ever been told that to dial it back?

Erica: Oh, y'all I know I'm loud. I know I'm extra. I've definitely been told to dial it back. I have seen plenty of women cutting down other women that also aren't exactly like them. Right?

Erica: I've seen working moms say like, oh, she's just a stay at home mom as if that job doesn't have merit. It's that just, for me. I've seen stay at home moms say, well, you know, she's always at work about women who have corporate jobs who are working. Right? Why are we cutting down women for living their own lives and doing their own damn thing?

Erica: So if you haven't experienced it directly, I know I know that you have seen it. Now in this research project led by women of influence plus, 86.8% of respondents from a 103 different countries say that they have experienced TPS at work. Holy shit y'all. Eighty six point eight percent. Now the way it shows up according to this study is broad and far reaching.

Erica: And the top ways that this study found that TPS shows up is in downplaying achievement by seventy seven percent. Being left out or ignored, you know, ever been forgotten on that meeting invite? Seventy two point four percent. Almost seventy one percent said they were undermined. Sixty eight point three percent experienced the dismissal of an achievement, and sixty six point one percent say others took credit for work they had done.

Erica: Now that one just, oh, gets under my skin because that has happened to me in probably the most detrimental way. And now that all really sounds harsh, but it happens. Again, eighty six point eight percent say it has happened to them. Now one thing this study revealed was that men were the one who were primarily doing the cutting down of the tall poppies, that they were more likely to undermine women due to their success. But that didn't sit right with me.

Erica: And I just didn't know that it truly was what I had experienced or what I had seen. Right? So I kinda said, let me do a little more deep diving, and I dug into the white paper. And a lot of the areas that I saw where men were ranked much higher in doing the cutting were senior leadership, c level execs, board members or board directors, and CEOs. Y'all.

Erica: Come on now. If you've listened to this podcast, you know that those are the fields that are dominated by men, that women are underrepresented. So come on now. Of course, there are more men doing the cutting because there are just more men. Now the study showed that the top drivers for why tall poppy syndrome exists and why we are cutting down women as they drive for success is jealousy and envy, sexism and gender stereotypes, and lack of confidence and insecurity, which I agree with a 100%.

Erica: Jealousy to envy are real joy stealers y'all. So instead of looking at others with jealousy, look at them with admiration. Instead of this, they have it all. And I can't feeling to a feeling of, wow, look at what can be done. Heck, yeah.

Erica: If she can do that, so can I? And y'all this cutting down of the tall poppies, the amazing and growth minded women, This is a major problem. These snide comments and backhanded comments that come our way is just another way to say, Hey, don't shine your light so brightly. Tone it down a little bit. Now, no one seems to have a problem when a band boasts about his accomplishments.

Erica: We must support each other. We must raise each other up. We cannot be afraid to shout our achievements from the rooftop. And ladies, we've gotta shout out each other's too. Now, Caroline Miller, a friend of mine who was also a podcast guest, head back to episode 78 to hear more from her, came up with the word Ampliship.

Erica: And it is about amplifying women in front of others, not just to them behind closed doors or in a one on one email, but to the world. We must band together and get loud about all the amazing things and magnificent things that we were put on this earth to do. Tall poppy syndrome also impacts organizations too. It impacts productivity. It creates a culture of distrust, which, yeah, taking credit for others work and dimming their light, it's a no brainer.

Erica: It's driving women to look for new jobs and new roles, and a whopping 50% actually saying, see you, peace out, and leaving for a new opportunity. It's not okay to cut others down. There is more than enough room for all of us at the table. So let's sprinkle a little fertilizer, you know, some motivation, some support, love, guidance, advocacy on our fellow poppies, and let's grow, baby, grow. So with that being said, help me out.

Erica: Help me grow. Rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast and help me shine this light brighter so that this podcast can land in the hands of the woman that needs to hear it most. I'm so glad you're here with me today, and I will see you next time.