Unleashing My Superpowers

by Patience Mpofu

Overview

Have you ever wondered, "What does it take for women to succeed in a male-dominated workplace like mining?"

Multi-award-renowned global mining sustainability thought leader and IWF Fellow Dr. Patience Mpofu, reveals for the first time how to navigate a male-dominated workplace, break free from cultural biases, overcome imposter syndrome, and unleash your superpowers to break the glass ceiling.

Unleashing My Superpowers is a compelling and inspirational memoir filled with profound stories, wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about succeeding in the tough, male-dominated mining industry for over 25 years. Her near-death experience on a family holiday in Africa inspired her to pay it forward by creating this valuable narrative for women.

 

Patience tells her unique story of how her upbringing in a Lemba (black Jew) tradition shaped her belief system, which led to her embarking on a STEM career. She rose above many challenges and traumatic experiences, from not feeling good enough as a child, to almost drowning while in primary school, to becoming a mother at the age of 21. She shares her personal journey, from facing subtle invisible barriers, to rising through the ranks and finally being known as the most influential woman in mining in Africa and selected for the acclaimed IWF Fellows Program.

This book provides insight into how women can manage the challenges of building a career in male-dominated workplaces. Inside, you will discover:

·        How your upbringing can be reshaped by powerful paradigm shifts as a leader

·        Step-by-step exercises to identify and overcome invisible barriers

·        How to speak up for yourself and find fulfillment in your career

·        Inspirational leadership stories from various mining locations across the globe

·        How to rebound, overcome fears of imposter syndrome, develop resilience and identify your superpowers.

•      Why we need more women leaders who can help you succeed in male-dominated workplaces

•      The secret to getting promoted with the powerful Peak Performance Leadership Model for the 21st century

 

"You need to unleash something extra to be the change you want to see in the world. Its about having a sense of purpose, stepping out of your comfort zone, using your voice to inspire others, and being a catalyst for change. Women have superpowers and it's time to unleash them! Wathinta umfazi, wathinta imbokodo is a Zulu saying that means, 'You strike a woman, you strike a rock.' Let us all shine our lights and help others shine theirs." - Dr Patience Mpofu

Unleashing My Superpowers is eloquent black female memoir, which is practical, backed with real-life examples and personal stories that inspire women to unlock the superpowers necessary to succeed in their career.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780645233704
Publisher:	Peak Performance With Patience
Publication date:	10/11/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	230
File size:	2 MB

Table of Contents

Chapter 1"OVERCOMING CULTURAL BARRIERS"

In this Chapter, Patience explains how your upbringing can be reshaped by powerful paradigm shifts as a leader. Patience tells the unique story of how her upbringing in a Lemba (black Jew) tradition shaped her belief system, which led to her embarking on a STEM career.

Chapter 2"RISING ABOVE LIFE'S CHALLENGES WITH GRIT"

In this Chapter, Patience reveals how you can overcome adversity to achieve success. She shares the obstacles she faced, from losing her father, to becoming a mother at 21, to getting divorced five years later. With grit and determination, she turned her pain into success when she received a scholarship from a global mining company to study for a PhD in Australia.

Chapter 3"HOW TO OVERCOME IMPOSTER SYNDROME"

In this Chapter, Patience shares how to overcome imposter syndrome, develop resilience, identify your superpowers, and find fulfillment in your career. Patience arrived in a foreign land, struggled with adjusting to the new culture, and almost gave up on her PhD until she had an epiphany that changed her life forever when she heard Oprah Winfrey on TV say, "You are enough."

Chapter 4"WHO ARE MY MENTOR AND SPONSORS

In this Chapter, Patience shares powerful strategies for identifying and overcoming invisible barriers with the help of mentors and sponsors. Inspirational stories from locations across the globe, will keep you engaged as she shares how she struggled to balance single motherhood and working in remote places.

Chapter 5"WHY WE NEED MORE FEMALE ROLE MODELS"

In this Chapter, Patience explains how having female role models can help you succeed. She shares her "Aha moment," when the company she worked for appointed its first female CEO, which made her believe in the possibility of being a female leader in a male-dominated workplace.

Chapter 6"THE GLASS CUSHION"

In this chapter, you'll learn why relationships matter as you rise through the ranks and how to advocate for yourself. Patience turned her pain into growth as she found herself at one of the top business schools in the world, fully funded, with a new promotion and better prospects.

Chapter 7"BOUNCING BACK FROM ADVERSITY WITH THE HELP OF A COACH"

In this Chapter, you'll learn how to develop a stronger identity and believe in yourself as Patience shares that "it is at your moments of decisions that your destiny is shaped."

Chapter 8"FROM BOYS CLUB TO MALE CHAMPIONS: THE ROLE OF ESG"

In this chapter, you'll learn why now is the perfect time to "lean in" for opportunities due to ESG requirements. Patience shares how she was promoted to a role that opened many doors, a role she believes was her calling. She hit rock bottom in her career but exactly one month later, she rose again and became one of the 36 women in the world selected for the acclaimed IWF Fellows Program.

Chapter 9"BECOMING A GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADER"

In this Chapter, you'll learn why it's time to use your voice to claim your power and build the career you deserve, based on powerful insights gleaned from interviewing 30 women across the globe who have achieved C-Suite level.

Chapter 10"UNLEASHING OUR SUPERPOWERS, TOGETHER WE RISE"

In this Chapter, Patience shares the powerful Peak Performance Leadership Model for the 21st century. She summarises what helped her succeed in this tough industry and why she stayed in it and advocated for it for more than 25 years. Through her stories of success and failure, joy and sorrow, and overcoming adversity, she explains how to balance career and life, find meaning in what you do. And finally, how to unleash your superpowers.

Editorial Reviews

01/17/2022

“There was a time when I underplayed my intelligence,” Mpofu writes in this inspiring debut, a hybrid of memoir and practical guidebook. “I wanted to accommodate male egos, literally making myself appear ignorant.” The story of how she learned to “stop being apologetic” about her talents, shake off Impostor Syndrome, and claim her place in an industry run by men proves to be, as the title suggests, something like the origin of a superhero: it’s powered by themes of grit and persistence, principle and belief, power and responsibility. “As leaders, we have a responsibility to unleash our superpowers and help others do the same,” she notes, as she recounts harrowing stories of encountering bias and sexism in the workplace—and also uplifting stories of achieving (and helping others achieve) success anyway.

That mission both serves as a through line for the memoir’s narrative and explains why Mpofu, the vice president of an Australian mining company and a leader in mining sustainability movements, writes it (as well as its occasional poems, like “Gratitude” and “The Glass Cushion”) with such urgency. “Power and strength behaviours demonstrated by the patriarchy and masculinity are not required traits for leadership in the 21st century,” she declares. Instead, she calls for leadership stamped by inclusivity, truthfulness, and a dedication to the creation of shared value; for women in business and STEM professions to serve as role models for each other; and for women to “own” their success.

Practical exercises at the end of chapters offer readers direction in reflecting on the lessons Mpofu has learned and applying them to their own lives and careers. Still, Unleashing My Superpowers ultimately proves more memoir than leadership manual, as Mpofu, a frank and engaging storyteller, recounts her rise, challenges she’s faced, and even digs into her ancestry and family history.

Takeaway: An inviting account of a business woman’s rise to success and embrace of her power.

Great for fans of: Rache Hollis’s Girl, Stop Apologizing, Carolina Criado Perez’s Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.

Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: B Illustrations: B+ Editing: B+ Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews

2021-10-07
An African woman maneuvers her way to success in a hypermasculine industry in this business self-helper.

Mpofu, an executive leadership coach, derives career and management lessons from her unusual life story. Born into a middle-class family in Zimbabwe, she was encouraged by her father to pursue a career in a STEM field. She earned a degree in chemistry and then a Ph.D. at the University of South Australia and took a job in South Africa at the multinational Anglo American Platinum mining company. It was a rewarding but difficult road, in her telling. As a Black woman in an industry traditionally dominated by White men, Mpofu often found herself “the only one in the room who looks like me.” Initially relegated to routine tasks, she had to lobby her bosses for more challenging assignments. When she got them, they involved trips to mineral-processing facilities in the field, which caused issues for her as a single mom as well as sartorial problems with the coveralls tailored for men’s bodies. Moving from production to the business-strategy side of the company, the author was passed over for promotion in favor of a male hire. A leap to a new company brought her a vice presidency, but when that position was made redundant, she had to scramble to reinvent herself. From these ups and downs, Mpofu distills wisdom on business success, including the importance of setting clear, actionable career goals; building networks of female mentors and co-workers who can help one another weather male-dominated workplaces; cultivating a humane leadership style; avoiding feelings of inadequacy and imposter syndrome; projecting confidence; and persevering through setbacks with sheer grit.Mpofu’s autobiographical narrative, while often engaging, makes for a somewhat disorganized and repetitive framework for her ideas, which are not presented in a systematic way. (The book’s few exercises are perfunctory and often just refer readers to a lesson template on her coaching company’s website.) Many of her managerial and motivational tropes are familiar, but she has original and captivating ones of her own, some suggested by her experiences on safari. (An incident in which an elephant snaked its trunk around her neck illustrates the importance of staying calm in a crisis, and she enjoins managers to be generous with their underlings the way a lion, after gorging on a kill, will allow vultures and hyenas to feast on the rotting remains.) Mpofu’s prose sometimes lapses into fulsome management-lit uplift (“We need leaders who are visionary, compassionate and empathetic, with high levels of consciousness; leaders who value their employees and communities, and create sustainable shared value”), but she can also be pithily aphoristic—“One must be resilient and think fast, rather than wait for life to happen”—and even lyrical in the poems she sprinkles into the text. (“I am thankful even to those who have given me pain / Without pain, there is no growth, there is no gain.”) Mpofu’s writing sharply registers the galling implicit bias facing women in the office—“When the table is taken away and the door is shut in your face, leaning in doesn’t help”—but her program of working hard, self-directing, forging relationships, and being open to new experiences is a hopeful, empowering one.

A useful and stimulating guide to building a career under trying circumstances.

Kirkus Reviews