Breaking Free from Labels: Empowering Women in Medical Device Sales
Have you ever been unfairly labeled in your workplace?
Women in medical device sales often face stereotypes that can hinder their career growth and self-esteem. In this empowering episode, we dive deep into the effects of inappropriate labeling and share actionable strategies to overcome them. From embracing self-worth to rewriting negative narratives, this episode will inspire you to tear off old labels and write your own.
With practical tips, personal stories, and insights from leading voices, you’ll leave equipped to embrace confidence and push past workplace boundaries.
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 - The Power of Labels in the Workplace
04:36 - Breaking Stereotypes: Reframing Assertiveness
08:36 - Self-Awareness: The First Step to Empowerment
11:36 - Positive Affirmations to Rewrite Your Narrative
15:36 - Knowing Your Worth and Setting Boundaries
19:36 - Redefining Labels Through Personal Stories
23:36 - Tools and Resources for Continued Empowerment
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
The Power of Labels: Exploring how workplace labels can impact women’s careers and self-esteem.
Breaking Stereotypes: Discussing societal origins of negative labels like "bossy" and reframing assertiveness as a strength.
Self-Awareness for Empowerment: Understanding your strengths and addressing negative feedback to own your narrative.
Positive Affirmations: Combatting negative labels by replacing them with affirmations like "confident" and "visionary."
Knowing Your Worth: Practical tips for setting boundaries, communicating with confidence, and staying focused.
Redefining Labels: Personal stories of overcoming stereotypes and proving doubters wrong.
Tools for Self-Improvement: Recommendations for books and talks by Brené Brown and Sheryl Sandberg to empower listeners.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
From Cynthia Ficara:
"When you know your worth, you own your story, and you get to write your label."
"Labels can truly impact your self-esteem, career growth, and relationships—don’t let them define you."
"Responding with humor or curiosity can deflect negativity while keeping you focused on your goals."
"Sometimes redefining the narrative is as simple as delivering your message with confidence and kindness."
"Your strengths will pave the path to where you want to be—write them down, know them, and believe in them."
From Anneliese Rhodes:
"You can peel off any label you don’t like and write a new one—it’s your choice."
"Confidence is everything. Believe in yourself, your abilities, and the value you bring."
"Assertiveness isn’t a flaw; it’s a strength—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise."
"When we start believing the labels others give us, we stay stagnant. Rewrite the narrative."
"Positive affirmations help you rewrite your story: 'I am resilient, I am confident, I am visionary.'"
Follow The Girls of Grit:
We'd Love to Hear Your Stories!
Your experiences are important to us. Share how you've navigated catalysts for growth and personal transformation. Connect with us on social media or leave a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback and stories inspire us and guide future episodes!
A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anneliese Rhodes: Welcome everyone to another episode of secrets and medical device sales brought to you by the girls of grit. We are so happy that you guys continue to join in. And today we have another super fun and really good episode to talk about.
Cynthia Ficara: Hello everybody. All you high performers out there listening. We are happy you joined us for this episode is our topic is, something that I believe occurs quite frequently in the medical device field.
And I'm going to just Speak on the half of that. The percentage of women to men are much smaller and I think this affects women sometimes more than men. I could be wrong, but I'm going to take based on my personal experience and just to not keep you all in the dark, what we're talking about today is we're talking about how people get labeled.
High Performers and the Burden of Labels
Anneliese Rhodes: Yep. I know this so well, Cindy, and I know you do too. I think as women, when we're high performers, when we're out there, you know, doing our job and we're successful at it and we're good at it. we get labeled a lot of ugly labels. you know, I could just name a couple. I know I've been called.
Bossy, been called super type A, controlling, overpowering, even the ugly B word, you know, she's such a B. just because I happen to be a high performer and I run on all cylinders at all times, and maybe I'm kicking your butt, doesn't mean that you need to give me A label that I don't deserve, right I mean, that's not fair. I'm not labeling you.
Cynthia Ficara: that brings out true, true, true angle to this. And that is, if you're quote unquote kicking their butt, so, at what Point is that coming from their view? Okay, so like anytime somebody says something or think back to when you're younger and calls you a name, they're coming out of a place of what?
Are they jealous of you? Are they wanting to be like you? Mm-hmm . As a high performer, you're in the spotlight. So all the actions you take, people are watching you. And if you're somebody sitting in the stands and you are, you know what? Feeling jealous. Feeling that I wish I could do that, honestly, bad things run downhill, right?
So it's sometimes an easier way of just saying, oh, well, she's bossy or she just gets to do what she wants to do because, oh, people just know her or, come up with a name of being bossy.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, or you know, if you are a high performer and for some reason you didn't get along with somebody in your company, know, well, she's so hard to get along with.
She's just so bossy. She's so this, she's so that. I think today, first of all, we want you all out there to know you're not alone. we face this, I get labeled all the time and I'm constantly peeling those labels back off. And so we're going to talk about that today and really kind of look at why maybe some of these things are happening and discuss how it's not the correct thing to be and how you're going to overcome it as a high performer, as a Female high performer in this male dominated industry.
It's so important for you guys to peel those labels off, rip them up into a million pieces and throw them away. Throw them into the fire that you're going to put, because it's so cold out, we're all having fires these days. So throw it into the campfire.
Cynthia Ficara: I like your idea. If somebody has called you a name, take out a pen, write it on a piece of paper, literally throw it in the fire because it doesn't define you. It does not. You know, When we tackle this topic of labeling, we want to make sure that we're bringing this to your attention because here's what we do not want to see happen. We don't want you to limit any career growth. We don't want you to have any blocks in your networking and your relationships and we don't want anyone else to ever have the power to define you because they don't.
Peeling Back Labels and Owning Your Narrative
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah ,yeah, you're right. So, you know, let's talk about this. Like, why the labels? Why, all of a sudden, did it become okay that when a little girl decides to be a leader, decides to take the lead on something, she's immediately labeled as bossy? One of the books that comes to mind and it was written a really long time ago.
So for you young ones out there, you may or may not have ever heard of this book, but it was written, I think 1981, Little Miss Bossy. And it is this blue meme. It's like this blue circle with, you know, her little hands coming out and she's got these pretty little eyelashes and a little hat with a flower on top.
And she's screaming at the top of her lungs. And it was all about Little Miss Bossy. It already gives you that negative connotation when you weren't, you're not Little Miss Bossy, you're being Little Miss Assertive and it should be embraced and not Labeled as such an ugly label. And I feel like that's, you know, that's where we're coming from here.
That's the origin of it. Women are supposed to be nurturing and caring and maybe to somebody they're thinking we can even be the doormat, but we're not, that's not who we are. And when we push back, when we are not so agreeable and maybe. A little bit more assertive. I think a lot of people, Cindy, start to feel uncomfortable with that.
They don't like the fact that we as high performing women are going to push back. We're going to question certain things and it's not in a bad way. It's just, Hey, wait a minute. Let's think about this for a second. what we're saying here is you don't need to do this in a negative way in terms of being assertive.
You should still do this with kindness and positivity and knowledge behind you. if you've got a question about something and you feel the need to push back on it, you should push back on it. You shouldn't allow something bad to happen because you're afraid of that label.
Cynthia Ficara: I have to tell you this story and I don't remember if we mentioned it in a podcast before or not, but I heard the most amazing and it's relevant right now.
So if I said it before, I apologize. So Albert Einstein was in a school however many years ago and we all know the genius that he is. And so a note was sent home from school from a teacher and it said how he is disruptive. He doesn't do anything. He's always says things different than the other people and does all these, pretty much labeled them as he's not fit to be in this class.
He'll never amount to anything. He's too scattered. So he comes home from school and hands a note to his mother. The envelope was sealed. Then his mother tells him, well, this is our new plan. We are going to homeschool because you are so gifted and you have so much to offer this world that you are just learning too fast and there's so many great things that you can bring that we're going to make this special learning for you because you can achieve anything.
You wish you can. Wow. And can you imagine if she would have read the note out loud and labeled it? Would we not have the inventions we have today? Would we not have the things that it takes? How words can be so powerful.
Anneliese Rhodes: You are so right. What a crazy, empowering story. And we're talking about Einstein here, world's brightest, most brilliant man ever, some could argue and golly, if she had read that out loud and had labeled him, who knows you're right.
We may not have had anything that he gave us. first of all, kudos to that mama and let's hope that we're all like that in terms of moms, but also let's be our own cheerleaders, let's do this for ourselves, not just our kids, but ourselves. So when we get those ugly labels written out and slapped on our chest and this is you and you're so type A or you're bossy or whatever it is, let's be our own cheerleader and rip that label off and be like, no, I'm not, I am just.
Assertive. I know what I have inside of me. I know what I'm capable of doing and I'm not going to let you keep me down. And I think you said this Cindy, but it's so important for you guys to know that when you start listening to those labels that everybody labels you, you start to believe them.
And then you stop pushing, you stop working ahead, you stop moving forward and you stay stagnant.
Cynthia Ficara: And that is not going to help you, you know, you mentioned early on, like why this matters, why we're having this conversation is because labels can truly impact your self esteem and your career growth, your relationships.
So we want to reveal a secret that we believe behind This labeling act is how you can remove these labels or redefine these labels, essentially to be truthful to who you are and what you believe it.
Lisa, for all of our high performers listening today, can you reveal our secret about removing negative labels in the workplace?
Self-Awareness as a Tool for Overcoming Labels
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes, you have to know your worth. You have to know it. Know your worth. Know your worth and you have to believe it and you have to be able to physically peel the label back off that somebody just slapped on your chest and say, No, I'm not.
I'm not bossy. I'm not, super type A. I'm not hard to get along with or the big B word. You're none of those things. You're very assertive. You are self aware. You know what you want. You believe in what you want and you move forward with that. And there is no apologizing for that. You know, you've got to have that self worth.
Cynthia Ficara: So when we talk about how we can do this, okay, so the secret is really knowing your worth. And so I think that you need to look at each situation individually and be self aware of your strengths, be self aware of who you are. if a negative label comes across your way, What do we need to do?
First of all, recognize where it came from. And then, you know, you can take a minute and reflect. Is there any validity to this? Did I come off wrong? Because if somebody is saying, let's just take example of being bossy. Okay. So you can actually step back and realize, was it the way I said it? Was it my connotation or was it just that I had to deliver a message that they didn't want to hear?
Yeah. You know, in any conversation, it's two ways. It's the person delivering the message and the person receiving the message. And if they just receive something they don't want to hear because they don't like it, they just jump back and label you something because they don't want to hear it, that is absolutely not validating for a label.
Self awareness is really important on the flip side because let's just say maybe I was very short. Maybe I was having a bad day. Somebody labeled me something I can look back and say, gee, could I have said that nicer? Could I have said that differently? And you can always come back. That's the best way you can come back.
Say, listen, I want to read. address this statement, and this is clearly what I mean, this is what I meant, and this needs to be done. there's always recovery if you truly did mess up, because we're not perfect.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, gosh, Cindy, you bring up something really important. You know, you're right, you have to be self aware, and you have to do that self assessment.
Maybe, You did have a bad day. Maybe you were just super stressed and you came off a little too harsh. So, okay, admit it. Say, listen, I'm sorry I came off harsh or whatever it was. I'm just really stressed because X, Y, Z. this is happening. I need this to occur now. I really don't have a whole lot of time to give here.
I apologize for my Whatever it was, the way you came across, but this is what I really need. And then you need to apologize, but then you need to ask for what you need. You know, you need to say, Hey, If it's a problem that needs to be solved, I need you to help me solve this problem. And here's how you can help me.
You've got to be able to say these things and be okay with it, side note. a very long standing, I'll say disagreement between my husband and I is that he tells me. He's not a mind reader. doesn't know when I need help, yet I get really pissed when I don't get the help. So I'm like, you didn't do this.
And he's like, I didn't know I needed to. I'm like, how do you not know? It needs to get done. But the point in me saying that is. Sometimes we forget, Cindy, as women, that we have all these things in our head and we forget to ask for help. So when we come across a certain way, it could be taken the wrong way just because we are strung out, we've got a lot of things going on, and it came across a little too harsh, and now somebody's sitting back labeling you as that when it was just a reaction.
And I think the first thing that you can do besides being aware is apologizing for it. And then Moving forward, but don't allow that label that that person gave you to define you moving forward because it can, it can follow you in your career if you're not careful. So the quicker you are to apologize and say, listen, I'm sorry if it came across that way, that wasn't my intent.
My intent was X, Y, Z. And then you move on.
Cynthia Ficara: That is so important. And when you kind of, what you're also talking about is really kind of like redefining the narrative. So, you know, when you mentioned about being assertive you're really trying to drive home a message that was criticized as how am I supposed to do this?
And, if you kind of. Redefine this. Okay, this is something needs to be done. Let's collaborate together. Let's work together on the same note. There's something else that brings me in this. a thought comes to mind when we talk about this aspect of redefining the narrative and that is. Kind of what I touched on a minute ago about how somebody doesn't want to hear something.
Now, I already said when that person hears something, how they can react. But how often has it been the person that delivers the message being hesitant, sharp edge, because they're worried about how the next person's going to take it. And I think that if you know your strengths and you know what the messages that you need to convey, you need to just Pause for a minute, take a deep breath and say, this needs to be heard, even if it's a message that people don't want to hear.
And then think about how would I want to receive this message? And if you put yourself in their shoes and then you deliver the message, the best that you know, and they still have a problem with it, do not let that stop you. Do not let them think that, well, I still don't like that. I have to do something in the long run.
I mean, even as a mother to a child, you need to clean your room. Okay. Well, why? Well, I need to clean my room. Why? instead of just saying it, maybe say, listen, I know you're working really hard on your project. I think that if I help you clear off the clutter on your desk, maybe you'll be able to focus on a few things and not worry about some others.
Like sometimes it's just a simple approach and it's not being bossy. You can get to the same result when you ask in a different way, but it still allows that person, that strong person, that Leader that mother to deliver the message that needs to be heard. It's just in a different way.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. You know what?
And alongside of that also is talking with confidence is being confident when you are, especially if you're having to deliver some hard, feedback, right? Or some harsh news and not harsh. But you know, you as a manager, you know you, I'm sure Cindy, you have to tell people sometimes something that they have to do.
And it's not like you want to do it, but you have to do it. So you do it with confidence because you know it has to get done. And you, you know, it doesn't mean that you have to come across so harshly, but I do believe that confidence is everything. And I think like you just said, sometimes we get nervous as women.
We're like, Ooh, they're going to take this bad. I'm going to be seen in the wrong light. So therefore I'm going to do this in a roundabout way. And then it still comes off. Weird and you know, just weird and people are like, God, that was really strange. She doesn't have any confidence or she, she lacks ability, right?
And instead of being super type A, now you're like the beta, whatever. She can't do anything, right? She can't even tell me how. I'm not hitting my number. It's like, okay, you're danged if you do and you're danged if you don't. But the point is, is when you do it, you do it with confidence because you have to believe in yourself and believe in the message that you're going to deliver or whatever you're doing.
It has to be done with confidence. And knowing your worth, again, knowing your worth, right? Just going to say that.
Redefining the Narrative
Cynthia Ficara: That goes back to knowing your worth and knowing your confident and what you believe in. And, you know, there's going to be times where, um, you know, in your conversations, you're going to have comments that you need to receive as well.
Um, in, In how should I say in graceful ways, maybe so sometimes responding with humor deflects some of it. You can be a little curious as some more, um, details of what they're really getting at, but communicating with confidence. And. Receiving comments with grace can also come from boundary setting is that, you know, a little bit of a boundary that's okay, this is going to be said.
I'm confident. I believe in it. I need to do it. And I already know there's going to be some type of negative response and then I don't let myself hear it. I know where I need to do and I move on and focus my energy. What needs to be done and keep moving the needle forward in my business.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love that.
That setting boundaries is so great. It's like when somebody's like, you'll never believe what so and so said about you. And it's like, I don't want to know. I don't care because I know it's not true. So thanks, but no thanks. So let's talk about what creating good labels look like. And you know, some of these words that we were talking about, Cindy, Not just confidence, but I am resilient or Albert Einstein.
I am a visionary. You know, I
Cynthia Ficara: think
Anneliese Rhodes: some of these words are just good, solid, positive words that you can combat when you get this ugly, she's bossy, she's the B, she's so type a, no, I'm confident. No, I'm resilient. I'm a visionary. I'm successful. I'm a high performer. And I think when you start telling yourself these things, it's like those positive affirmations, you are rewriting those labels that somebody else wrote for you.
You're taking the ones they wrote, you're ripping them up and throwing them into the fire pit, and you're writing your own.
Rewriting Labels Through Positive Affirmations
Cynthia Ficara: When you know your worth, you own your story and you get to write your label. So I, I suggest every one of you take out your, okay, if you're driving, do this when we're done and just voice text into your notes or take a pen and write down three things, make it simple.
Just three strengths of yours that you know, you embody that you believe in. And that when somebody makes you feel disappointing feeling and you're stomach kind of gets tight. If somebody gives you a comment you weren't expecting and you didn't want to hear and instead of letting it in, allow yourself to pick up your list that you write down and write three things.
Like you just said, I am resilient, I am visionary, I am confident, whatever that is for you. I think that when you know it. And you do read it and receive it after a while. It's it, you can't let in that noise anymore. You almost build up your own little moat around your castle and not allowing in the negative comments.
And when that happens, you can build some amazing castles.
Anneliese Rhodes: Can I tell you, you just brought up a really good, Like a story just popped into my head. So this goes back a lot of years, I don't know, 10, 15 years ago. And I was told that I wasn't smart enough. For a clinical job like being really cool and what we do.
Yep. I was told you I don't think you get you're gonna hack it and Number one. I was super pissed but number two. I was like, oh, yeah, I'll show you how unclinical I am and not only did I I've continued to do the job for years and years and years and I've, you know, you and I both won multiple presidents clubs awards, won multiple other sales awards, and it's not about the actual sales.
It's the clinical selling behind it. And it's the loyalty that I have with my physicians. And I'll tell you, Cindy, that one really hurt because it really, I mean, for a minute when I was told it, I started to think it like, Oh, my God. Maybe they're right. Maybe he's right. Maybe I can't hack it. And then I stopped myself and I was like, wait a minute, hang on a second.
Every single time I've ever worked for a company, I've only ever like outscored everybody on every test. I've only ever learned everything I can. I'm a smart person. I know how good I am because I know how I did in high school, how I did in college. And it was like, I had to do that, like self talk. You know, to give myself that confidence back, which looking back now, I'm like, why would I ever doubt?
Rising Above Negative Feedback
But I remember that moment. And I thought for a second. Maybe I can't hack it, but I didn't let that sink in. I did not let it seep in. I tore that fricking label right back off. And I said, I'm absolutely qualified for this job. I'm over qualified for this job. And now I'm going to show you why. And, you know, I think we all probably hit that to some degree in our careers, wherever we are.
It can be in a conversation with someone that maybe the conversation didn't go the way that you would have intended, or maybe, you know, you had a situation You seemed a little over the top and so all of a sudden they put a label on you. Or maybe it's just that they underestimated you. But you have to remind yourself that all of these labels are just that.
They're just labels. You can peel them off anytime you want to and write them all by yourself. Write a whole new set of labels if you want to.
Cynthia Ficara: And you know, you reacted that way because you're human and we all do when somebody says something like that and you don't believe it. But again, you will be, you know, what you think will be if you think it and say it, then if you say, Oh, well, I'm not smart enough.
I guess I'm not smart enough and I can't even try. But instead. Instead, you rewrote that narrative, you removed that label and said, no, I am smart enough and watch me. And you know, it's amazing. Women have an unbelievable ability to do that. When they're told no, it's like, oh, no holds barred, nothing's getting in the way.
I am going to show you. And You know, I had a similar story like that once when I was told that I think you're going to struggle and I proved them completely wrong. And I think that, um, that feels good at the time it doesn't, but you know, you're going to continue to have ups and downs in your whole career.
And when you know your strengths and you believe in yourself and you know your worth, you just keep going forward. You don't let somebody stop you because think about how many career opportunities we've Well, actually, you don't even know him yet, but doors will open and there's so many opportunities out there.
We wouldn't want you to miss that at all.
Anneliese Rhodes: Absolutely not. And you know, one last thing before we close out, I think for any of you out there searching for more stuff to read or to listen to, I'll tell you one of the best books I ever read was Lean In. Um, I just freaking love that book.
Cynthia Ficara: Oh, I love that book.
That was um, don't tell me, Sheryl, what was her last name? Sheryl, uh, Sheryl Sandberg. Yes, yes. She was,
Anneliese Rhodes: yeah, I love that book. Yeah, it was a great book. And I think, you know, when it came out, it was Kind of received with mixed reviews. Right. And let me tell you, she probably got some pretty major labels for that, but she didn't care.
She took it and was like, Hey, I'm writing this for all my women out there so that they know they need to lean in. They should take a seat at the table. They should absolutely feel confident in what they're doing and what they're selling and what, who they are knowing your worth. So I think that's a fantastic book.
Another one by Brene Brown, dare to lead brave work, tough conversations, whole hearts dare to lead. I mean that. I mean, she's fantastic. You know, Brene Brown has got multiple Ted talks as well. So if you would just want to search her up on TEDx, um, you can listen to her talk. She's fantastic. Um, and she's all about believing in yourself.
You know, I think these are important things and we want you guys to know that you're not alone, that we face the exact same things you guys have and you make a choice. You decide to know your worth and write your own label.
Cynthia Ficara: Absolutely. So we're so glad that you joined us today and you know, every little step each, each week we talk about our everyday excellence, getting us to being a high performer.
And we really hope that you take a negative label to become a positive when you take the time to just assess and rewrite it. And I encourage every one of you out there to take. A piece of paper, like I mentioned before, write down your strengths, know your strengths and approach this week in a very positive way.
And one more little bonus, you know, your strengths think in the future of where you want to be and who you want to be. And I challenge you to write that and know that take your strengths on a path to get you where you want to go. And the sky is the limit. All right. Declutter, this is our snippet for the beginning of the episode.
Welcome to today's episode where we tackle a critical issue many women face in their careers, the effects of inappropriate labeling and the constraints it can place on career advancement and networking possibilities.
Anneliese Rhodes: Today, we will explore how these labels can influence the professional narrative and discuss actionable strategies to overcome them.
Cynthia Ficara: To Cutter, please discard the last one. We want to do the snippet again. Welcome to today's episode where we tackle a critical issue many women face in their careers. The effects of inappropriate labeling and the constraints it can place on career advancement and networking possibilities.
Anneliese Rhodes: Today, we will explore how these labels can influence your professional narrative and discuss actionable strategies to overcome them.
