"Boss Babe" culture is toxic. There. I said it.
As a high performing salesman who has experienced a lot of success in her career, I find myself often encountering this weird "boss babe", "girl boss" or "boss bitch" culture, and I have come to the conclusion that these labels are not empowering or flattering, but are instead infantilizing, demeaning and infuriating.
I realize these buzz phrases have been around for a few years now, "boss babe" mentality isn't exactly new, but I have heard it enough times recently that it is clear this isn't a flash in the pan fad that is going to fade away quietly on its own, so I feel it is worth addressing, especially given that a little over half of my coaching clients are women. It is time to take control of our own sales culture.
My most recent encounter of the phrase came during a group lecture I was hosting via Zoom. I was addressing a sales team and their managers on the topic of how to develop productive daily routines that support productive workflow and reduce burnout. The manager of the team introduced me to the group as "a real boss babe". I realize this was meant as a compliment, but the feeling it left me with was one of being somehow minimized. I am a sales professional at the top of my game, isn't that enough?
The issue I have here is qualifying any professional or leadership skills I have as "girl boss" in nature implies that to be an "actual" boss is somehow inherently reserved for men. I have never once heard any of my male colleagues feel the need to refer to himself as a "boy boss", I think if he did, he'd be laughed out of the room.
Sales doesn't care about your gender. It doesn't care about your age. Sales doesn't care about your background, how much money you have in the bank or your level of experience. Sales only cares about results. Can you get results or can you not. High performance sales culture doesn't need trendy buzz phrases and can certainly do without the infantilization of women.
I'm going to keep this post short. If you're a man attempting to pay a compliment to a female colleague, please refrain from verbiage like "boss babe". We can do without the gender specific qualifier that suggests that excelling in our field *despite* being women is somehow grounds for weird extra credit points. If you're a female professional, please for the love of everything, don't refer to yourself as a "boss babe" or "girls boss" or any of these other demeaning terms. We have our gender referenced for us quite often enough as it is, and in a perfect world, the fact that we are women would be the most uninteresting part of our success stories. Show up, kick ass, and make those fat stacks, that's it. That's enough.
No matter what your gender is, if you're looking to take the next steps in advancing your sales skills, or a manager looking to develop a team and avoid elements of toxic sales culture, consider scheduling your FREE introductory coaching call today. I look forward to helping you achieve your goals!
~Kat Jack
