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 Unleashing My Superpowers, how to break free from cultural biases, overcome imposter syndrome and unleash your superpowers to succeed. Unleashing My Superpowers is a compelling and inspirational memoir filled with profound stories, wisdom, and lessons learned over 25 years about succeeding in the tough, male-dominated mining industry.
This is an inspirational must-read as we all ask what is our why? Highly commendable read on gender equality and leadership, especially in male-dominated STEM related industries.
—Professor Shirley Zinn, Independent Non-Executive Director & Executive Director at the Boston Consulting Group SA. South Africa
If you have ever felt stuck as a woman in STEM or the mining industry and you don’t know how to navigate the complex male-dominated workplace, then this is a must read!
—Heike Truol, Non-Executive Director Clarkson plc and former Executive Head Anglo American plc. UK
Why this book?
I pondered whether I should still write this book or if I should start working on my mining consultancy business. These were the thoughts in my head as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world. I struggled, sat up, paced, yawned and finally slept. As I drifted to sleep, I could hear the cry of a woman working in male-dominated (STEM) workplaces like mining: With COVID-19 already ravaging the world, I may be a victim of retrenchments as I have been struggling to navigate my workplace. I have to prove myself and my capabilities regularly despite my experience, and work twice as hard as my male colleagues, but I still have not been promoted. I have to cope with aggression, competitiveness, and being interrupted and spoken over. How will I ever cope with managing myself, my family and forever demanding work with no help at home? How do I make this happen? I wish I had someone to discuss these challenges with, and someone to guide me through these challenges. While those thoughts were going on in my mind, I abruptly woke up and decided: This is it. I am going ahead. I am doing this. If not me, then who? If not now, then when?
I am often asked, what inspired you to go into a male-dominated workplace like the mining industry? The journey of sharing my personal story started on a particular day. It was in April 2018, during the Easter holidays. I was sitting by a fireside, sipping a glass of shiraz wine during the winter season of Lesotho, a small country nestled within the South African borders on the southern side. I was quietly watching my son, nephew, two nieces, and my sisters laughing and enjoying themselves. I was at peace. I felt a sense of gratitude and contentment as I was surrounded by the people who matter the most in my life. Unfortunately, my mother could not join us then due to ill health. I was reflecting on the highs and lows of my career, and all I had was a sense of gratitude and achievement. It suddenly dawned on me that in a month’s time, I would be leaving the mining industry in which I had spent more than 25 years. I reflected on when this all started: How and why did I choose this industry? How did I get to where I am today? Who was my cheerleader? Who was my sponsor? I was overwhelmed by mixed feelings. I was sad that I was leaving the industry that had been home to me for over 25 years, and the relationships I had formed with various people. I was excited about the new journey, which at that time was about self-discovery. I had bought a book, Eat, Pray, Love, by Gilbert (2006), to get some inspiration for this journey that I was about to embark upon.
A sense of pride swept through me as the steam from the freezing weather of the beautiful Afriski ski resort in Lesotho came out with my breath. I had never felt so cold. I was tired after our travel to Afriski. We had just registered on arrival and immediately gone straight to our first skiing lesson. My first day was not the greatest; I was not focussed and all I wanted to do was to relax and just be. I had spent the past six months on what felt like a roller coaster. I had not taken a single break and I was exhausted from the company’s restructuring. I needed to get away to revive, relax and reflect. This, I knew, was what effective leaders do as I had been coached about taking care of myself. I also wanted to spend time with my mum, who was not well. She needed surgery and we were contemplating whether she should have both the operations she required, or not. While I have spent most of my life in South Africa, work has meant that I never really had enough time for my family. As I pondered, I heard my name being called by my little niece, Tamara. ‘Auntie, why didn’t you join us? You should have seen how amazing we were. Skiing is so much fun’. I was just happy for them and to sit and enjoy my glass of wine near the fire.
We had all flown from different countries to meet for a short holiday in Lesotho where my sister Pepsi worked for UNAIDS. It had become a tradition as we are all scattered across the world, and we made that decision to get together for a regional or international trip every two years. This time, we chose Afriski in Lesotho, a beautiful country with its lush and mountainous landscape. It has so much to offer for tourists all over the world. It is a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa, and has a network of rivers and mountain ranges, including the 3,482-metre-high peak of Thabana Ntlenyana. The capital, Maseru, has ruins dating from the 19th century reign of King Moshoeshoe I. With a population of over 2.125 million, it’s a relatively small country.
We left early in the morning to avoid traffic, to enjoy the beautifully scenic drive on winding mountainous roads, and to ensure we arrived before dusk. Afriski is a popular ski resort where many Africans go to learn how to ski. It is the only skiing resort in Lesotho, located 3050 metres above sea level in the Maluti Mountains. It is one of only two ski resorts in southern Africa, a 4.5-hour drive from Johannesburg. The resort offers a variety of activities including mountain biking, paintball, and hiking, and people love the night life with music and dancing.
The kids were all tired and were sleeping on the way. I was driving with my older sister. We always took advantage of long drives to chat and catch up on her work, her business and her mentoring, as I always look to her for wisdom and help with decisions. She didn’t know I was taking a long-term sabbatical and leaving the corporate world, so we discussed this at length, and she appreciated my decision. The drive was delightful, and apart from getting lost, we arrived in good time.
We had booked one big house that accommodated large families so we could all be together. It was freezing that night and there was more snow than there had been the other times we had been there. We decided to order some pizza and have our wine in the house. The chatting started. The fire downstairs was ready, and it was nice and cosy. When we get together with my family, there is always plenty of laughter, teasing and craziness. My son, nephews and nieces call it the crazy family holidays. They think we are the craziest family.
The wine was flowing, the music was fun, and all was so lovely that I didn’t want it to end. I always look forward to these family holidays. It must have been past midnight and we were all tired when we said our goodnights to each other and retreated to our bedrooms. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. I dreamt I was walking along a long hallway, with lights flashing and blinding me. I couldn’t breathe, and I was shouting for help. As I was having this nightmare, suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was still having the dream, until I consciously knew it was real. I threw the bedsheets off my chest. I struggled to find my voice, and I was gasping for air.
I dragged myself out of bed still gasping for air. I was feeling dizzy and almost blinded as I walked through the bedroom doorway to near the bathroom entrance where I fell and collapsed to the floor. I found my voice and managed to call out, ‘Sis, I can’t breathe!’ Everyone woke up, except my son, nephew and nieces, who were sleeping downstairs. My sisters surrounded me, shaken and flooding me with questions I couldn’t answer immediately. ‘What happened? Are you okay?’ My sister Peddie rushed to get me some water. Pepsi called medical emergency, while Diana tried to calm me. There was commotion all around. As I gulped the water and the windows were opened, I was breathing, but with difficulty. Pepsi was still trying to get hold of emergency. I could see their fear as they thought they had almost lost me. I sat up and found I could breathe more normally again, my head was spinning and I felt a bit of a headache. We decided not to persist in trying to call emergency as I felt better. I went back to sleep but was scared that I might die in through the night. My son William, nephew Mayibongwe and two nieces, Thembelihle and Tamara, were downstairs fast asleep and never heard anything.
In the morning, I was much better, but with some light-headedness. We had our breakfast, then headed to our ski lessons where we had so much fun. We didn’t speak about what happened the previous night; it was as if nothing had happened. In the evening, we were dancing as usual and teasing each other. We had a competition to see who could perform the best popular dance moves for kids. We had our cosy fireplace and so much laughter was going on. Then, as we were laughing and our children were calling us the crazy family, my sister Peddie said, ‘You will miss us, the crazy family, when one day we are dead. Talking about death, Auntie Patience almost died last night’. They laughed it off as a joke, but Peddie insisted and said it was not a joke. They didn’t believe it until I showed them the bump I had on my face from my fall. I also had a mark on my hand where I had scratched myself. They gave me hugs and I could see fear in their eyes. We agreed it was the altitude illness, but everyone wondered why this time the altitude had affected me so much when I had been there before without experiencing it. This altitude was not as high as that in Chile, where I had endured a worse reaction.
I knew that I was stressed and exhausted. I had worked for almost two years, working late and being the first and last in the office. I think I had burnout. Altitude sickness happens because there is less oxygen in the air that you breathe at high altitudes, and the wine could have made it worse. Then Mamo (Thembelihle’s nickname, short name for Mamoyo), who was 14 years old, asked me for the first time about my job. ‘Why are you working in the mining industry, Auntie? Isn’t that a job for men? Sounds like a tough job. Why don’t you work somewhere where it’s easy and you don’t have to stress?’ I looked at her and smiled. But questions started pouring now from everyone, all curious as to why I had chosen mining in the first place, out of all the professions and industries. I was the odd one out in the family, having studied chemistry and worked in mining. The rest of my family either studied statistics, mathematics, finance or medicine. Even though I was skilled in mathematics, I still chose applied science at PhD level.
As I reflected on my career and leadership journey, I narrated my story to my family, who were all curious to know. I started from my childhood, with my sisters joining in the narration about how we grew up. My son, nephew and nieces were listening with curiosity as they had never met my father, who had died when he was only 52 years old.
Figure 1.0: Patience with her family at Afriski in Lesotho in May 2018
Each day as we sat by the fireplace, I continued my story and shared my journey with my curious family, to the point where my son, nephew and nieces said I should write a book, as they found my story inspirational. They were amazed at the challenges I had faced as a woman in STEM, and inspired by the fact that I rose above those challenges and still loved the industry. They were shocked at how the mining industry contributes to the well-being of the world, making it a better place. They had no idea about the vast uses of most of the country’s commodities and the extent of the contribution of the mining industry. Nor the fact that Africa has some of the most resources in the world. My sisters were also surprised about the uses of the platinum group metals (PGMs). By the end of the night, they had an appreciation of why I had stayed in the mining industry for 25 years, despite it being male dominated and with many invisible barriers for women. They previously had no idea about some of the challenges I faced and how I overcame them. We would talk sometimes but not in too much detail, as most of the times we met on holidays, we wanted to put work behind us. The next six days were filled with my stories of how I navigated the male-dominated workplace to succeed. I could see they were inspired, and I was motivated and encouraged by my family to write a book and share my success factors.
At the end of the holiday, they all agreed that I had spoken with passion and they had learned a lot. We concluded that the world needs more women in STEM, and that leaders in male-dominated workplaces need to do more to remove the invisible barriers stopping women from succeeding. They jokingly suggested that maybe the sabbatical was a blessing in disguise, and I should share the knowledge with the world and inspire more women in STEM. At that moment, Thembelihle decided that she would now pursue her GCE Cambridge A levels in STEM-related subjects and we encouraged her to follow her passion. When she later received her GCE O Level Cambridge results with five distinctions, she called me to say how my story had inspired her. She now understood how important STEM subjects are and the vast career opportunities they provide. She initially wanted to be a fashion designer and thought she could pursue both, but at university, she wanted to study chemical engineering.
After this discussion, I thought to myself that if I could inspire a young girl and open her eyes to the vast opportunities that STEM-related subjects can offer, imagine how many more girls or women I could inspire by publishing a book. In addition, I knew that the narrative of the mining industry needed to change, as people are not educated about what it is all about. But most importantly, if STEM professions will be needed even more, where are the women? I put the idea of writing a book aside at that time, but a year later, I was selected for the IWF Fellows Program in August 2019, and that idea came back—this time as part of my legacy project, and that dream became a reality!
A study by McKinsey Global Institute (Woetzel and Magdavhav 2015) found that women’s economic equality is good for business. The study showed how advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth by 2025. Despite recent advances in trying to close the gender gap, especially in male-dominated workplaces and STEM professions, there are still few women interested in STEM subjects.
The United Nations has set ambitious goals for its 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals (SDGs), and specifically its goal 5 for gender equality. Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps in the world of work are mandatory to achieving this goal. In light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of digital transformation and space exploration—or rather, space mining—there is a sense of urgency for a campaign to help women and in particular, those in STEM professions. However, there are still barriers that hold women back, including lack of female role models in the same field. The prominent barriers in male-dominated workplaces include gender biases and unequal growth opportunities (Beckton & Okzan 2012).
In 2018, there were 24 female CEOs on the Fortune 500 list, which is only 4.8% of all senior leadership positions. The most recent statistics from Catalyst Research (2021) show an increase from 1.2% to 6% of CEO positions held by women on the Fortune 500 list. Women are underrepresented in the C-Suite, receive lower salaries, and are less likely to receive a critical first promotion to manager than men. This is worse for women in STEM-related professions. COVID-19 exposed the vulnerability of women to the new future of digital transformation. A question often asked is whether women and men act all that differently. A book authored by Helgeson and Goldsmith (2018) on how women succeed concluded that there are certain habits that keep women from reaching their career goals. On the other hand, a study by Beckton and Okzan (2012) specifically on women in mining and, more recently, King (2020), have concluded that amongst other factors, the culture of an organisation is critical. Companies therefore can greatly benefit from increasing employment and leadership opportunities for women, which has been shown to increase organisational effectiveness and growth.
The question I reflected on most as I thought about writing my story was: What did it take me to succeed in a male-dominated workplace? What exactly moved the needle for me in my career, as I am often asked? Do I have a blueprint to navigate the common but sometimes subtle challenges of the mining industry? As I narrated my story to my family, I realised I can share some of these invisible barriers and create a blueprint for women to succeed. Most importantly, I can highlight where the male-dominated industry is failing women and what needs to be done.
An important factor in this is that women are being held back from achieving the highest leadership positions, which was the major barrier in my career. I have read many books, including Lean In (Sandberg 2013), How Women Rise (Helgesen and Goldsmith 2018), and GRIT (Duckworth 2017). I applied all the practical advice from these authors, and I attribute some of my success to insights I gleaned from their books. However, I believe it only works for people who look a certain way, are in a not so male-dominated work environment like mining, and at a certain level in a woman’s career. To test this, I conducted a survey with over 100 women in STEM-related professions. I also interviewed 30 women across the globe to find out what it had taken for them to succeed. The most important insight in this book is my own experience, and I will share what worked and what didn’t work throughout my leadership journey as a black woman in STEM, working in the mining industry.
There are also several female role models in STEM that have been celebrated for many years and continue to be, in certain media. However, I don’t think we have done much to celebrate these women. For example, how many people know that Ada Lovelace, who was born in 1815, is the English mathematician who worked on the maths of the general-purpose computer? Consequently, she is the author of the first computer program. Another phenomenal woman in STEM, who inspired me after watching the movie Hidden Figures, is Katherine Johnson. Katherine Johnson was a US mathematician who retired from NASA in 1986 and did some calculations in orbital mechanics, leading to the success of the first US spaceflights. There are many others, but we don’t hear much about their success stories—only about those of the males, hence my why in sharing my story: This story may not be about being a founder or inventor, but I hope it might inspire someone, somewhere, someday.
My mission with this book is therefore to help advance the United Nations’ SDG5 in STEM-related professions by providing insights into the key success factors of navigating male-dominated STEM workplaces like mining. Secondly, to inspire and empower women to take on more STEM-related jobs and businesses. Lastly, to help policy makers/leaders make informed decisions about how to accelerate the pace of transformation for women and girls in STEM. As a woman in mining and STEM, I share my story of how I navigated the male-dominated work environment to become Africa’s most influential woman in mining. I have also created strategies and tools that will help women who feel stuck in their careers. At the end of each chapter, you will find a summary link to free bonuses for women (and men) who aspire to be global leaders in STEM.
My story starts with how my upbringing shaped the trajectory of my life, and of how parents can influence their daughters. I talk about my journey in a male-dominated workplace, where I have met amazing people: mentors, coaches and sponsors. I speak about the role of the boys’ club culture, especially in mining, highlighting it as one of the major barriers women face, and what leaders should be doing to help close the gender gap for women’s advancement.
Firstly, the model is based on leading oneself. My experience attending many leadership and personal development programs across the globe shows that self-mastery is fundamental for anyone who wants to succeed in any career or business. Without mastering their emotions, understanding their values, and knowing who they really are, a leader can make poor judgments for the teams they lead. Knowing oneself helps a leader make wiser decisions. I have found that self-mastery starts with taking care of oneself. An example is having burnout and making not-so-sound decisions, which almost cost me my life.
Self-mastery is at the core of everything. The second part is having that spiritual muscle, which some would call mind power. Not having a source from which to draw when all physical sources are depleted can be detrimental. COVID-19 has made a lot of people start questioning the meaning of their lives. A leader’s true colours are tested in a crisis. Who am I? What am I here for? Who am I serving? These were questions leaders were asking themselves. This book will show that my belief system, in conjunction with my values and drivers, played an influential role in my success.
Throughout my career, grit was one character trait that contributed to my success. How quickly do you bounce back after a setback? Besides the fact that the mining industry is male dominated, it is also a tough job. I found myself working late, travelling to remote places and not having enough time for my family. One needs grit to succeed, as evidenced by previous work by Duckworth (2017), which says passion and resilience are the key to success in anything. I tested this theory and indeed it is what made me successful in my early career.
A combination of courage, confidence, competency and having a strategy was the third essential factor. Leading oneself, knowing what you really want and having crystal clear goals are paramount. What are you known for? What are you the go-to person for? What would leaders discussing talent management say about you? Building a reputation as an expert in your early career is crucial. Working hard was second nature to me.
Relationships matter as you rise through the ranks to more senior roles. It is no longer just about what you do or about your competency and grit. All things being equal, women need to build relationships with whomever they work with. In a male-dominated work environment, it is often difficult as colleagues are mostly men, and women struggle with things like after-work drinks, as they have other commitments. I found it difficult to relate, and yet these social interactions are often where the most important conversations take place.
Advocating for what you want is still critical even when relationships are in place. This is where sponsorships come in, especially when one wants to be promoted. As much as companies have talent management strategies and talent mapping, the biggest challenge for organisations is talent attraction and retention. Influencing and advocating skills are important as this is how you build rapport with teams, stakeholders, and those you lead. How you show up and lead teams becomes critical. One of the vital skills I had to learn fast was the art of negotiation.
Having a learning mindset and constantly developing myself was an essential factor in my career progression. I went for a senior leadership program, and that was where I learned more about the art of negotiation. That was often what moved the needle. To succeed in any role, but especially in a male-dominated workplace, one has to be a great negotiator. It doesn’t matter where you are in your career; if women are to break the glass ceiling, they need to learn how to negotiate.
I recall leading four major transactions where if I had failed to negotiate effectively, the company would have lost its license to operate. One occasion was just after a major incident in this company and the climate was not great. I had a supportive team that worked with me to get the deal done, but being clear on the mandate and what I could and could not concede was important. I was fortunate to have great female supporters in negotiating the deal. Needless to say, we succeeded and managed to get the deal signed with all approvals.
Leadership is at the core of talent attraction and retention for women in STEM. Without a vision or goal, it’s difficult to navigate the complex work in a STEM-related profession like mining. Decisions for employees to stay and add value at whatever level are dependent on leadership. Leadership defines the culture of an organisation. As I moved up the ladder, I started having to influence the conversations both internally and externally on issues affecting women. New questions I pondered were: What are the leadership competencies required for the 21st century? What can we learn from some of the most successful female leaders who steered their countries through the COVID-19 pandemic?
Mining is the type of industry that employs mostly STEM-related professionals. You can have a love-hate relationship with it. You love it for the challenge, for the huge salaries and benefits, and there’s never a dull moment. But you can easily hate it—for lack of a better word—for its male-dominated nature. You need to understand the history of mining, but most importantly, the uses of the products it produces. I sometimes think about how some people talk so badly about the industry without understanding that without the products it produces, the world could not function.
Finally, what is unleashing my superpowers? Unleashing my superpowers is a leadership concept with a call to action for every leader in male-dominated workplaces to empower more women to reach top leadership positions, thus helping close the gender gap. It takes having more women in leadership to close the gender gap, but most importantly, it takes male champions to move the needle. The concept is based on first leading self, then others, then business. I have summarised my leadership strategies on what it takes to succeed in a male dominated mining workplace with what I call the Peak Performance Leadership Model.
Knowing yourself is what gives you meaning. Ask yourself the difficult questions: What are my mission, purpose, and values? What am I here for? Once you know your gift to the world, use your voice as a force for good. What is your source of power? What is your anchor? When you have your power, how do you use it? Who do you impact? What do you want to be remembered for? What are you doing as a leader to honour someone’s dreams, especially those of women? This is about overcoming adversity, understanding others and leading with authenticity, trust and compassion. When people you lead feel your energy, vibrating love, value for stakeholders naturally follows.
In a male-dominated workplace, you are guaranteed adversity, being spoken over, and being thrown under the bridge, but if you know your values, your mission, and what gives you meaning, you wouldn’t put yourself in an organisation that doesn’t value your contributions. You will have the foresight and intuition to join a community that has values aligned with yours, and your energy will attract that kind of organisation. Tap into your inner wisdom. You will know how to remove self-limiting beliefs, tune into who you truly are, be your authentic self and unleash your superpowers.
You know who you are, you are enough, and you have the courage to stand up for what you believe. You know how to take responsibility for yourself and not be a victim of circumstances. You know how to master the art of leading others compassionately while inspiring them. You know how to build peak performance teams and help them unleash their superpowers. Every person has this superpower within them.
Ultimately, unleashing your superpowers is using your voice. Use your voice for good, and raise it if you have to. If you’re still not heard, go outside and use your voice with greater force. That is truly unleashing your superpowers. There is a time to lead and a time to follow, a time to succeed and a time to fail, a time to be confident and a time to be humble. Women have the superpowers they need to succeed and it’s time to unleash them! Wathinta umfazi, wathinta imbokodo is a Zulu saying: You strike a woman, you strike a rock. This is particularly so as women reach C-Suite positions in male-dominated workplaces.
I hope that by the time you finish reading my story, you will have gained some insights into how it unfolded and taken away a valuable lesson from each turn. Let us all shine our lights and lead the way for others to shine theirs.