In researching her latest book, In This Together: How Successful Women Support Each Other in Work and Life, Dr. Nancy O’Reilly found that promoting women to executive leadership helped women advance at all levels. Indeed, study after study shows when women serve on boards, and in leadership positions, companies are more profitable and organizations more successful.

That’s why Dr. O’Reilly’s foundation, Women Connect4Good, launched the #Lift Women Up campaign. Lift Women Up acknowledges that women are powerful leaders, skilled fundraisers, and dedicated forces for change. Each and every one of us has the capacity to drive change – it starts with us coming together to #LiftWomenUp.

Together we can support women running for office with our time, treasure or talent, sponsor, mentor, or help a woman get her foot in the door at work, work together to close the pay gap and raise women and girls out of poverty, train and elevate women to leadership positions, and engage our #maleallies to help us build an environment where every person – regardless of gender – is valued, respected, and equally compensated.

Lifting women up isn’t just an idea; it’s a movement! True gender equity does not currently exist, and as we work towards it, we must be advocates for each other.

• We must raise our voices to speak up for the women whose voices may otherwise go unheard.
• We must speak kind words to each other and encourage one another when we can.
• We must support each other in our homes and offices, acting as advisors, mentors and friends.

The #LiftWomenUp Action for this Week is:

Ask your friends who are small business owners how you can help. Refer business to them, or link them to helpful resources. It’s through these support groups that we can help one another succeed.

Check out The Lift List and arm yourself with 52 weeks of simple actions that will help you step into your power, increase your impact, and build an environment where every person is valued, respected, and equally compensated. Lifting together not only lightens the load, it helps us all become the powerful leaders we were meant to be. We can do anything—together.