If you truly want to help more women be professionally successful, there are tangible, everyday attitudes and action steps that both men and women can take. Here are some of my top suggestions (as someone who is both technically a woman and generally professionally successful).

1. Think of women not as women, but as people.

A gentleman who ran a tech company recently sincerely asked on Twitter how he could better support women. As I noted there, the first step is to stop thinking of them as women and to think of them as people. Then, support them in the same way that you would support any other colleagues, junior staff and connections.

This includes — whether you are male or female — networking with women and providing formal and informal mentoring. This means that if there’s a job someone is are qualified for, alert her about it. If you have a say in the hiring process or a connection that does, recommend her for it.

Nurture a woman’s career the same way you would a man’s.

And, if you are female, don’t let your genetics create your narrative. Focus on your own actions. Don’t let the gender of one of your peers be a metric for your evaluation of networking opportunities, camaraderie, etc. This may sound obvious, but unfortunately to many, it isn’t and bears repeating.

This may sound trivial, but impressions are formed on both sides in a greeting and perception becomes reality. If you are acting like or treated like a delicate flower in your shake, that sets the tone for what follows.

5. Accept people’s differences.

Finally, let’s remember that we all have different definitions for success. For some people, family accomplishments are more important than professional ones and deserve extra focus. There are also some that judge contributions to a team and seeing projects succeed as more important than individual compensation or title. There are others that frankly don’t want the stress and responsibility that comes with climbing to the CEO position.

All of this is ok, as our individual success should be measured by our individual goals and objectives. There may always be a differential in the types of jobs that men and women take and how they approach them. If this is consistent with what each individual wants for their own measure of success, that’s not anyone else’s business to judge.

For the times when your desires don’t match reality, though, come back to this list to help to support, empower and advance women based on merit, not on social judgments.