does anybody here wonder why certain
women make it to leadership positions
while others languish or don’t quite
break through that glass ceiling I get
I’ve given it a lot of thought I’ve been
very fortunate I’ve been able to lead
some business organizations and some
non-for-profits over the last 25 years
and I wouldn’t say that I didn’t have a
pretty good head start
I’m youngest of nine kids I have six
brutally strong sisters and I ended up
marrying a man who has a very strong mom
and two very very strong sisters and
went on to have three daughters of my
own that are pretty strong weld as well
so I live in an area in my home where
I’ve always felt that women could
achieve anything so I had that head
start what I found when I went into the
workplace was that when I reflected
there’s five characteristics that I
noticed from all the women that I knew
that seemed to break through and make it
to the top so I want to share some of
those with you
the first was and it’s kind of easy for
us ladies good communication I think
this comes pretty naturally to us I know
my husband will say that you know I seem
to do that very well I can sit for hours
talking and listening to my girlfriends
but what I found was that a lot of my
friends who had a tough time in the
workplace didn’t necessarily know how to
take that awesome skill they had at
communication and apply some of the
techniques in the workplace they’ve
complained often that they be boxed out
from some of the men who you know they’d
be the only women as they rose through
management and they’d be sitting at the
conference table and the guys yeah all
be at one end talking about the game
they had just watched the night before
or golf and I said I’ve been there
I don’t like golf I’ve tried I’ve tried
to play I just I don’t understand it it
takes a lot of time takes a lot of
patience which I don’t have so one time
I was sitting at the edge of the
conference table being boxed out by the
crew who’d I’ll play golf that weekend
and I finally asked my boss that the
lead in the room I said you know what is
it that you really like about golf
and his eyes lit up me said I just love
being out nature I love really being in
the moment out in nature I mean that’s
what I really enjoy and I said you know
what I feel the same way when I go out
in garden I bring my dog out there I’m
all in the moment I’m in nature and so
we had something that we shared we
bridged and found common ground and I’ve
often you know with with people that
I’ve worked with women I work with I
always tell them don’t get boxed out
just try to find commonality common
ground and then you usually find an
advocate because I can tell you that
from that on any gardening conversation
that happened in the workplace oh you
got to talk to Christy she’s the expert
on this and you know I was no gardening
expert for sure but then he at least
knew who I was he knew what I was doing
and how I spent my weekends for the most
part the other skill that I think are
characteristic that I think women really
need to work on is self-confidence this
is something that’s holding back a lot
of women from getting what they deserve
or what they what they really are
qualified to do in the workplace my
daughter came to me about six months ago
and she was absolutely galled she had
been asked to put in to be elected for a
club in college and she was really you
know having a hard time considering it
thinking she didn’t have all the skills
that she needed for this position she
was calling contemplating did we think
that she was skilled enough to do this
position and of course her father and I
said yes yes go for it and then she
called me I I can’t believe it there are
two guys who are new to the club have
only been in two months and they’ve
already thrown their hat in the ring
they had the confidence to put their hat
in the ring for the position that she
who had been doing it you know in the
club for two years didn’t feel that she
was maybe necessarily qualified for and
I think that happens a lot how many
women how many men and women in here
have known men who were promoted
mediocre men promoted over brilliant
women anybody yeah so there’s a few we
need to be better at fighting for
yourself I can’t tell you how excited I
was when Milan came out I was really
disappointed with Disney and us I had
three daughters I was like oh you know
waiting for the Prince to come seriously
you know this is
ah you know Milan I love her story
you know she fights and the more she
fights the stronger she comes she
becomes she becomes stronger and
stronger with every battle and I think
what we have to learn as women and men
who mentor women is to let our daughters
the woman we work with win some battles
on their own one of the biggest problems
I’ve had with male co-workers is they
want to sweep in and save the day oh I
can do that for them I’m a gentleman I’m
doing a swim a gentleman like no you’re
kind of stealing their thunder so we
have to as people who are mentoring
others let them win let them have that
opportunity to win because then they’re
gonna be stronger and they’re gonna have
more confidence and they’re gonna get
those opportunities that they should
fight for the other area the other
characteristic that most women really
need to engage is persistence venture
capital funding there’s a statistic that
only I think it’s 4 percent of women
gets venture money
my daughter thought it’s the men they’re
not giving these women money no she
interviewed a bunch of venture capital
firms the woman’s women weren’t asking
for it those who did weren’t persistent
about going back and asking and asking
again and asking again so their
interpretation was they didn’t the women
didn’t believe in their ideas as much as
the men did they didn’t believe in it so
in not pushing and persevering they
showed that they had a lack of you know
a lack of support for their own product
this is a great quote from Rosa Parks I
had no idea that history was being made
I was just tired of giving up and I
think as women we owe it to the woman
who came before us who fought and
persevered under much harsher conditions
that we have we owe it to them Rosa
Parks Amelia Earhart you know you think
of all the women in history 3 Madame
Curie who really fought to be heard and
we owe it to them to persevere and
follow our ideas also finding another
way in
I run into this with some with some of
the women I’ve worked with is that they
get frustrated when the door is closed
and I once worked with a male buyer who
there was no way he was gonna do
business with me
he had his cronies they took him to
concerts they play golf and he was he
didn’t want anything to do with me so I
had to figure out how I was going to get
this product bought by this company
because it was the biggest opportunity
for our product so we strategized
and we ended up going to all their other
locations and all the other managers
because they couldn’t all be like him so
it took six months but we got we ended
up getting that business because they
rose up and demanded that we be heard
and that we they do business with us so
sometimes ladies it’s not it’s
persistence but it’s sometimes figuring
out other routes to get what you want
resiliency so I’m gonna share a story
with you I had time in my life when I
had to be very resilient I was 27 years
old and I had worked really hard for a
company I loved my job I had been
brought in to turn around a sales
division we had done really well I was
pulled into other aspects of the company
to do help them do good work and I was
sitting at a conference table all
excited because I had been told that I
was gonna be made vice president of
sales when the CEO said no woman will
ever be on my executive team so Wow is
1993 I thought you know that we were
past this I could have sued but then I’m
that girl who sues and I probably would
get no job in the industry I could have
stepped back and you know continued to
do all the work and not have the title I
thought I can’t this has to be a setback
that helps me jump forward so I had you
know because I had done a good job I had
some headhunters calling and I took a
job in a much bigger market my husband I
had just built a beautiful house here he
loved his job so I he stayed here I
moved to the East Coast and for two
years worked really hard at turning
around another company in to East Coast
markets and proved that not only could I
do it I could do it in bigger markets
and I can tell you that company did
wonder didn’t want women in the
executive office I love this quote by
Elizabeth Edwards she stood in the storm
and when the wind did not blow her away
she adjusted her sails as women were
responsible for a lot and his culture is
changing there’s still some things that
are staying the same my mother always
said she was so happy to have seven
daughters because a son is a son till he
takes a wife a daughter’s a daughter the
rest of your life so you know what that
means
we’re responsible for taking still
considered responsible for taking care
of our parents as well as the lion’s
share of responsibility with the kids so
and there’s other things that can derail
us along the way and it’s how we decide
to rebound how we decide to make things
work for us I have to say one of the
most encouraging facts is women are
starting businesses at twice the rate
that they have in the last ten years
it’s been amazing how many women are
starting new businesses and they’re
starting businesses and they’re running
them the way they want to work so there
is some good news and this friend the
other thing that my final five that I
think is one of the most important
things and this is that little piece
that takes you from hitting that glass
ceiling to busting through is
fearlessness it is amazing how many
women give up and they don’t or they
don’t believe in themselves just to push
through and I think all of us who have
pushed need to push the others we know
through to their ideas and and
accomplishments the question isn’t it
who is going to let me it’s who’s going
to stop me Ian ran said there are there
are so many ideas so many good ideas
that don’t get heard because women are
afraid to speak up and it’s it’s our
responsibility to help these women speak
up and it’s our in these are character
traits that anybody can have and it just
takes pushing through and doing a little
bit more to make a difference the five
traits I’m going to go over great
communicators self-confident persistent
and fearless all of us have these
qualities within us to be suited to be
successful just engaging them all and
then to help other people be successful
helping them engage them and encouraging
them to have these I work really closely
with a lot of female counterparts
friends that I’ve had over the years but
my most important reminder every day is
these three because it’s important that
I show them that it’s possible so I have
to do I have to walk the talk and I have
to walk in and I walk the talk every day
so that they know that they can do
whatever it is they put their heart you
know sets their sights on and I plan you
know I’ve already started to see it but
I plan to help you know them and their
their children hopefully well into the
future so [Applause]
women make it to leadership positions
while others languish or don’t quite
break through that glass ceiling I get
I’ve given it a lot of thought I’ve been
very fortunate I’ve been able to lead
some business organizations and some
non-for-profits over the last 25 years
and I wouldn’t say that I didn’t have a
pretty good head start
I’m youngest of nine kids I have six
brutally strong sisters and I ended up
marrying a man who has a very strong mom
and two very very strong sisters and
went on to have three daughters of my
own that are pretty strong weld as well
so I live in an area in my home where
I’ve always felt that women could
achieve anything so I had that head
start what I found when I went into the
workplace was that when I reflected
there’s five characteristics that I
noticed from all the women that I knew
that seemed to break through and make it
to the top so I want to share some of
those with you
the first was and it’s kind of easy for
us ladies good communication I think
this comes pretty naturally to us I know
my husband will say that you know I seem
to do that very well I can sit for hours
talking and listening to my girlfriends
but what I found was that a lot of my
friends who had a tough time in the
workplace didn’t necessarily know how to
take that awesome skill they had at
communication and apply some of the
techniques in the workplace they’ve
complained often that they be boxed out
from some of the men who you know they’d
be the only women as they rose through
management and they’d be sitting at the
conference table and the guys yeah all
be at one end talking about the game
they had just watched the night before
or golf and I said I’ve been there
I don’t like golf I’ve tried I’ve tried
to play I just I don’t understand it it
takes a lot of time takes a lot of
patience which I don’t have so one time
I was sitting at the edge of the
conference table being boxed out by the
crew who’d I’ll play golf that weekend
and I finally asked my boss that the
lead in the room I said you know what is
it that you really like about golf
and his eyes lit up me said I just love
being out nature I love really being in
the moment out in nature I mean that’s
what I really enjoy and I said you know
what I feel the same way when I go out
in garden I bring my dog out there I’m
all in the moment I’m in nature and so
we had something that we shared we
bridged and found common ground and I’ve
often you know with with people that
I’ve worked with women I work with I
always tell them don’t get boxed out
just try to find commonality common
ground and then you usually find an
advocate because I can tell you that
from that on any gardening conversation
that happened in the workplace oh you
got to talk to Christy she’s the expert
on this and you know I was no gardening
expert for sure but then he at least
knew who I was he knew what I was doing
and how I spent my weekends for the most
part the other skill that I think are
characteristic that I think women really
need to work on is self-confidence this
is something that’s holding back a lot
of women from getting what they deserve
or what they what they really are
qualified to do in the workplace my
daughter came to me about six months ago
and she was absolutely galled she had
been asked to put in to be elected for a
club in college and she was really you
know having a hard time considering it
thinking she didn’t have all the skills
that she needed for this position she
was calling contemplating did we think
that she was skilled enough to do this
position and of course her father and I
said yes yes go for it and then she
called me I I can’t believe it there are
two guys who are new to the club have
only been in two months and they’ve
already thrown their hat in the ring
they had the confidence to put their hat
in the ring for the position that she
who had been doing it you know in the
club for two years didn’t feel that she
was maybe necessarily qualified for and
I think that happens a lot how many
women how many men and women in here
have known men who were promoted
mediocre men promoted over brilliant
women anybody yeah so there’s a few we
need to be better at fighting for
yourself I can’t tell you how excited I
was when Milan came out I was really
disappointed with Disney and us I had
three daughters I was like oh you know
waiting for the Prince to come seriously
you know this is
ah you know Milan I love her story
you know she fights and the more she
fights the stronger she comes she
becomes she becomes stronger and
stronger with every battle and I think
what we have to learn as women and men
who mentor women is to let our daughters
the woman we work with win some battles
on their own one of the biggest problems
I’ve had with male co-workers is they
want to sweep in and save the day oh I
can do that for them I’m a gentleman I’m
doing a swim a gentleman like no you’re
kind of stealing their thunder so we
have to as people who are mentoring
others let them win let them have that
opportunity to win because then they’re
gonna be stronger and they’re gonna have
more confidence and they’re gonna get
those opportunities that they should
fight for the other area the other
characteristic that most women really
need to engage is persistence venture
capital funding there’s a statistic that
only I think it’s 4 percent of women
gets venture money
my daughter thought it’s the men they’re
not giving these women money no she
interviewed a bunch of venture capital
firms the woman’s women weren’t asking
for it those who did weren’t persistent
about going back and asking and asking
again and asking again so their
interpretation was they didn’t the women
didn’t believe in their ideas as much as
the men did they didn’t believe in it so
in not pushing and persevering they
showed that they had a lack of you know
a lack of support for their own product
this is a great quote from Rosa Parks I
had no idea that history was being made
I was just tired of giving up and I
think as women we owe it to the woman
who came before us who fought and
persevered under much harsher conditions
that we have we owe it to them Rosa
Parks Amelia Earhart you know you think
of all the women in history 3 Madame
Curie who really fought to be heard and
we owe it to them to persevere and
follow our ideas also finding another
way in
I run into this with some with some of
the women I’ve worked with is that they
get frustrated when the door is closed
and I once worked with a male buyer who
there was no way he was gonna do
business with me
he had his cronies they took him to
concerts they play golf and he was he
didn’t want anything to do with me so I
had to figure out how I was going to get
this product bought by this company
because it was the biggest opportunity
for our product so we strategized
and we ended up going to all their other
locations and all the other managers
because they couldn’t all be like him so
it took six months but we got we ended
up getting that business because they
rose up and demanded that we be heard
and that we they do business with us so
sometimes ladies it’s not it’s
persistence but it’s sometimes figuring
out other routes to get what you want
resiliency so I’m gonna share a story
with you I had time in my life when I
had to be very resilient I was 27 years
old and I had worked really hard for a
company I loved my job I had been
brought in to turn around a sales
division we had done really well I was
pulled into other aspects of the company
to do help them do good work and I was
sitting at a conference table all
excited because I had been told that I
was gonna be made vice president of
sales when the CEO said no woman will
ever be on my executive team so Wow is
1993 I thought you know that we were
past this I could have sued but then I’m
that girl who sues and I probably would
get no job in the industry I could have
stepped back and you know continued to
do all the work and not have the title I
thought I can’t this has to be a setback
that helps me jump forward so I had you
know because I had done a good job I had
some headhunters calling and I took a
job in a much bigger market my husband I
had just built a beautiful house here he
loved his job so I he stayed here I
moved to the East Coast and for two
years worked really hard at turning
around another company in to East Coast
markets and proved that not only could I
do it I could do it in bigger markets
and I can tell you that company did
wonder didn’t want women in the
executive office I love this quote by
Elizabeth Edwards she stood in the storm
and when the wind did not blow her away
she adjusted her sails as women were
responsible for a lot and his culture is
changing there’s still some things that
are staying the same my mother always
said she was so happy to have seven
daughters because a son is a son till he
takes a wife a daughter’s a daughter the
rest of your life so you know what that
means
we’re responsible for taking still
considered responsible for taking care
of our parents as well as the lion’s
share of responsibility with the kids so
and there’s other things that can derail
us along the way and it’s how we decide
to rebound how we decide to make things
work for us I have to say one of the
most encouraging facts is women are
starting businesses at twice the rate
that they have in the last ten years
it’s been amazing how many women are
starting new businesses and they’re
starting businesses and they’re running
them the way they want to work so there
is some good news and this friend the
other thing that my final five that I
think is one of the most important
things and this is that little piece
that takes you from hitting that glass
ceiling to busting through is
fearlessness it is amazing how many
women give up and they don’t or they
don’t believe in themselves just to push
through and I think all of us who have
pushed need to push the others we know
through to their ideas and and
accomplishments the question isn’t it
who is going to let me it’s who’s going
to stop me Ian ran said there are there
are so many ideas so many good ideas
that don’t get heard because women are
afraid to speak up and it’s it’s our
responsibility to help these women speak
up and it’s our in these are character
traits that anybody can have and it just
takes pushing through and doing a little
bit more to make a difference the five
traits I’m going to go over great
communicators self-confident persistent
and fearless all of us have these
qualities within us to be suited to be
successful just engaging them all and
then to help other people be successful
helping them engage them and encouraging
them to have these I work really closely
with a lot of female counterparts
friends that I’ve had over the years but
my most important reminder every day is
these three because it’s important that
I show them that it’s possible so I have
to do I have to walk the talk and I have
to walk in and I walk the talk every day
so that they know that they can do
whatever it is they put their heart you
know sets their sights on and I plan you
know I’ve already started to see it but
I plan to help you know them and their
their children hopefully well into the
future so [Applause]
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