[Music]
I have a question that I have been
thinking about for many years and that
question is how can we as participants
in this world and as women show up
authentically and be leaders in our own
lives and in the world and I don’t
actually mean the whole great big world
although that would be good I really
mean our day-to-day worlds the answer
I’ve come to comes from my work
as a social worker as somebody who’s
worked for justice in our world and as a
teacher and somebody who studied
leadership and that answer is that we
can find our sacred Center and lead with
head heart and soul I think that I’m
going to start with soul and the idea of
purpose because I think that often the
our purpose and our meanings in life
show up in our childhood and I know it
did for me I grew up as an only child
with a grandmother upstairs and a
grandmother downstairs now my
grandmother downstairs died when I was
about six and so I didn’t have as much
time with her but my grandmother
upstairs lived in the Attic Nana was my
companion I was kind of a fearful child
and my parents were always trying to get
me to be more brave and the little girl
that I went to school with every day
pulled my pigtails and my father would
say
just eat her up never happened I was
also afraid of escalators of all things
even today I take a moment before I get
on one and I remember very vividly the
time that Nana was with me and I stood
there and she took my hand and we got on
that escalator together and we stumbled
a little bit but that was ok as Nana got
older she got forgetful and by then I
was a teenager and so she would walk
into my room and she would say genie I
can’t find my rings and I would say it’s
ok Nana this happened frequently and I
knew all her hiding places I think that
one story from my past has helped me see
that part of my purpose is patience and
empathy and just being present with
people so if we’re going to show up with
head heart and soul how do we do that
let me talk about head of course we know
that our heads are full of highways and
synapses that allow us to make meaning
and gain a lot of knowledge I don’t know
if you know that neuroscientists have
found that the center of women’s brains
is slightly thicker than it is for men
and they think that that allows us to
see the big picture in a small event
they also also think it allows us to
multitask like folding laundry and
texting at the same time so how do we
see the big picture in a small event
an example that I often think of and I
bet many of you have had this experience
is you’re in the presence of a baby and
you hold out your finger and the baby
grabs on to that finger that’s a common
human development response of a baby it
doesn’t matter what country that born
was baby baby was born in it doesn’t
matter what color that baby is or what
religion that baby grew up in or will
grow up in that small event of the
baby’s hand really represents the
oneness of human beings in the world and
can become part of our leadership skill
seeing the big picture in the small
event now I think one of the most
important things about leading with your
head is not just the library you build
to help you learn but it’s what you need
to unlearn think about what you might
need to unlearn to be a good leader and
when you don’t know what to do as a
leader turn to wonder ask questions be
curious questions are always better than
answers head heart we know what our
heart is our heart certainly represents
love and I believe that love belongs in
leadership it’s something that sometimes
is hard to do I know often in leadership
roles I’ve found myself not having as
much love as I wanted in a particular
difficult moment but love is really
it’s an interesting fact that our hearts
have an electromagnetic field 60 times
greater than our brain waves so our
hearts are really important in how we
show up I like to think as a leader an
important part of using your heart is
being what I call in right relationship
that means that every relationship that
you’re in is sacred and that in right
relationship you show up with your whole
self and with love
it requires letting your ego go which
isn’t always easy but remember right
relationship and heart and finally their
soul soul is definitely the hardest to
understand after all we can picture our
heads we know where our hearts are but
we’re salt I started with soul and the
idea of purpose and I think it’s
important as leaders to think about
what’s your story of finding a
grandmother’s rings because that’ll help
you find your purpose part of purpose is
also finding and giving and bringing
meaning to our day-to-day lives and in
leadership roles I have found that if I
can bring meaning to the day-to-day and
to the work I can show up now I don’t
mean the vision statement which is where
we often try and put meaning I mean the
meaning of being together and working
together in the past soul has been
relegated to organized religion
but I think that that’s really a mistake
I think that soul is about the
sacredness of everyday life and that if
we can bring that sacredness to our work
we can show up authentically now people
find soul in different ways for me I
find it in quiet contemplative moments
but maybe for some of you you would find
soul in very active moments I walk every
morning and I’m always feeling very
blessed I walk early and I’m always
feeling very blessed when there’s pink
in the sky and I just try and take in
the pink in the sky because I feel like
somehow that touches me and my soul now
of course as a good professor my head
gets in the way I start thinking let’s
see they’re probably particulates in the
air and that’s what’s causing the pink
and then my empathy gets in the way
because I’m thinking about well maybe
there are fires and my states and I’m
feeling great empathy for people who’ve
experienced that but I try and stay out
of that the other challenge I think for
many of us to stay present in those
moments especially those beautiful
moments in nature is not to pull out our
cell phones and take a picture and post
it because I think then we lose the
sacredness of that moment by the way I
don’t have that problem because I have
an AARP cell phone and I don’t even know
how to take pictures but it’s still hard
for me to keep my head quiet and to be
with my soul because if you can find
your soul in leadership I think you can
head heart soul head what is it that you
need to unlearn how can you work to see
the big picture in the smallest event
heart how are you going to let your
electromagnetic field show up in the
world
how can you cultivate right
relationships in your workplace and as a
leader so where is your sacred witness
to the world how can you find meaning in
the everyday work and what’s your
purpose so I want to give you a little
homework like a good teacher to think
about and what I’d like you to think
about is over the next three to six
months I want you to cultivate and
now I bet that when I’ve asked you that
the first thing you have thought of is a
person because that’s what we think of
when we think of relationships but I
don’t want this to be a person even
though that person may be very important
and need that intention from you I want
you to think of a symbol maybe a song
maybe a hope maybe an idea maybe a place
something that can symbolize for you
your sacred center of head heart and
soul
now it wouldn’t be fair of me to give
you homework without giving that
homework to myself and I thought about
that I thought well now what would I
pick and I realized that I would pick
pansies why pansies because as a child
we had pansies under a shade tree in the
backyard and I think when I felt afraid
or vulnerable some for some reason I
went and I just sat with those pansies
and you know when they have those cute
little faces and I would just sit there
and I realized that my story of pansies
has showed up in my journals through all
these years especially in my most
vulnerable moments so you be thinking
about your symbol that you can place in
your head and your heart and your soul
over the next six months that will
represent your sacred Center I think if
you can do this you can show up in the
world authentically I think you can
bring love and purpose to your work and
I think that together we can continue to
make a difference in the lives that we
touch thank you [Applause]
I have a question that I have been
thinking about for many years and that
question is how can we as participants
in this world and as women show up
authentically and be leaders in our own
lives and in the world and I don’t
actually mean the whole great big world
although that would be good I really
mean our day-to-day worlds the answer
I’ve come to comes from my work
as a social worker as somebody who’s
worked for justice in our world and as a
teacher and somebody who studied
leadership and that answer is that we
can find our sacred Center and lead with
head heart and soul I think that I’m
going to start with soul and the idea of
purpose because I think that often the
our purpose and our meanings in life
show up in our childhood and I know it
did for me I grew up as an only child
with a grandmother upstairs and a
grandmother downstairs now my
grandmother downstairs died when I was
about six and so I didn’t have as much
time with her but my grandmother
upstairs lived in the Attic Nana was my
companion I was kind of a fearful child
and my parents were always trying to get
me to be more brave and the little girl
that I went to school with every day
pulled my pigtails and my father would
say
just eat her up never happened I was
also afraid of escalators of all things
even today I take a moment before I get
on one and I remember very vividly the
time that Nana was with me and I stood
there and she took my hand and we got on
that escalator together and we stumbled
a little bit but that was ok as Nana got
older she got forgetful and by then I
was a teenager and so she would walk
into my room and she would say genie I
can’t find my rings and I would say it’s
ok Nana this happened frequently and I
knew all her hiding places I think that
one story from my past has helped me see
that part of my purpose is patience and
empathy and just being present with
people so if we’re going to show up with
head heart and soul how do we do that
let me talk about head of course we know
that our heads are full of highways and
synapses that allow us to make meaning
and gain a lot of knowledge I don’t know
if you know that neuroscientists have
found that the center of women’s brains
is slightly thicker than it is for men
and they think that that allows us to
see the big picture in a small event
they also also think it allows us to
multitask like folding laundry and
texting at the same time so how do we
see the big picture in a small event
an example that I often think of and I
bet many of you have had this experience
is you’re in the presence of a baby and
you hold out your finger and the baby
grabs on to that finger that’s a common
human development response of a baby it
doesn’t matter what country that born
was baby baby was born in it doesn’t
matter what color that baby is or what
religion that baby grew up in or will
grow up in that small event of the
baby’s hand really represents the
oneness of human beings in the world and
can become part of our leadership skill
seeing the big picture in the small
event now I think one of the most
important things about leading with your
head is not just the library you build
to help you learn but it’s what you need
to unlearn think about what you might
need to unlearn to be a good leader and
when you don’t know what to do as a
leader turn to wonder ask questions be
curious questions are always better than
answers head heart we know what our
heart is our heart certainly represents
love and I believe that love belongs in
leadership it’s something that sometimes
is hard to do I know often in leadership
roles I’ve found myself not having as
much love as I wanted in a particular
difficult moment but love is really
it’s an interesting fact that our hearts
have an electromagnetic field 60 times
greater than our brain waves so our
hearts are really important in how we
show up I like to think as a leader an
important part of using your heart is
being what I call in right relationship
that means that every relationship that
you’re in is sacred and that in right
relationship you show up with your whole
self and with love
it requires letting your ego go which
isn’t always easy but remember right
relationship and heart and finally their
soul soul is definitely the hardest to
understand after all we can picture our
heads we know where our hearts are but
we’re salt I started with soul and the
idea of purpose and I think it’s
important as leaders to think about
what’s your story of finding a
grandmother’s rings because that’ll help
you find your purpose part of purpose is
also finding and giving and bringing
meaning to our day-to-day lives and in
leadership roles I have found that if I
can bring meaning to the day-to-day and
to the work I can show up now I don’t
mean the vision statement which is where
we often try and put meaning I mean the
meaning of being together and working
together in the past soul has been
relegated to organized religion
but I think that that’s really a mistake
I think that soul is about the
sacredness of everyday life and that if
we can bring that sacredness to our work
we can show up authentically now people
find soul in different ways for me I
find it in quiet contemplative moments
but maybe for some of you you would find
soul in very active moments I walk every
morning and I’m always feeling very
blessed I walk early and I’m always
feeling very blessed when there’s pink
in the sky and I just try and take in
the pink in the sky because I feel like
somehow that touches me and my soul now
of course as a good professor my head
gets in the way I start thinking let’s
see they’re probably particulates in the
air and that’s what’s causing the pink
and then my empathy gets in the way
because I’m thinking about well maybe
there are fires and my states and I’m
feeling great empathy for people who’ve
experienced that but I try and stay out
of that the other challenge I think for
many of us to stay present in those
moments especially those beautiful
moments in nature is not to pull out our
cell phones and take a picture and post
it because I think then we lose the
sacredness of that moment by the way I
don’t have that problem because I have
an AARP cell phone and I don’t even know
how to take pictures but it’s still hard
for me to keep my head quiet and to be
with my soul because if you can find
your soul in leadership I think you can
head heart soul head what is it that you
need to unlearn how can you work to see
the big picture in the smallest event
heart how are you going to let your
electromagnetic field show up in the
world
how can you cultivate right
relationships in your workplace and as a
leader so where is your sacred witness
to the world how can you find meaning in
the everyday work and what’s your
purpose so I want to give you a little
homework like a good teacher to think
about and what I’d like you to think
about is over the next three to six
months I want you to cultivate and
now I bet that when I’ve asked you that
the first thing you have thought of is a
person because that’s what we think of
when we think of relationships but I
don’t want this to be a person even
though that person may be very important
and need that intention from you I want
you to think of a symbol maybe a song
maybe a hope maybe an idea maybe a place
something that can symbolize for you
your sacred center of head heart and
soul
now it wouldn’t be fair of me to give
you homework without giving that
homework to myself and I thought about
that I thought well now what would I
pick and I realized that I would pick
pansies why pansies because as a child
we had pansies under a shade tree in the
backyard and I think when I felt afraid
or vulnerable some for some reason I
went and I just sat with those pansies
and you know when they have those cute
little faces and I would just sit there
and I realized that my story of pansies
has showed up in my journals through all
these years especially in my most
vulnerable moments so you be thinking
about your symbol that you can place in
your head and your heart and your soul
over the next six months that will
represent your sacred Center I think if
you can do this you can show up in the
world authentically I think you can
bring love and purpose to your work and
I think that together we can continue to
make a difference in the lives that we
touch thank you [Applause]
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