What do you think it takes to be a leader?

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of being the opening keynote speaker at the International Women’s Day celebrations in Cambridge.

I was asked to share my story and talk about the ways women lead.  Starting my talk with a photo of myself at three, wearing my kilt, like the good Scottish lassie that I was, I went on to talk my career path and how receiving the ATHENA Award, was a pivotal point in my leadership journey.

As I explained to the audience of over 100 women (and two men), up until that point I had not really seen myself as a leader, more someone who saw a gap in service, would recruit people to help, and we’d roll up our sleeves and get the job done.

The ATHENA award was started by Martha Mayhood Mertz, who when she joined the board of her local chamber of commerce, found herself to be the only woman. Knowing that there were equally qualified women who deserved to be there, she set about to establish a leadership award that would honour women. Thirty five years later, over 7,000 awards have been presented around the world.

As I showed the audience my sculpture, I explained that each element was symbolic. The base is marble, representing the strong foundation of the individual, the bronze body represents the ability to withstand whatever comes your way, the arms reaching out speaks to how a leader reaches out to people and the crystal at the top illustrates how the leader has a clear vision and can see all aspects of a situation. 

The ATHENA Foundation did research to determine what are the key and common characteristics of women who had received the award.  And this is what I shared in my presentation, tying the attribute to a Canadian woman, most of whom I have met and know.

Courageous Acts  - These women are the trailblazers in our midst, who despite the risk involved, choose to take the road less travelled, paving the way for others.  

Fierce Advocacy - Likely we all know someone who has turned a tragedy into triumph by challenging the system and working steadfastly to change whatever had befallen them.   

Learning – Leaders are life long learners.  They see the value and importance of always learning, gaining more information and are never satisfied with the status quo.   They are curious.

Giving back – Often the women would be connected to foundations, charities or causes, giving of their time, resources and expertise. 

Relationships – As women we are very much about building relationships. We work hard to foster, build and maintain relationships – both professionally and personally.

Collaboration – This is one skill set that women often bring to organizations, business and boards – our ability to involve others, to partner up with others and to see the merit and respect diverse perspectives.

Authenticity – Being who you are and comfortable in your own skin, authentic leaders treat everyone with respect.  They are the real deal and build trust within their organizations.

Celebration and joy – In our fast-paced lives, it’s important to pause and celebrate our successes along the way.  When we have gratitude for what we have, we find joy.

I couldn’t resist using the last attribute to showcase Company of Women, because that is what we are all about.  We’re the cheerleaders for women business owners – there to celebrate your wins, and support you over the near-wins.

I ended with a challenge to the women to look at themselves as leaders, and left them with this quote – “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. You are a leader.”

Celebrate our women leaders

It is late.  It has been a busy week and I am exhausted.  Yet here I am, not able to sleep, unable to turn off the brain with ideas bubbling to the surface.   

So I am sitting at the computer trying to capture my thoughts and lessons from International Women’s Week.  Like every year at this time, there are a flurry of events to celebrate the occasion, and it is an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and how far we still need to go. 

I had the pleasure of listening to two amazing women – Barb Stegemann and Fay Chapple.  And what struck me as I reflect on their keynote presentations, is that the trigger to their success was a disastrous life event that propelled them into action, and changed not only their lives, but had far reaching impact on others around the world.

I applaud their optimism and ability to turn a tragedy into a triumph. They inspire you to look beyond yourself, to step out of your comfort zone and aim for the stars.   Fay’s advice, for example, to take risks and to stretch yourself, truly resonated with me.  As she asked, what’s the worst that can happen?   While Barb readily acknowledged that not everyone will like your idea and that’s OK, but that doesn’t mean it is a bad idea and we need to trust our instinct and intuition and move on.

Rather than getting caught up in a pity party or just accepting what had happened as a done deal, both women were pragmatic and sought to find answers; to find some meaning in what had happened. In fact, Barb encouraged us to accept the challenges in our lives as a gift.

With their business savvy, their energy and tenacity, there is no question in my mind that they will achieve greatly and continue to make a difference in the lives of others.  We need more women leaders like them. We need young women to hear their stories, so they see  role models paving the way on their behalf. We need to step up ourselves and become who we are meant to be.  We owe that to ourselves.

I salute Barb and Fay and all the other women in the world who are striving to make it a better place. 

Happy International Women’s Day. 

Gaining Momentum

 

At the beginning of March there will be a flurry of activities to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) which is actually 

March 8.

Like many of these special days, you sort of think we should be celebrating the achievements of women every day, or at least more often.

International Women’s Day actually dates back to the early 1900s when women were fighting to get the vote and better working conditions.

Today it is celebrated in many different ways around the world and in some countries it is actually an official holiday, although in China, for example, just for women only.

In many European countries it is seen as a time for men to honour their mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters and small gifts and flowers are frequently given as a sign of their affection and respect.   

Today young women may feel that the battle is over, and that women are equal, after all we have several female prime ministers and women as CEOs of major corporations, but us older gals, still feel there is much to achieve, particularly for women working in male dominated industries.

What has changed over the years is the focus of the events which have gone from marches and protests, to more celebrations. 

I’ve had the pleasure to work directly on a couple of IWD events this year – one in Guelph on March 5 which is a collaborative event with different women’s groups coming together to put on an evening event.  Their focus is on resilience, with local business owners sharing their strategies for successfully dealing with the time demands of business, work and family. 

Then in Toronto, I ‘ve been working with Enterprise Toronto to celebrate women and technology and we have pulled together a panel of women who have either started a technology business, are teaching code to women or embraced technology and introduced IT strategies to enhance business. 

Being held on March 11 at MaRS, we are not only being blessed with some words of wisdom from CEO, Ilse Treurnicht but will be immersed in an environment that promotes innovation.

The theme this year globally for International Women’s Day is Gaining Momentum and both events fit so well with that theme.  When you think about it, developing resilience and coping strategies, helps you move ahead and the male dominated IT industry is seeing more and more women starting  technology businesses. 

We truly are gaining momentum and in the words from Helen Reddy’s song – I am Woman – we are strong and invincible. 

International Women's Day

This week, together with 580 + women I celebrated International Women’s Day. The keynote speaker at this event was Deborah Ellis, author of numerous books for children, many of which describe the plight of women and children in war-torn countries.

When Deborah wrote her first book, The Breadwinner, it was doing well and she was so moved by what was happening in Afghanistan that she decided to donate the royalties from this book to support women there. Then 9/11 happened and suddenly her book is a best seller and is translated into numerous languages and sold around the world.

Adding two more books to this series, she continued to donate the royalties and to date she has raised over $500,000 as a result. Now she is no Bill Gates. As she stood before the audience in her jeans and sweater, it was clear this was an ordinary individual, showing extraordinary generosity. In addition to writing about the conditions in these countries, she has chosen to take action, to do something about it.

I applaud her generosity. She is clearly someone who has made choices on how she wants to live her life and she is doing so with purpose and intent .