Go Lead Idaho

Motivating women to lead and demonstrating why it matters

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Women & Leadership: Deanna Oppenheimer

“You just don’t get to be in venues and places with these people. Take this time as a privilege and an honor and a personal call to action to take something away from it.”

A good reminder from Deanna Oppenheimer as she took the stage for her talk  ‘Leading on the Diagonal in a Vertically Challenged World.’

Deanna’s story is one that began in Parma, Idaho and led to her being a global financial powerhouse.

Recognized globally as one of the decade’s most influential leaders in
financial services, Deanna Oppenheimer is an acclaimed turnaround
strategist known for her ability to transform entrenched institutions
into customer-centric champions.

Hired by Barclays in 2005 to renovate its very British, 350-year old
retail bank from the inside out, Deanna joined the company at a time
most employees were not expecting or ready for that. Six years later,
the once staid organization had blossomed into a Retail Banking
powerhouse, and Deanna was ranked as one of the two most powerful
women in banking.

On Business Success 

One of the most important things you will get out of any type of business career is a mentor – being one or being mentored. Because it is a two way street. But another important aspect is the move from mentorship to sponsorship.

The women reason fall out of big corporate jobs, is not because they can’t get their start, it is not to do so much with their quality of work. It is all the other stuff of life that goes on. And their lack of a sponsor relationship in their career.

What Deanna identified as key to career success:

  • A curiosity to love solving problems
  • A curiosity to love diverse people
  • A curiosity to add more skillsets that keep you relevant and current

And if you have all of those attributes it’s exciting, and people want to give you opportunities and follow you for solutions.

On Leadership

There is now a real shift in society that is demanding a new leadership style and change. A tipping point has arrived.

There is a radical shift of control from the few elite at the top to the masses.

There is a vacuum of leadership that requires new skills and motivations.

Those we are leading are demanding it. They are demanding greater accountability. And they have more power than ever at their fingertips.

Success comes when those that are lead feel empowered, inspired and indeed…led. It’s not about the leaders, it is about those we lead.

Companies are experiencing a shift from an internal controlling culture to one of engagement.

On Diagonal Leadership

Traditionally companies organize themselves vertically. But now, the diagonal has come into effect. You have to have real information sharing and transparency. In the old world, information hoarded is power. In the new world, information shared is power. Hierarchy is useful and necessary, but informal networks lead to most strategic change

(Here is a presentation Deanna gave recently explaining the diagonal leadership approach.)

She left the audience with some pointed and practical thoughts on what will make a difference in a woman’s career:

  • Be authentic and demonstrate real expertise: don’t get there on the back of a quota, don’t undersell what you can deliver
  • Don’t try to out-man a man: enjoy your femininity
  • Have a set of icebreaker topics that appeal to a diverse group of business people
  • Document your results and in a factual way, SHARE THEM. Don’t wait for someone to recognize your performance, inform them of it
  • Your family is your backbone. But approach it as a team and share in responsibilities
  • Don’t undershoot your career aspirations.

And her parting words of inspiration…

Go forth and be a leader of one.

Fire your engine, stay on the tracks and keep moving forward.

Best way to predict the future is for you to be the one to create it.

 

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Women & Leadership: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

An event attendee tweeted: Justice O’Connor leaving the stage. Quick, cue rocking guitar riff!

Source: The Arbiter

She couldn’t have been more on point. In her second time on the stage at the Women & Leadership event Justice Sandra Day O’Connor captivated the audience like a rockstar sharing her feisty, pointed commentary and passion.

And giving interviewer Dr David Adler of the Andrus Center a run for his money.

During her speech, Justice O’Connor briefly touched on her time both witnessing history and being a part of it on the bench.

But the bulk of her address focused on her current passion – a commitment to improving the access to and awareness of civic education in our country.

Calling it the most challenging work and most rewarding of her lifetime in public service – Justice O’Connor helped launch http://www.icivics.org in 2009, to prepare young Americans to become knowledgeable, engaged 21st century citizens by creating free and innovative educational materials

(Profiles of Next Generation Learning: iCivics from NextGenLC (NGLC) on Vimeo.)

As she so aptly noted, the skills and knowledge of citizenship are not handed down through the gene pool – civid education must be perpetual. And if we believe what Eleanor Roosevelt said, that ‘the true purpose of education is good citizenship,’ then civics can no longer be an afterthought in our public schools.

Justice O’Connor eloquently stated,

Not everyone is going to grow up to be Bill Gates or Sheryl Sandberg or Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, but everyone is going to grow up to be a citizen.

For our democracy to endure, we have to ensure are citizens are well informed.

Democracy is a sustained and perpetual conversation about how best to govern.

It is not a spectator sport. We don’t have a government by the majority, we have a government by those who get involved and participate.

We have an moral imperative to lead. To continue our history of trailblazing. And to help secure the vibrancy of our democracy by ensuring strong civic education and an informed engaged citizenry.

Because as she so aptly noted, there is no charge or cost to be a leader, just hard work.

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Women & Leadership: Greatest Failures & Greatest Opportunities

An impressive lineup of women business leaders on this panel, tackling the topic of ‘Surviving My Biggest Mistake, Seizing my Greatest Opportunity’, featuring:

Conversation starts with asking for reaction to the Marissa Mayer’s controversial Hail to the Chief profile in Vogue:

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Bonnie McElveen-Hunter: It was probably a bad choice, but it doesn’t mean she is any less smart, any less capable, any less of a leader.

Teresa Carlson: First impressions matter, and because there are so few women CEOs they matter even more.

Wendi Strong: She is standing for our community of women, representing us. It is important she understand she is making a statement about not only her personal situation – but an enormous responsibility for the way women CEOs are seen.

The panel then transitioned into a discussion about their ‘greatest failures’ but reframed as learning moments and opportunities

Wendi Strong

When in charge, take charge. But….

Wendi shared a story where she took that advice from her supervisor to heart, perhaps too much. She forgot that major decisions are not about her, but about the people that are going to help her get the important job done at the end of the day. She admitted it was poor leadership on her part to not realize that the project required collective effort and collaborative insights. And that seeking inputs and insights and consensus up front made getting alignment possible

The lesson learned was not to emulate the leadership style of the men she was surrounded by, but to rely on her own individual qualities and strengths in the workplace and as her own leader.

We must be authentic, but being authentic requires a degree of vulnerability. And we as women are more comfortable being vulnerable to be authentic and build trust.

The number one job of leaders is to build more leaders. Your most important job is to lift up those working with you.

We shouldn’t just have women. We shouldn’t just have men. We need the complementary benefits of both.

Tami Longaberger

If people think you are the strong one and you have an in with those making the decision, they have you take on their problems and tough issues. So don’t do for anyone else what they can do for themselves. You are not doing them a favor by doing their work for them

You make hundreds of decisions and half of them are mistakes, but half of them aren’t

Teresa Carlson

If you always do what you always did then you always get what you always got

Every woman out there is worth what they get. Look at your career path and ask for what you think you are worth. We worry about everyone around us. Focus on and negotiate for yourself.

Bonnie McElveen-Hunter

As women, we we don’t have an ego – we have a mission. And at the core of that is being authentic. It is more powerful than you may realize.

The most important words for leaders to say… What do you think?

To be successful in business – hire people smarter than you, give them the resources they need, be their cheerleader and then get out of the way.

As women, some of our biggest strengths are communication and collaboration. Use those skills to power  your leadership.

Just stop being afraid of failure. Because failing for most of us forces us to do something we should have done but wouldn’t have if it hadn’t have been forced upon us.

Fear is fabulous. It makes us grow. When you don’t feel it, I’m worried about you. You should never get too comfortable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Women & Leadership: Bonnie McElveen-Hunter

Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chairman of the American Red Cross

The kickoff speaker to the conference is Bonnie McElveen-Hunter – a former U.S. Ambassador to Finland, business owner and appointed Chairman of the American Red Cross, the first woman selected in the organization’s 126-year history.  (More on Bonnie)

While McElveen-Hunter began by reflecting on the pearls of wisdom from her mother that still ground her today…

  • Mediocrity is the greatest sin
  • Work is the greatest privilege
  • Failure is a comma, not a period
  • Can’t is a word that doesn’t exist

…she quickly transitioned into a core belief that drives her daily, the belief that business and commerce are the most important forces in the world today.

1.2 billion jobs in the world. 3 billion are looking. That’s a 1.8 billion gap

McElveen-Hunter emphasized, “I believe that the most important philanthropy – the most critical philanthropists – are those who create dignity and purpose, those who create innovation and opportunities.” In other words… JOBS

She reiterated why the audience should care, stating that poverty rests on the shoulders of women and children. And if we aren’t going to help each other – who is?

“All of our success only matters when we share – and when we lift while we climb.”  

McElveen-Hunter did eloquently tackle what she called the elephant in the room:
The connections between and among women are the most feared, problematic and most potentially transformative force on the planet. But women are not always sisters. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. If women will ever totally take hands and stop holding each other to a higher standard than we hold men, we can transform this world and make it an incredibly better place.
She left the audience with this thought:
“Most of us in this room will not be called to do great things, but all of us will be called to do small things with great love.”

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Transforming America: Women & Leadership Conference

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Go Lead Idaho is proud to be a community sponsor of the Andrus Center’s Transforming America: Women and Leadership in the 21st Century event.

The conference is focused on the accomplishments of women leaders from business, government, science, the media and other fields and seeks to showcase their unique perspectives on women in leadership positions.

The conference will investigate the work that remains to create what Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has called the opportunity for all women “to earn respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration based on ability.”

Justice O’Connor spoke at a kickoff reception on Wednesday night, and we couldn’t help but think back on several of her amazing words of wisdom during her time on the bench…

We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone… and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something.

I think the important thing about my appointment is not that I will decide cases as a woman, but that I am a woman who will get to decide cases.

Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom

And if you need to get chills to kickoff your conference experience, take a moment to listen to President Reagan making history by the appointment of Justice O’Connor

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