Women's Leadership Conference, Day 2

A sequel is never as good as the original. Fortunately, that was not the case with Day 2 of the Women's Leadership Conference.

We started the morning off with Gail Evans, former Executive Vice President of CNN and author of Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman. Gail spoke with us about creating our own rules and playing by them - golf not required! Women do not have to change anything at all; women need only use a different language about ourselves and others. Leadership is connected to power and power is in words.

After a very engaging and inspiring speech, Gail left us with three thoughts:

Network. Networking is not work. Make it a part of what you do every day with each interaction. Great networking is putting other people together. And it is fun. Consider a woman. Put forward the name(s) of qualified women for opportunities. Don't give a woman a job because she's a woman, give her an opportunity to compete. Be a little quieter about each other. Women, seek harmony with other women and stop talking about each other. Be nice.

In the next session, Stephanie Trotter and Stacy Lindley presented GlaxoSmithKline's Accelerated Leadership Development Program. Stephanie shared how two women, one idea and a cocktail napkin developed into a leadership program that truly creates inspired leaders. Stacy, a truly inspiring leader, shared her personal experiences as an member of the first cohort. Promoted into a position that others felt was a good career move for her, she was miserable. The program (and her coach) provided her with the tools and the strength to make a change. Her heartfelt and honest presentation spoke volumes about the strength of a commitment and a network.

Now, because I scheduled my departing flight without considering the lengthy bus/shuttle time back to the airport, I did not attend the closing session of the day and missed my opportunity to listen to Barry Salzberg, CEO, Deloitte LLP. That was definitely my loss and will not happen again next year - guaranteed.

This was an amazing conference. I provided an overview of each day, but I am not finished yet. I am a ponderer by nature and have a few thoughts bouncing around in my head right now. I'll be working through them over the next few days and will post a follow up soon.  

Note: I attended the Women's Leadership Conference as a guest of The Conference Board. They covered my travel accommodations to New York so that I could bring you my honest insights of some of challenges and opportunties facing women leaders today. 

Women's Leadership Conference, Day 1

The morning started out all wrong. The suit I was wearing just wasn't going to work for me. Was it the pinstripes or the raspberry-ish shirt I let the lady in the store convince me was a good color for me when maybe it really wasn't after all? Huffing, puffing, buyer's remorse and one quick change later, I was off to breakfast and conference registration.

The morning started to pick up. Even before I came across the first-class registration center, I noticed something. The energy of over 120 women meeting, greeting and settling in for what would prove to be amazing day was so apparent, I could feel it. This room full of powerful leaders was local, national and international, crossed many sectors and represented multiple organizational levels. 

The morning got much better. Sue Negry, Program Director at The Conference Board, welcomed us to the program and introduced our first speaker, Laura Liswood, Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders and a Senior Advisor at Goldman Sachs. Laura, the author of The Loudest Duck, "presents new thinking that goes beyond the usual approaches to diversity." Through her stories, she not only provided examples of the subtle advantage of men and subtle disadvantage of women in organizations today but most importantly, discussed what is being done and what can be done to create effective workplaces for all.

Nothing speaks louder in business than the mighty dollar so it was great to hear that companies like Ernst & Young were not cutting back on their diversity and inclusion programs, women's networks were going strong at companies like Microsoft, Best Buy and Katten Muchin Rosenmann LLP and mentoring programs have leadership support and proven successes at AstraZeneca and Qualcomm.

While it was very surprising to me that 40% of the women in attendance never use social networking tools like LinkedIn, it was just as great to hear about the active social communities at State Farm Insurance and ConAgra Foods and to listen to the social media knowledge, experience and voice of reason offered by Amy Vickers, VP, Enterprise Solutions for Razorfish. 

"The past two years have tested even the best of leaders," said Leslie Abi-Karam, Executive Vice President of Mailing Solutions Management, Pitney Bowes, Inc as she wrapped up the day with her six powerful pearls of leadership wisdom: listen, embrace coaching, continue to learn, drive for results, encourage the success of others, and love what you do.

And that was just the first day. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds! 

Note: I am attending the Women's Leadership Conference as a guest of The Conference Board. They covered my travel accommodations to New York so that I could bring you my honest insights of some of challenges and opportunties facing women leaders today.