How Malala Finds—and Keeps Finding—Her Courage
Malala Yousafzai took on the Taliban at the tender age of 10. At 15, she survived an assassination attempt. At 16, she became the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. You might think nothing scares her. Read More
What Megan Rapinoe Wants You to Know in 2020
“In the future,” Andy Warhol famously said, “everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” After Megan Rapinoe’s year, one might be inclined to update that. Read More
To Be a Great Boss, Focus on These Three Qualities
If you’ve ever been told you won’t be able to get ahead if you’re too nice, Fran Hauser, author of The Myth of the Nice Girl, has news for you.
You don’t have to choose between kindness and strength. You only have to focus on how you communicate—which is more important today than ever. Read More
Four Ways to Candidly Improve Your Work Relationships
It can’t be fun to be pulled aside by Sheryl Sandberg, after giving what you think was a successful presentation to Google’s Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt, and be told that when you say “um” every third word, it makes you sound ignorant and stupid and you really should see a speech coach.
But Kim Scott, author of New York Times best-selling book, Radical Candor, was immensely grateful for the experience—because, after seeing that speech coach, she discovered she really did say “um” every third word; and after a career of giving talks, she felt like Sandberg was the first person to point out that she had a giant hunk of spinach between her teeth. Read More
The Q&A – on Leadership and Entrepreneurship
With JPMorgan Chase’s Samantha (Sam) Saperstein
With JPMorgan Chase’s Samantha (Sam) Saperstein“Effective leadership isn’t about standing on a pedestal and barking orders to people around you. It’s often about getting in the trenches and working alongside your team members.”
Q: What was your dream job as a kid and why?
I wanted to be a writer, as I loved writing stories on an old typewriter as a child and always enjoyed reading. That led to my earliest jobs as a journalist in college and upon graduation. In addition to writing, being a journalist allowed me to continue to learn about different topics, like technology and the economy. It’s a great profession for people who are curious.
Q: What is one of the most surprising things you have learned about effective leadership—and how did you learn it? Read More
Proven Ways to Pioneer Equity and Diversity
You might want to take a deep breath before you take this in:
- At the rate we’re going, it will take another 202 years for women to be paid as much as men, according to the World Economic Forum.
- The percent of women CEOs on the Fortune 500 list is still less than 7 percent—despite the fact that women represent 47 percent of the workforce.
- And, it’s all worse for women of color (despite last month’s report that the majority of Americans now entering the work force are people of color, primarily women).
Now for the good news! Research is revealing what works—and what doesn’t—in efforts to give all women a fair shot at career advancement; and Lori Nishiura Mackenzie of Stanford University Clayman Institute for Gender Research knows what they are. Read More
Stop Underestimating Yourself
Before being interviewed for the position of president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards thought she was unqualified and should just skip it. Uncertain what to do, she called her mom, the late former Governor of Texas, Ann Richards. Never one to mince her words, the elder Richards said simply: “Get it together.” Read More
Don’t Play the Weather Girl if You Want to Be the VP
A woman gets into an elevator. She’s a hard-working executive who comes to the office early every day. One day, the CEO gets into the elevator with her. She freezes, afraid to talk and afraid not to talk. So, she chats about the weather.
Another day, she’s riding the elevator when the CEO steps in again. But this time, a male colleague also gets in, shakes the CEO’s hand, introduces himself and says: “We just had a great meeting with a new client we were pitching the other day. And, I think we’re going to get the business.” The CEO looks at him and says, “You just made my day.”
The woman, realizing her mistake, reflects: Her colleague was branding himself as the next VP while she was branding herself as the weather girl. Read More
Think Only Extroverts Can Lead? Here Are 5 Reasons to Think Again
If anyone has ever hinted that you need to be an extrovert to be a successful leader, here’s your one-word response: Oprah.
As Susan Cain wrote in her 2012 bestseller, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, there are many misunderstandings about the nature—and skills—of introverts. But over the past decade, that has been changing.
Here are five things people are now recognizing about introversion in the workplace and beyond, according to Jennifer Kahnweiler, a Conferences for Women speaker and author of The Introverted Leader, Quiet Influence, and The Genius of Opposites:
How to Master the Tiny Habits That Will Help You Reach Your Potential
When he was a teenager, James Clear got hit in the face with a bat during a baseball game. It took surgery and nearly nine months for him to be able to work on regaining basic functions, like walking in a straight line. And even then, he could only focus on developing one tiny new habit a time. But together, these tiny habits turned out to make a difference—big enough that, in college, he was named an Academic all-American.
Luckily for us, Clear also went on to be an expert in how tiny habits can help us reach our potential—insights he compiled in 2018 New York Times best-selling book, Atomic Habits and is sharing with the Conferences for Women.*
“Excellence is not really about making radical changes,” he says. “It’s about accruing small improvements over time and committing to this philosophy of continuous improvement.” Read More