This recent piece in Entrepreneur entitled “How to Accelerate Your Success as a Female Founder” shares that there are basically two steps to starting a business: doing something to get the ball rolling, and then saying, “I’m doing this.” The article states that many female entrepreneurs struggle with the second part and provides ideas on how to get unstuck and feel more comfortable with self promotion.
This Fast Company article shared eight leadership lessons from the first gender balanced Olympic games to ever take place. In addition to the highly publicized lesson that Simone Biles demonstrated regarding mental health and self-care, female competitors from around the world also had their own lessons to share.
Items shared in the piece include shattering the concept that athletes have a limited age range (this year the youngest female Olympian was 12 and the oldest was 66) as well as the importance in speaking up and advocating for equal sponsorship support for women (specifically how decorated track star Allyson Felix took on Nike over their sponsorship and pay policies for pregnant athletes). Also mentioned were the Norwegian beach handball and German gymnastics teams who pushed back against female athlete uniform guidelines which seemed to put sexualization of athlete bodies ahead of function.
Forbes recently unveiled its 50 Over 50: Impact list, which spotlights women over the age of 50 who are leaving a positive and lasting impact on the world. The list highlights exceptional women who found success later in life and are constantly working toward increased equity and diversity. Women from all areas are represented – government/military, academia, non-profit and for-profit businesses. Click the link above to learn more.
Whether you are being asked to return to the office or you are the person who is responsible for making the decision on where and how your employees will “show up” for their jobs, this piece from Fast Company highlights how pausing to reflect on lessons learned over the past 18 months may be the best way to start the process.
As part of the launch of Forbes‘ “50 Over 50” list, Vice President Kamala Harris sits down for an exclusive interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski to discuss not evaluating herself based on age, eating ‘No’ for breakfast, working with women-owned small businesses and encouraging women and girls to know their strength. Click here to watch.
This article from Fast Company shares an example of how many women feel they stand out like Big Bird (a 8’2″ bright yellow bird featured on the children’s program, Sesame Street) in the workplace. Whether they are presenting in a boardroom, returning from maternity leave or simply navigating the day-to-day, many women feel disproportionately affected by impostor syndrome.
In this piece, Mark McClain (CEO of SailPoint) shares three tips for how leaders can help their employees overcome impostor syndrome. Specifically, he mentions making space for people to share their authentic selves, encouraging balance and practicing small acts of kindness.
Your communication skills have a direct impact on your ability to raise funds and motivate your team. In today’s socially distanced environment, it’s more important than ever that your message shines through, even when you’re not able to address your audience in person.
This skill-building webinar session led by professional speaker and coach Casey Carpenter will help you discover how to pitch with confidence and authenticity in a virtual setting. You’ll walk away with tools to craft a persuasive message and techniques to deliver that message in a way that engages your audience. Click here to access the recording of the 4/8/21 talk.
More information about Casey Carpenter’s company as well as links to resources mentioned in her talk can be found here.
This piece from the Motley Fool highlights ten female entrepreneurs to follow as we head into 2021. The piece has links to different podcasts hosted by these women as well as links to resources and their twitter feeds. These leaders include:
At the end of February, Rosalind Brewer, who is currently COO at Starbucks, will leave that position to become CEO of drugstore chain Walgreens. Once in this post, she will be the only Black woman currently serving as a Fortune 500 CEO, and just the third Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 firm in history. (There are currently only 37 women in CEO positions at Fortune 500 companies)
According to this CNBC article, during a recent speech, Brewer commented on the reality that many women experience bias and gender discrimination in the workplace. She said that her most critical message to women in business is to “stay steadfast” and know that “your voice matters.”
“Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity” is a New York Times best-selling book published in 2017 by Kim Scott. The term “radical candor” is defined by Scott as the ability to challenge directly and show that you care personally at the same time. While that seems like it should be every leader’s goal, the reality is that being radically candid is challenging – often because it is counterintuitive to how we have been raised.
Scott breaks down the concept of radical candor and outlines the other quadrants where we can find ourselves in this six-minute video. If you want to dig a little deeper, she has a podcast and a blog as well.