On Wednesday, December 10, the Wake Forest University Charlotte Center and The Charlotte Observer invited guests to hear from several distinguished women business leaders. This event included a panel discussion entitled “Myths About Female Leadership: It’s Not About Fitting In, It’s About A New Path” and included wisdom and practical leadership ideas from:
Topics for discussion included mapping your career path, balancing life, and working with stereotypes.
All panel CEOs provided their personal insights regarding these areas of leader and career development:
1) The importance of awareness:
- Constant, continuous awareness of opportunities
- Awareness of “where you are” and “where you want to go”
- Lynn Good: “Always take stock of where you are”
- Andrea Smith: “Along the path it is just important to recognize things you don’t like and where you do not wish to remain”
2) Saying “yes” along the way
- Even when a “yes” may involve a commitment to a role or tasks that aren’t particularly your chosen path
- Saying “yes” opens new opportunities that may not be initially evident. In some of her points, CEO Pat Rodgers emphasized the importance of stretching oneself with “yes” opportunities and “do more to do more”
3) Always try to develop yourself
- Self-development will look differently at different stages of life and career
- CEO Susan DeVore invited guests to have a plan to make others successful.
4) Mentors
- As Duke Energy CEO, Lynn Good emphasized, mentors are all around us. Many are informal. There is much to learn from all, regardless of gender or hierarchy. Pat Rodgers shared points regarding the importance of maintaining sensitivity to others. She underscored its value as an important attribute for effective leaders. People have different leadership styles, regardless of gender.
- Andrea Smith emphasized the importance of recognizing individual contributors as leaders. “You don’t have to be a manager to lead a team.” All can learn from, and be developed by, individual contributors in informal mentor/leader roles.
5) Leadership
- Susan DeVore underscored the point that leadership takes a lot of courage. If you maintain a guiding principle of ‘doing the right thing’, you’ll have the courage necessary to make difficult decisions.
The panel discussion was immediately followed by a reception attended by the panelists and attendees.
This event was not recorded for posting.
If you want to learn more:
- Lynn Good’s NY Times article on effective leaders: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/business/lynn-good-of-duke-energy-on-effective-leaders.html?_r=0
- Pat Rodgers’ Greater Charlotte Biz article, “Building Structures and Relationships”: http://www.greatercharlottebiz.com/article.asp?id=545
- Andrea Smith’s insights regarding women in leadership: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sylviaannhewlett/2011/06/09/the-key-to-bofas-success-more-women-at-the-top/
- Susan DeVore’s article from the NY Times: “Translating Your Skills”: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/jobs/03boss.html