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Wow! Thanks, for sharing so many fabulous, and fabulously helpful, leadership lessons that you are thankful for! With the season of giving in full swing, here are more great gifts of wisdom shared by women leaders.
Want to give a gift to others? Post your leadership lesson in the comments section below.
And while you’re at it, post YOUR most burning leadership question for the New Year too.
Speaking of Gratitude
Sally Helgesen, author of The Female Vision and The Female Advantage says she’s most grateful to Marshall Goldsmith for reminding her:
“Sally, all you need to do is say thank you!”
So a simple thank you is now my response when I receive compliments after a speaking event or when women tell me that my books have influenced their lives for the better. I used to disclaim it or try to minimize, or share insecurities in the belief that this would make me more human. But contradicting someone who says something admiring and heartfelt is neither gracious nor helpful. So now I just say thank you. "Thanks, Marshall!”
And thank you, Sally!
I’ll just say “thank you” to Glynda Carr for her kind words about me and my book, No Excuses.
Glynda is an extraordinary young women who doesn’t wait for mentors and sponsors to come to her—she seeks them out. That’s came in handy during a career transition. She says she’s always been conservative about taking risks. Here’s how she realized that approach kept her from reaching her full potential:
“I didn’t really know what was holding me back until the fall of 2010, during your book reading. You posed a question; “tell me what you have the power to?” I had my very own “ah oh” moment -- I have the power to fail. It was time to step out on a high wire without a net and know that if I fall that it was okay. I would get back up again, take the lessons learn and move forward with an adjusted plan.
I spent much of 2011, exploring what leadership means to me and how I can transform the way I approach challenges and opportunities that exist in both my personal and professional endeavors.
I am grateful for my “kitchen cabinet”, my most respected advisors who have helped me transform the way I think about the role that risk plays in success and failure. Their advice has ordered my steps, which reinforces my inner power, and that led me to Susan Taylor, former editor of Essence, who inspires me to think big. My brother, Kurt shared with me that sometimes you have to step into the darkness to find the light that guides your journey.
I am prepared to step out into unknown and into bold and innovative leadership. My colleague Kimberly Peeler Allen and I have launched Higher Heights for America a national organization that seeks to expand and support Black women’s leadership pipeline at all levels and strengthen their civic participation beyond just Election Day.
You go, Glynda!
The Gift of Networking: 3Plus International: Women Worth Knowing
Glynda found the power of her network gave her the courage to step out into leadership in a bigger way. Here’s a LinkedIn group I’ve found to be particularly generous with support, information, and mentoring. 3Plus International gathers outstanding women leaders and executive coaches into a network that shares advice when asked and asks smart questions that always get me thinking. You can check it out here—I hope to meet up with you there.
When I asked members of 3Plus what they were most thankful for, I received so many replies that I saved these for this follow up column:
Lisa Brown, Global Delivery HR Director at HP thanks her mentors for honesty:
I am grateful for two of my former leaders who mentored me with the highest levels of honesty, sincerity and the most powerful weapon we all have; the ability to tell the truth even with they knew it might hurt. Over time and much reflexion their comments all made sense and I used them as the weapons of my successful career. I am grateful for Dorothy and for Jim.
Laurie Margolies, Principal at The Boston Mentoring and Coaching Collaborative faced a tough decision and followed her own light:
After my daughter was born I arranged a part-time schedule in a very large and supportive corporation. One of the managers told me that a managment job was opening and he thought I would be perfect. I would have to work full-time if I wanted this kind
