What does women empowerment mean to you? Does it mean exercising your right to control your decisions, money and time? Or does it mean enjoying the status of equality alongside men? Or perhaps something simple as the ability to live your life unrestricted, with self-respect and dignity. Whatever your version of the definition, it all leads to one point - doing what your heart desires without being judged.
Last week I attended the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston, MA. To sweeten the pot, my company had organized a Boston City walking tour as well as a private networking dinner, the day before the event. Being an introvert, I apprehensively walked down from my hotel room towards the breakfast area, not knowing what to expect. There I met an amazingly talented bunch of ladies from different organizations across the company. Throughout the day, we spent time in each other's company, meeting and greeting more friendly faces along the way. The enormous nature of the event hit me when I walked into the Seaport World Trade Center, the day before the event, to complete my early registration formalities. The theme was this year's conference was "Disrupt the Ordinary". As per Simmon's website, the theme centered on the need to change how we thought, behaved and did business in an era of accelerating innovation. From start to end the #SLCBoston was designed to inform, impress and inspire. I instantly knew at that moment that I was going to be wowed by the entire experience.
At the private networking dinner event later that evening, we were sorted into small groups representing different business units within the company. As a conversation starter, we were asked to find out fun facts about each other. It was both entertaining and enlightening: entertaining to see the casual, non-business side of people and enlightening to gain more insight into their private persona. After that ice-breaking exercise, we had a brief discussion about the topic "Eliminating Titles". We were asked to jot down pros and cons. We had a very lively discussion about why and why not having job titles were critical for our job roles. In between dinner, we were shown a video series called the "Inspiration Chain". Selected few employees were asked to talk about other women employees within the company who've inspired them, thereby giving a genuine compliment where it was due and creating an inspiration chain. Several of our company leaders gave motivating speeches reinforcing our company's culture for inclusion and diversity. After a very satisfying networking event, disruptive activities, and delicious dinner, we retired for the evening.
Finally, when the red-letter day dawned, I could scarcely curb my enthusiasm. I took my time to dress with care. As I walked into the Seaport World Trade Center that morning, I had butterflies in my stomach. I was not disappointed. There were over 3500 representatives from all across the country representing both industry bigwigs and start-ups. The line-up of sponsors was impressive – Dell, Cisco, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center, Liberty Mutual Insurance, United Technologies, 2U, The Walt Disney Company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Phillips, Putnam Investments and many more… Like the previous evening, we were pre-sorted in small groups by companies at each table. For Welcome Remarks, there were women in executive position speaking on behalf of companies like Dell, Cisco, Seaport Hotel & WTC, Liberty Mutual, United Technologies, 2U and Walt Disney.
To kick off the event, the MC, Joyce Kulhawik, pointed out that one of the key reasons why Simmons Leadership Conference is a such a sought-after event is because it featured highly successful women telling their stories and that there is nothing more powerful than a narrative. She expressed that although we have come a long way, women remain under-represented, underpaid, under-served. These issues have become ordinary. She boldly went on to assert that today we were here at #SLCBoston to "Disrupt the Ordinary" and listen to heart-warming stories from extraordinary speakers and #1 disruptors like Latina dynamo and women’s empowerment advocate, Nely Galan; a fearless, fierce sexual harassment advocate, Gretchen Carlon; Tan Le, co-founder of Emotiv, who left her safe career in law to build a neuroengineering company whose products are transforming lives and expanding the frontiers of brain research; former First Lady Michelle Obama
Our first keynote speaker was Nely Galan. While exposing several myths, she said that there is no prince charming waiting to rescue us from the evil sorcerer! She went to stress that as women, we have to be our own prince charming, find solutions to our problems, get help from right resources when necessary and become self-made. She further added that it was okay to be afraid! However, it was necessary to do the thing that scared you anyway. As, on the other side of fear, was freedom. There are only two possible outcomes: you will either succeed or fail. But you won't know that unless you've tried. So why would you not take the 50/50 chance, overcome your fear and give it a shot? If you succeed, you would have elevated yourself out of mediocrity. If you fail, you would have learned a very valuable lesson.Very powerful words indeed!
Whitney Johnson, the author of Disrupt Yourself: Putting the power of Disruptive Innovation to Work advises that instead of being afraid of disruption, we need to harness disruption to propel us forward. She emphasized how disruption is vital for innovation very succinctly. According to her, when one starts their career, they are the bottom of the S curve, working their way to the top. Once the individual reaches the top of S curve, they hit a plateau. A sense of ennui creeps in which prohibits innovation. In order for greatness to happen, it is necessary to jump from the top of S curve where one has plateaued to the bottom of a new S curve. When one disrupts, they become a problem-solver, their odds of success are six times higher than when they do nothing.
Former Fox news anchor and journalist Gretchen Carlson, shared heartbreaking stories of sexual harassment in workplace. She has now taken up arms for creating safe working conditions for women. Her unprecedented memoir, "Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back" highlights how women can protect themselves at their workplace and how speaking up against injustice transferred power from the abuser to the individual.
Entrepreneur, author and possibility broker, Raquel Eatmon, the CEO of Rising Media, when talking about social networking explained that although people want to connect with you, 99% of the time, you have to make the first move. She went on to press home that you build your own brand, have to be able self-promote and make people relate to you through a story.
The cherry on top of the cake was former First Lady, Michelle Obama's touching, and uplifting interview. "Women try so hard to be perfect that we don't accept imperfection from other women", she said. When asked about working women's dilemma on how to manage time when things got crazy busy, she quipped, "It is important to put yourself on the calendar. It is important to carve out time for your children and their activities. Once you block off personal commitments on your calendar, you will realize that you have more than enough time to get your work done."
All these powerful and successful ladies emphasized one important fact: In order to grow and blossom as individuals, it was necessary to break free from the chains of mediocrity and mundaneness. It was necessary to not let the fear of failure ruin our chances of success. It was necessary to think out-of-the-box and get creative. It was necessary to "Disrupt the Ordinary".
Last week I attended the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston, MA. To sweeten the pot, my company had organized a Boston City walking tour as well as a private networking dinner, the day before the event. Being an introvert, I apprehensively walked down from my hotel room towards the breakfast area, not knowing what to expect. There I met an amazingly talented bunch of ladies from different organizations across the company. Throughout the day, we spent time in each other's company, meeting and greeting more friendly faces along the way. The enormous nature of the event hit me when I walked into the Seaport World Trade Center, the day before the event, to complete my early registration formalities. The theme was this year's conference was "Disrupt the Ordinary". As per Simmon's website, the theme centered on the need to change how we thought, behaved and did business in an era of accelerating innovation. From start to end the #SLCBoston was designed to inform, impress and inspire. I instantly knew at that moment that I was going to be wowed by the entire experience.
At the private networking dinner event later that evening, we were sorted into small groups representing different business units within the company. As a conversation starter, we were asked to find out fun facts about each other. It was both entertaining and enlightening: entertaining to see the casual, non-business side of people and enlightening to gain more insight into their private persona. After that ice-breaking exercise, we had a brief discussion about the topic "Eliminating Titles". We were asked to jot down pros and cons. We had a very lively discussion about why and why not having job titles were critical for our job roles. In between dinner, we were shown a video series called the "Inspiration Chain". Selected few employees were asked to talk about other women employees within the company who've inspired them, thereby giving a genuine compliment where it was due and creating an inspiration chain. Several of our company leaders gave motivating speeches reinforcing our company's culture for inclusion and diversity. After a very satisfying networking event, disruptive activities, and delicious dinner, we retired for the evening.
Finally, when the red-letter day dawned, I could scarcely curb my enthusiasm. I took my time to dress with care. As I walked into the Seaport World Trade Center that morning, I had butterflies in my stomach. I was not disappointed. There were over 3500 representatives from all across the country representing both industry bigwigs and start-ups. The line-up of sponsors was impressive – Dell, Cisco, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center, Liberty Mutual Insurance, United Technologies, 2U, The Walt Disney Company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Phillips, Putnam Investments and many more… Like the previous evening, we were pre-sorted in small groups by companies at each table. For Welcome Remarks, there were women in executive position speaking on behalf of companies like Dell, Cisco, Seaport Hotel & WTC, Liberty Mutual, United Technologies, 2U and Walt Disney.
To kick off the event, the MC, Joyce Kulhawik, pointed out that one of the key reasons why Simmons Leadership Conference is a such a sought-after event is because it featured highly successful women telling their stories and that there is nothing more powerful than a narrative. She expressed that although we have come a long way, women remain under-represented, underpaid, under-served. These issues have become ordinary. She boldly went on to assert that today we were here at #SLCBoston to "Disrupt the Ordinary" and listen to heart-warming stories from extraordinary speakers and #1 disruptors like Latina dynamo and women’s empowerment advocate, Nely Galan; a fearless, fierce sexual harassment advocate, Gretchen Carlon; Tan Le, co-founder of Emotiv, who left her safe career in law to build a neuroengineering company whose products are transforming lives and expanding the frontiers of brain research; former First Lady Michelle Obama
Our first keynote speaker was Nely Galan. While exposing several myths, she said that there is no prince charming waiting to rescue us from the evil sorcerer! She went to stress that as women, we have to be our own prince charming, find solutions to our problems, get help from right resources when necessary and become self-made. She further added that it was okay to be afraid! However, it was necessary to do the thing that scared you anyway. As, on the other side of fear, was freedom. There are only two possible outcomes: you will either succeed or fail. But you won't know that unless you've tried. So why would you not take the 50/50 chance, overcome your fear and give it a shot? If you succeed, you would have elevated yourself out of mediocrity. If you fail, you would have learned a very valuable lesson.Very powerful words indeed!
Whitney Johnson, the author of Disrupt Yourself: Putting the power of Disruptive Innovation to Work advises that instead of being afraid of disruption, we need to harness disruption to propel us forward. She emphasized how disruption is vital for innovation very succinctly. According to her, when one starts their career, they are the bottom of the S curve, working their way to the top. Once the individual reaches the top of S curve, they hit a plateau. A sense of ennui creeps in which prohibits innovation. In order for greatness to happen, it is necessary to jump from the top of S curve where one has plateaued to the bottom of a new S curve. When one disrupts, they become a problem-solver, their odds of success are six times higher than when they do nothing.
Former Fox news anchor and journalist Gretchen Carlson, shared heartbreaking stories of sexual harassment in workplace. She has now taken up arms for creating safe working conditions for women. Her unprecedented memoir, "Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back" highlights how women can protect themselves at their workplace and how speaking up against injustice transferred power from the abuser to the individual.
Entrepreneur, author and possibility broker, Raquel Eatmon, the CEO of Rising Media, when talking about social networking explained that although people want to connect with you, 99% of the time, you have to make the first move. She went on to press home that you build your own brand, have to be able self-promote and make people relate to you through a story.
The cherry on top of the cake was former First Lady, Michelle Obama's touching, and uplifting interview. "Women try so hard to be perfect that we don't accept imperfection from other women", she said. When asked about working women's dilemma on how to manage time when things got crazy busy, she quipped, "It is important to put yourself on the calendar. It is important to carve out time for your children and their activities. Once you block off personal commitments on your calendar, you will realize that you have more than enough time to get your work done."
All these powerful and successful ladies emphasized one important fact: In order to grow and blossom as individuals, it was necessary to break free from the chains of mediocrity and mundaneness. It was necessary to not let the fear of failure ruin our chances of success. It was necessary to think out-of-the-box and get creative. It was necessary to "Disrupt the Ordinary".
