Speaking Up About Courageous Leadership: I learned about leadership on the job over thirty years as a CEO. We'll talk about leaders, leadership challenges and leadership ideas.
Speaking about Sister Courage
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Courageous Leadership contributor Anne Doyle is a Detroit-based leadership and communications consultant, former TV journalist and global auto executive. For more: her website -- and blog.
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Planned Parenthood’s 25-year Plan, Here's Fast Company Magazine's interview on how Gloria led a movement to create a bold new long term vision for the future.
How do you lead deep-seated change in a large organization where just about everyone expects to have a voice? Here are a few rules that Gloria Feldt used to pull it off at Planned Parenthood.
Create urgency. PPFA's affiliates had to understand that this was a crucial moment, "that we really could change the direction of the organization's future," says consultant Watts Wacker. The solution: an invitation-only summit with big-name speakers.
Include everyone. Feldt's committee pushed itself to get input from every corner of the organization. That meant hundreds of meetings with affiliates, whose input was distilled at regional sessions. Many affiliates also involved their clients and community groups.
Adapt the process to the culture. A by-the-book style never would have flown at PPFA. So the organization designed a standard innovation process, but it let local groups veer off course, as desired.
Make it transparent. At every turn, the PPFA committee published and shared the results of its work. The idea was that including people in the process would win support -- and would also sharpen the final product.
Lead, but don't control. Feldt, says Wacker, "saw that you can't 'increment' yourself into the future. She got her board to listen, then put people in place who responded." But she respected the culture of her organization; she recognized that change needed to be driven from deep in the ranks as well.
Dr. Riane Eisler interviews me about leadership and how one learns about it. Listen here.
ENCOURAGING WORDS:
"If you're going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." - Beverly Sills
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. -- Stephen Covey
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas Edison
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain."--I don't know who said this but I sure do believe it!
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” Goethe
Some places I've made presentations on leadership:
National Association of Broadcasters Citibank Harvard Business School International Leadership Forum Carole Hyatt Leadership Forum Planned Parenthood Leadership Institute
People often look at me like I am crazy when I say "in chaos is opportunity" in my leadership speeches. But it's a lesson I learned first hand during 30 years as a CEO. I share this insight as inspiration to create or shape change rather than being buffeted by it...you can if you have the courage to risk.
If we haven't failed at something by the time you reach midlife, we probably aren't trying to break boundaries or reach our deepest dreams. This video of JK Rowling's commencement speech to Harvard graduates delivers a profound message--that "rock bottom is a solid foundation" from which realize that when you have nothing left to lose, you are completely free to start anew on the path to your life's ambitions.
She said it better than I did, as you would expect from the author of the Harry Potter books, so take a watch.
Regular Courageous Leadership contributor Anne Doyle sent me the link to this inspiring article by journalist Diane Tucker. Entitled "In Iraq, Women Entrepeneurs Staring a New Kind of Insurgency," The piece is a good illustration of how financial resources underlie the capacity to achieve independence and elevate their status in society. It's this kind of social change that also contributes to building a stronger democracy.
Tucker interviewed an American woman of Indian descentAmber Chand. Chand--who grew up in a wealthy Amber Chand and Iptesam Latif Kadimfamily that lost everything when she was a child and later became an entremeneur herself, is teaching Iraqi women, as well as women in Afghanistan and other countries in distress, how to become successful businesswomen. Here's the story in her words:
Regular guest columnist Anne Doyle wrote this post for International Women's Day, but it applies every day. It reminds me about how important symbols are, and is a great example of what I call "Sister Courage"--be a sister, have courage, and work together like a movement with sister courage. Here's the link to the original on Anne's website if you want to connect with her there. I'm so proud of Anne for running for city council (and winning!), as well as admiring her leadership ideas.
Nearly two years ago, just before I was to give a speech before a group of Michigan businesspeople, I met a woman who was wearing a very unusual, intriguing pin. I complimented her on it and she told me how much she loved it.
After my speech, the same woman came up to me, handed me the pin and told me she wanted me to have it. “Oh no, I couldn’t take your pin. I know it’s very special to you.” She insisted, but told me there was a string attached to her gift. “You must promise me that one day you will give this pin to another woman,” she said. “I am giving it to you with the understanding that you will pass it forward.” “How long can I keep it?” I asked her. She simply said, “You will know when it’s time to pass the pin and its power forward."
There is something almost magical about the pin, and I've loved it. Every time I put it on, I felt empowered by the woman who gave it to me. But as much as I hated to give it up, I have known for weeks that the time had come. I also knew exactly to whom the pin should go next. I just hadn’t found the right moment to present it to her.
That moment came this past Friday at a breakfast gathering of the Michigan Women Officials Network. WON, as we call ourselves, is a non-partisan group of women elected officials, judges, public commission appointees and people committed to increasing the number of women in elected office. The woman I had in mind would be there. Blanca Fauble is a very special friend who insisted on taking over as my Campaign Manager when I ran for my first political office last fall. Originally from Peru, she is a bi-lingual, stunningly capable dynamo who gives and gives and gives to others. The fact that I won my election to the Auburn Hills City Council by a landslide is a tribute
I really like this guest post by Nicole Rodgers, originally published in the Huffington Post. Nicole is is a Vice President at Fenton Communications in Washington, D.C. Democratic pollster Celinda Lake has also weighed in on the question of what women candidates can learn from Marthat Coakley's defeat. And in an op ed in the BostonGlobe.com, Ambassador Swanee Hunt and former MA Lt. Governor Kerry Healey say women should "start their campaigns" and not be deterred by any barriers real or perceived. That's why I placed this post into my Courageous Leadership blog, because it is going to take courageous women leaders to keep forging ahead until we reach parity as political decision makers. Let me know what you think.
Scott Brown is from Wrentham, and he drives a truck. He is now a Massachusetts Senator.
This week, as pundits debated whether Brown's win was a referendum on Obama or on health care reform -- and what it says about the "pulse" of the country -- an important discussion about gender was drowned out. Coakley's uninspired campaign produced many legitimate criticisms and it would be unfair to blame her loss on sexism alone. But the typecasting of political actors that electoral campaigns are often reduced to made it nearly impossible for Coakley to succeed in the current political climate. Driving a truck certainly contributed to Brown's win -- but it also solidified Coakley's loss.
Here's mine: "The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice."I love the metaphor and poetry as well as its meaning. As a leader, King used language not just to exhort but to inspire.
This quote inspires me to keep working for women's rights even in the most challenging times. What's your favorite MLK quote? Here are a few to get you thinking, and his "I Have a Dream" speech:
"A right delayed is a right denied."
"A riot is the language of the unheard."
"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love."
"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."
"I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good."
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."
"I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law."
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon."
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
"The true measure of a man (NB: I assume if her were spaking today he'd include 'women') is not where he stands in time of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of controversy and challenge."
Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 02:41PM 
But as much as I hated to give it up, I have known for weeks that the time had come. I also knew exactly to whom the pin should go next. I just hadn’t found the right moment to present it to her.