Magnificent leadership comes from inside – a still point. It is space between... such as when night is not yet day. Shapes begin to distinguish themselves…
I was saddened to read that Canada has slid 13 places to number 31 out of 130 countries on 2008 the global "gender gap index." However, the US gains four places and for the first time is ahead of Canada. Norway holds the number one position, followed by Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Iceland (4). The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2008 provides an index looking at the gap between men and women in areas such as income, education, health and political participation.
Included is a video with co-author of the report Saadia Zahidi http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=tWk7vA2_Pu4 Much work still to do! And much to celebrate as the countries with the greatest gaps make the most gains.
You are welcome to use and share material from this Blog in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link and email link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:
"By Terrill Welch founder of Terrill Welch – A Woman behind Women. Terrill Welch is an Executive Leadership Coach, providing leadership services designed specifically for women leaders. To learn more, feel free to browse through the www.awomanbehindwomen.ca website."
For months my partner and I have been closely following the global economic markets. In July we moved our savings out of mutual funds, bought six months worth of dry and canned goods, took out a month’s worth of cash, and outlined to our children what was being forecast by some financial institutions such as the Royal Bank of Scotland (who warned their clients to prepare for serious financial problems world wide). I then spent the summer redesigning my business to be in a position to support the flexibility that clients will require in order to engage the critical leadership support necessary to practically and confidently manage the current economic storm (you can learn more about my By-Donation approach on my website at www.awomanbehindwomen.ca ).
However, I hesitated to vocalize my preparations and planning for fear of being labelled a doom’s day loony. The time just didn’t seem right to step up and out on an issue that I was following through BBC business news and the Globe and Mail business section. I decided that even though the front page news sections of the news papers were not covering these stories, most people would be following these issues through TV news (I have almost never had TV). I decided that I needed to wait until it was clear that the projections were actually forecasting a valid concern.
So today I hope that my assumption was right, and that you are current, and have been preparing to be as nimble and flexible as possible in the face of the financial instability that we experiencing. Even so you may be still feeling like you are caught in the eye of our current economic storm. One of the ways to regain a feeling of stability is to begin to talk about your fears, take stock and develop an action plan. As a leadership coach, I can help you to do just that. However, I think it is prudent for me to offer a facilitated discussion forum through this blog posting so we can share what we know and what we believe is useful information, and to discuss past practices that we can implement as we weather this current financial storm. This way we can all benefit from our individual learning and experiences.
For immediate reference here are links to current videos that cover the financial situation over the last 48 hours:
This morning I also received an email article from respected marketing adviser Robert Middleton about “Marketing in Tough Times”. Feel free to send me an email request if you would like me to forward his straight forward and actionable advice.
The latest email came from April Dorey, a VictoriaInvestment Advisor for Raymond James Ltd providing critical information about the disciplined, conservative management of their investments (no subprime loans or Asset Backed Commercial Paper or ABCP). She is also preparing to do a presentation on How to Handle Bear Markets.
To get the discussion started here are some questions:
What valuable information or advice have you been receiving?
What preparations are you making in light of the current financial circumstances?
What are your top three concerns and how are you addressing them?
Is there anything I can do to help? Remember, you are part of my community and as always, together I believe we can do anything!
Note: For those that are not members of this Blog or networking site, feel free to share your answers, thoughts and question via email to tawelch@shaw.ca .
You are welcome to use and share material from this Blog in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link and email link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:
"By Terrill Welch founder of Terrill Welch – A Woman behind Women. Terrill Welch is an Executive Coach, providing leadership services designed specifically for women leaders. To learn more, feel free to browse through the www.awomanbehindwomen.ca and http://terrill.gaia.com websites."
Recently, I was reading a poem "The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver and her words remain a reverberating echo on the breath of each new day... supporting my courage to act and to be gracious and to be curious.The words are as follows:
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
Isn’t it exciting? How wonderful to greet each day with this question! I giggle at the very thought of living the answer to this question. What endless and rich possibilities! Even in dark moments of doubt, fear and limitations these words can light a spark. One spark is all it takes to light a fire in our belly – a fire that will kindle gratitude in our heart and energy in our feet. What is sparking the fire in your belly? I would love to hear!
I have a vision. I desire to make a difference in the world. For the greater good of us all, I want to hijack the capitalist system and turn it on its head! I want to publicly and purposefully embrace and share how we can all thrive through living a practice of simple abundance. I want us to experience and know that there is enough, that we have enough and that we can give enough to make a difference in what matters most to us. I want us to make a difference every time we work together. Our work will benefit your leadership and at the same time we will be supporting worthy fundraising efforts and charities that will further women’s equality and women’s leadership. Together we will make a difference for other women who will then be able to join us in helping to make a difference for everyone.
Everyday we hear of about a new corporate corruption; increased poverty and starvation; decreased availability of clean air and water; the gluttony of consumerism; the devastation of wars; the impacts of global warming; and we also hear how people are losing hope and turning in greater numbers to drugs, suicide, crime, and violence. All of these conditions have a huge impact on our environment, on humanity and, disproportionately, on women and children. Amongst these relentless and mind-numbing observations about our global condition, there is a whisper drifting through the anxiety, fear and hopelessness. The whisper goes like this “We need new ways of leading. We must have women equally participating in all areas of leadership if we are going to make a real difference – if humanity is to survive.” My heart rejoices and sings to hear these soft hopeful declarations. However, this whisper of global recognition about the need to increase women’s leadership has so far had little impact on increasing the number of women leaders in key corporate, business, public service, political and not-for-profit arenas. For example Catalyst Research found that there has been a decrease in women’s leadership in Fortune 500 companies in the United States between 2006 and 2007:
In 2007, women held 15.4 percent of corporate officer positions at Fortune 500 companies. This number was 15.6 percent in 2006. Women held 6.7 percent of top earner positions. This number was the same in 2006. Alternatively, the number of companies without women corporate officers increased from 64 in 2006 to 74 in 2007. The number of companies with three or more women board directors also decreased from 234 in 2006 to 203 in 2007.
What is shocking is that these percent declines have come after Catalyst’s ground breaking 2004 research “The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity” that found that there were strong financial rewards for those companies with women in their top management teams:
Companies with the highest representation of women on their top management teams experienced better financial performance than companies with the lowest women’s representation. This finding holds for both financial measures analyzed: Return on Equity (ROE), which is 35 percent higher, and Total Return to Shareholders (TRS), which is 34 percent higher. In each of the five industries analyzed, the companies with the highest women’s representation on their top management teams experienced a higher ROE than the companies with the lowest women’s representation. In four out of five industries, the companies with the highest women’s representation on their top management teams experienced a higher TRS than the companies with the lowest women’s representation.
Women’s economic conditions and influence in global decision-making are still far below equity with their male counter parts. Amnesty International in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) and Women - A Fact Sheet states the following:
Today, women represent approximately 70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty throughout the world…[and] they own only 1% of the world's wealth. Poverty, particularly for women, is more than income deficiency. The World Health Organization has noted that women continue to lag behind men in control over essential resources including cash, credit, property, land, wealth and access to material goods. They are also disadvantaged by other forms of impoverishment in areas such as literacy, education, skills, employment opportunities, mobility, political representation, and pressures on their available time and energy linked to gender role responsibilities. For these reasons, women are often poorer relative to men of the same household and social group.
Drastic and extreme action is required to support and increase global women’s leadership participation. If women are to increase their participation in leadership, we need to find a way to separate the power of money from access to leadership and global influence and decision-making. And that is how By-Donation was conceived. With By-Donation I can offer you elite executive leadership services at a price that more women leaders can afford. By-Donation makes a difference every time.
This question can be the most difficult to answer, but consider these points. A vision not lived remains only a dream. When we are living our vision, it is part of our daily practice. We are reminded every day what we are working towards. Sometimes our efforts become disconnected from our vision. We lose our direction. We get distracted. Then we lose the vision itself, and over time we are left with unfulfilled dreams. Many people have bitter regrets over lost dreams and missed opportunities. They feel they have failed - often saying “if only I had….” This is sad! Though all our dreams will not be fulfilled, I have discovered that there are three basic steps to ensure we are living our vision.
Step one: Declare your vision. Write it down. Post it where you can see it everyday. Tell it to others! In the telling you will reinforce your commitment. Plus, you allow others the opportunity to support you in curious and unexpected ways - I am sure this is how the most outrageous-beyond-belief visions come to pass.
Step two: Be persistent. Visions require sustained effort over long periods of time. Break your vision down into manageable portions. Make a commitment to no more than three specific actions that you will take towards living your vision. Decide when and how you will act. Be clear about the intent behind each action. This allows you flexibility. If necessary, you can adjust your commitment to better reach your intended goal. Again, write your commitments down, post them and tell others. If you have identified more than three actions, choose just three to get started; as those first three are completed, choose three more.
Step three: Know success. To know your success is to be able to name it! Imagine what living your vision will be like. How will you know? What will it feel like? What will it look like? What will it be like? What are you hearing? What are you doing? Where are you? Who are you talking to? Who is supporting you (mentors, coach, friends, family, colleagues, employer, fans, or/and investors)? Write a sentence or two that captures your answers to these questions. Post the answers up there with your vision and your three actions.
