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Maya Angelou has been one of my all time heroes! She always inspires me and this beautiful video with Oprah is one of those brilliant moments. Maya reminds me of my beautiful mother, who would have been 91 today and is another of my heroes. Mom was always grateful for her health and vitality and was spunky right up until the day she died at 87. I miss her deeply and am so grateful I was able to enjoy her joie de vivre for so many years!
You may receive advice from parents, friends, and other well meaning people on what job to take, where to live, or any other significant decision you are making as you leave the container of college. Yet, no matter what path you choose there are some things that can help you on your way.
Do you realize the power you wield to change the world?
Women represent 85% of the purchasing power in the United States and worldwide hold trillions of dollars of wealth.
What are you doing with this power?
I advocate you pay attention to where you put your money through purchases, investments, and even payroll in your company to make sure your part of the solution to ensuring women have equal access to jobs, opportunities for advancement and access to capital to start and grow businesses in parity with their male peers. You may not realize it, but white women still make 78 cents to every dollar men make in the same jobs. Hispanic and black women fair even worse!
The Anita Borg Institute has created a list of the top 13 companies in the world for women to work and advance. Although you may not want a tech job at one of these firms, knowing that they employ and advance women is good info when making purchase decisions. ABI investigated 35 companies with almost half a million employees and ranked them on women at entry, mid and senior positions. They also looked at recruitment and promotion of women.
Based on their findings, here is your go to list for personal and business choices (not in ranked order):
The list may not be part of your standard purchases, but it is a start. It makes me interested in looking for information about women in leadership positions in consumer product companies, as well as other categories of companies that will help us make informed choices.
If you are a working mom, and worry that choosing your kids over work held you back in your career, you are not alone. So many women think they are unprepared to reenter the business world after staying home with their kids, or scaling back their career for many years.
If that is you, watch this video!
The article goes on to describe six things women want in order to stay engaged in any job. Although the things they cite are important, they are not the full picture.
What are women looking for?
Although each of these items may be important, the discussion in this article, and in most conversations on this topic, ultimately revolved around women leaving to raise families, not being welcomed back after having children, or marginalized as they juggle both career and families. These are problems.
Yet, this perspective continues to perpetuate a stereotype of women not prioritizing work and career advancement as the cause of lower pay and career opportunities. However, a study at Harvard Business School of alumni showed that high powered and well trained women, with plenty of career drive, still earned less than their male colleagues, did not rise to as high of positions, and were often left out of critical business deals necessary for their success–even though 93% of them never left the workforce to raise children.
As Sheryl Sandberg noted in a recent interview, how many men are asked how they handle work and family? She is asked this all the time.
Women continue to be underrepresented at the top of organizations–large and small. We can continue to “fight” this, and probably should continue to make waves, until true equal rights have been achieved.
But more important than fighting this, we need to change the game. How do we do that?
Actively look for ways to promote and support other women. We represent 51% of the population. If we put our influence in numbers behind each other, we can do more good than demanding changes from the status quo. When Gandhi pushed the British out of India, he created force through numbers–rather than attempting to increase the power and influence of the Indian population within the status quo.
If women move their purchasing power, their investment money, and their own hiring practices to promoting women we could greatly shift the balance of power–within a much shorter time horizon than our current trajectory.
Look for women you can promote, mentor, buy from or invest in. They are all around you.
Your choices can make a difference.
I love what Judith Orloff, M.D. says about it in her article, The Power of Random Acts of Kindness, in Forbes’ Women’s Media.
We are not without influence!
We have a beautiful tree native to Central Texas called the redbud tree. They are small trees, sometimes scraggly–but in early spring, they always burst forth with deep fuchsia pink blossoms that take your breath away. You will find them on the roadside, hanging over fence lines, across creek beds and in random hillsides. Each one is so colorful that they become a spectacular show by themselves.
These redbud trees make their spring debut with flair — whether we have a hard winter or a soft one, a rainy spring or a dry one. They show up for life regardless if things show up for them!
The past month I have been surrounded by millions of wildflowers on my land and the surrounding country roads — the air is actually perfumed with the gentle aroma of all these flowers. With gentle temperatures outside, I have been able to work with my windows wide open, inspired by breezes and songbirds.
Each spring, life puts forth such a magnificent show of new energy that it viscerally changes how I feel. Does it affect you that way, too?
I am happier, more motivated and inspired to create things myself.
When I am around someone who is on fire with life, creating with gusto some new venture, it inspires me to become more active on my own goals.
If not, consider surrounding yourself with people who help you move from your own internal winter to “springing into life!” And if you are on fire with inspiration for what you are doing — THANK YOU! You are, perhaps unknowingly, infusing others with a spring-like energy that is worth more than you realize, I welcome you to share it with us.
Featured in this installment of Interviews with Influential Women, Diane and I discuss just how she achieved monumental success for herself and her company amid constant personal tragedy.
In 200 words or less, please give my readers a short background on your personal journey that brought you to today.
One day, I was driving, and I saw a sign that read: “It took 20 years for this man to become an overnight success.”
I wish it had read 10 years, because I guess I took it literally. For the next 20 years, I was compelled to relentlessly pursue my dream and goal of growing my business.
I always had a passion for meeting people with great presence. After graduating from my fashion design program and teaching Haute Couture, I became an image consultant in our nation’s capital, Ottawa. In the 90’s, my claim to fame was working with Canadian political leaders. Not long after, I realized that appearance was only a part of what presence is all about. Content is still King/Queen.
I began studying what it meant to bring presence to each speech, conversation or room. In 2007, I launched my Executive Presence System, and it is now internationally recognized—including a licensing program launched internationally 2 years ago.
Who are your top 3 female role models, and what about each inspires you?
Christine Lagarde: As one of Europe’s most influential ambassadors in the world of international finance, she exudes Executive Presence. She is intelligent, well spoken, worldly, sophisticated and an inspiration to many women who believe reaching the top in a male dominated industry is nearly impossible.
Carolyn Wilkins: According to The Wall Street Journal, she is today’s most influential woman in Canada’s banking industry, not to mention the first woman to grace our currency. When I met Carolyn in 2010, she shared her aspirations with me, and we both agree that she exceeded them! She was able to reach this success, while remaining humble and kind.
Peggy McColl: She is a long-time friend and fearless entrepreneur. Over the years, she has overcome so many obstacles. The drive and passion put into what she believes in has always been an inspiration to me.
What challenge (s) did you face & overcome to get to where you are?
There were professional challenges but none as difficult as the personal ones. A year after I started my business, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and died 3 months later. We had been married 17 years. I was now a grieving single parent of two wonderful children, Kenny 12 and Sandrine 7. Four years later, my beautiful little girl Sandrine, at the age of 11, was killed in a school bus accident.
Overcoming those tragedies and finding the motivation to continue facing the challenges of owning my own business seemed insurmountable at times. My husband and daughter became my inspiration for forging ahead, and my son became my motivation. I wanted to provide financially and be a role model for him.
What are the 3 most important things you do (or did) that contribute to your success?
What are the 3 most important things women need to do or consider when charting their next chapter of life, whenever that may be for them?
Diane Craig is the corporate world’s choice for Executive Presence Training.
As President and Founder of Corporate Class Inc., Diane’s ongoing 30-year career mentoring North America’s business professionals spans Fortune 500 companies, multinationals and numerous educational institutions.
She maintains an intensive schedule of presentations and is a frequent speaker at national business meetings and conferences. The media seek out Diane’s perspectives on social, political and business etiquette — from conduct issues and appropriate attire to body language interpretation. She is frequently quoted in The Globe and Mail and National Post and appears regularly on CBC and CTV.
Diane is dedicated to community service. She serves as a Board Member for the Trillium Gift of Life Network, the provincial organization responsible for organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Diane is on the Board of Directors at Intriciti, an organization committed to the integration of faith and business.
Frequently heralded for her inspirational role in leadership, Diane is the recipient of many awards including the Governor General of Canada Meritorious Service Medal; Canadian Living Magazine and Avon Canada’s Women of Inspiration Award; Toastmaster International’s Communication and Leadership Award.
I remember learning in college that some of the “facts” I learned as a child about American history were not always accurate (or at least not the whole story). It was disconcerting at the time, although I have learned since then that most of the things we call facts are really opinions. It’s why many governments choose jury trials–to allow multiple perspectives to weigh in.
The Emmy Award winning journalist, Cokie Roberts, has written two books to bring women to the forefront of the history of our nation–Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised our Nation, and her most recent Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington. I am inspired by Cokie’s dedication to help us remember the courage and significant contributions women have displayed to shape the world we know today.
You might also look at your own life. Have you been playing a supporting role that does not get much of the limelight or recognition? Perhaps, it is time to rewrite your own history–not for others but for yourself. Make sure you recognize your own contributions, even if you do not want the fan fare from others.
“The way to get through anything mentally painful is to take it a little at a time. The mind can’t handle dealing with a massive iceberg of pain in front of it, but it can deal with short nuggets that will come to an end. So instead of thinking, Ugh, I’ve got twenty-four miles to go, focus on making it to the next telephone pole in the distance…the ability to compartmentalize pain into these small bite sizes is key.” ~ Joe De Sena from Spartan Up!
When coaching grief groups, I’m often surrounded by people whose lives have just been shaken to the core — the loss of a lifelong partner, the death of a parent, or even a child. At these times, it feels like the very foundation has dropped out, and they are navigating the world with no floors or ground. I cannot take away their pain, I can only help them navigate the waters until the waves become less violent. At those times, one of the best remedies is to not try to visualize life in total — which feels hopeless and overwhelming — but to visualize getting through the current day, or even hour.
Whatever in your life is stopping you in your tracks — even if it is just today’s work — can be compartmentalized to it’s smaller components and tackled one at a time.