At the Working Mother Multicultural Conference (POWER: OWN IT. — USE IT. SHARE IT.), I attended a fascinating workshop called Exploring Power Dynamics in the “Executive Suite.” Some very high level women discussed their experiences on their way up the ladder. The workshop was coordinated by Dr. Vanessa J. Weaver of Alignment Strategies, Inc. Dr. Weaver is wearing the wonderful royal blue suit on the very far left of the picture below. I’m the 6th person to the right of her wearing the lighter blue/turquoise top (in a future post I’ll mention this top again).
The primary thought leaders of the group were:
JoAnn Heisen, Chief Diversity Officer and former CIO at Johnson & Johnson
Susan J. Onuma, Partner at Kelley, Drye & Warren, LLP and President of the Japanese American Association in New York
Aida Sabo, Director of Diversy at EMC
Sheryl Tucker, Executive Managing Editor at Time, Inc.
They shared openly and honestly about their experiences in corporate America…the good, the bad, and the ugly…from personal to professional stories. I was fortunate to shake hands with each of them and have since exchanged email with some of them. I wish them all continued success and appreciate them sharing their POWER with us during this workshop!
We discussed:
Key Power Dynamics Impacting MCEW: The Good and The Not So Good
Power Dynamics between Diverse Women: Challenges/Successes
“Cultural Power Taboos”, “The Vulnerability Factor”
Creating an “Executive Master Power Success Grid” for Multicultural Women
What a wonderful networking opportunity. :-)Aruni
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: conferences,
networking,
new york city,
working mother |
2 Comments »
Soon after the Opening Keynote with Dr. Bertice Berry at the Working Mother Multicultural Conference (POWER: OWN IT. — USE IT. SHARE IT.), they did a fascinating Instant Polling session sponsored by Ford Motor Company. To view the pdf version of the full PowerPoint presentation courtesy of Working Mother Magazine, please click here: Instant Polling Presentation.
Some of the slides I found most interesting are as follows:
I was thrilled that over 55% of attendees made more than $100K! We’ve come a long way baby! I am in in the 7% group making under $49K because I’m starting my own business. In the early days of a startup you are lucky if you make anything! If luck smiles on us, then I will be in the > $100K category some day!
Women feel most powerful at home because that is where they have seen/been told their role is in society. Even top executive women generally feel the same according to this poll. Also, unfortunately if they feel they do have power in the workplace, it presents challenges in their intimate relationships (i.e., we have a hard time finding an equal partner who is comfortable with our power.)
It was interesting to see what super power each person would like. I think I voted for the ability to time travel, but I remember it being a toss up between that and reading people’s minds. I guess I figured if I could time travel I would figure out how to read people’s minds. 🙂
Other things I found interesting:
+ 42% of attendees did not have children (despite it being a Working Mother Conference)
+ 32% were mid-level executives and 15% were senior level executives
+ 43% of Asian-Americans, 41% of Caucasions, 35% of Latinas, 40% of Multi-racial women, and 46% of Men felt “My confidence in my skills and knowledge makes me powerful.” Whereas 38% of Black/African American, 100% of Native Americans, and 46% of Men felt “My belief in my purpose in life is my source of power.” Keep in mind I think there were about 5 guys and 2 Native Americans.
More posts to come on the conference…
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: conferences,
networking,
new york city,
working mother |
3 Comments »
What a fabulous opening! I don’t think I have ever attended a conference with such an energetic opening. Believe me…we were ALL awake at the end of it.
The Drum Cafe got the audience involved by asking us to use these wonderful different colored musical tubes called Boomwhackers that we had in front of us. The leader of the group had each table use their boomwhackers to create harmony in order to help us begin the process of getting in touch with our Power. The theme of the Multicultural Women’s conference was POWER: OWN IT. — USE IT. SHARE IT.
The flower girls from Drum Cafe were beautiful! Several of us felt quite confident that we would not be able to wear those outfits and look as great as they did! 🙂
The picture below is of the dancers dancing to the music we were making with our boomwhackers.
Pictures by: Rohanna Mertens of Doug Goodman Photography
More posts to come on the conference…
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: conferences,
networking,
new york city,
working mother |
1 Comment »
Recent Comments