Transformation Time: 4 Ways To End Centuries of Gender, Race Bias in Leadership

Change the work culture, change the system, change the path forward for all female leaders and it is possible to change not only the workplace, but the world.

A new study in Nature outlines distinct patterns of attitudes and behaviors in organizations that prevent and stymie a fair and inclusive workplace for women of color, particularly Black women.

“Our findings suggest that the compound influence of racial and gender biases hinders the advancement of minority female leadership by perpetuating stereotypical behavioral schemas, leading to persistent discriminatory outcomes. We argue for the necessity of organizations to initiate a cultural transformation that fosters positive experiences for future generations of female leaders, recommending a shift in focus from improving outcomes for specific groups to creating an inclusive leadership culture,” the report shows.

Career success, Ambition / Intention, Career choicesMichele WeldonJanuary 5, 2024women of color, career pathComment

Yay Or Nay: 5 Questions To Help You Decide To Take Promotion Or Pass

Z friend was recently agonizing to a handful of us at a party about her great job offer in the company where she has worked for seven years. The offer included a title promotion, raise, cost of living expenses, global travel and high visibility.

What was the problem?

She would have to move almost immediately to New York from Chicago, a city where she enjoyed her personal and professional life with a great apartment, positive workplace culture plus family and friends close by.

Changing the Workplace, Career success, Career choices, Ambition / IntentionMichele WeldonDecember 1, 2023career path, career goalsComment

Women's Influence: Leading Man Award-Winner Darnell Moore on Activism, Equity and Healing Power of Access

Since the very beginning, Darnell Moore has relied on a community of women in his “huge” family with his mother, aunts, grandmothers, sisters and cousins contributing to his recognition that gender equity was absent and that everyone across identities needs to support each other in truth, healing and power.

Career success, Ambition / Intention, EventMichele WeldonAugust 18, 2023Leading Man Award, Power Up ConferenceComment

Dreams Come True: MILCK On Her Music, Activism and Power Up Concert Performance

“I learned quickly on that my dream of being a singer wasn’t what my immigrant parents wanted for me. Making art for a living was for them not a reality-based decision,” says Connie K. Lim, whose professional name is MILCK; it’s her first two initials and her last name backwards.

But she did make her dream happen in a very big way, her using her power and voice in an enormously successful global musical career, activism and presence in the social justice equity movement and advocacy for truth and personal power. MILCK performs in person at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference & Concert, “Lead Your Intention,” August 26 on Women’s Equality Day.

Post-Pandemic Work Life Reboot: 7 Key Tips for Millennial Women To Start Now

By Megan Hudson

It’s no secret the Covid-19 pandemic turned the world on its axis and changed every facet of life as we know it. Offices emptied and busy cities went quiet for months on end until finally earlier this year the smoke began to clear.

In the post-pandemic era, we ushered in our new normal. It’s been a long and continuous period of adjustment that has not come without its challenges.

Reimagining Your Career and Life: How Power Up Conference Leaders Can Help You Thrive

It’s one mission to serve your country. It is quite another to serve your own mission.

Those lessons apply to every person making life and career adjustments.

“Women who have served in the military have successfully learned to maneuver in a closed, highly structured environment and within their own area of expertise such as logistics, combat arms, personnel, operations, and more,” says retired Major General Margaret (Peggy) Wilmoth, PhD, MSS, RN, FAAN, and professor in the School of Nursing at University of North Carolina since 2017.

Failure As True Growth: Abby Wambach On What Makes A Good Leader

“Failures are things I feel most proud of. Stop calling it failure, it’s true growth,” says Abby Wambach, former two-time U.S. Women’s National Team Olympic gold medalist, World Cup Soccer winner and author.

At the recent Customer Contact Week Conference in Las Vegas, Rebecca Jarvis, ABC News chief business economics correspondent describes Wambach as someone who “turns failure into fuel.” Jarvis adds that Wambach is also “the highest international goal scorer of all time” as well as an “advocate for pay equity and LGBTQ rights.”

No Lie: Gabrielle Union on How Entrepreneurs Can Create Success

“If you can’t be honest about yourself, you will go through life as a lie,” said Gabrielle Union, entrepreneur, award-winning actress, producer and author in a recent conversation at Pride Summit 2023 with B. Pagels-Minor, podcast host and founder of DVRGNT Ventures.

Practice Hope: Legend Joan Baez on Activism, Music and Making Good Trouble

“Who wants to sit next to Juanita?”

Born in New York, and growing up in California, and later Massachusetts, Joan Baez says she felt like an outsider as a young girl of Mexican heritage in a small public school where her grade school teacher taunted her with a name that was not hers.

Yes, You Can: Hillary Clinton On Owning Ambition, Power & Happiness

“Accomplishment and happiness go together,” Hillary Rodham Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd during her recent talk for the Chicago Humanities Festival Joanne H. Alter Women in Government Lecture.

Class of 2023: Support, Skills, Advice Grads Need To Succeed Now

All hail to the 2023 college graduates, the class that was sent home from their dorms and classrooms in March 2020 of their freshman year due to COVID concerns.

As commencement season peaks, wisdom rings from podiums around the country in speeches from illustrious icons offering what they may hope is affirmation at the start of careers.