Women Leading the Charge in the Pandemic Age

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on Purpose. Now. Here is
your host, Elise Cortes. Welcome back

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to the Working on Purpose Program.
Thanks for tuning in again this week.

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I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes, joining you live from Dallas, Texas,

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which is home base for me.
If you've been tuning in for a

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while, you know this program as
a thought leadership series that enlightens, it

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inspires listeners with insights from distinguished business
leaders and subject matter experts. Here I'm

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Working on Purpose. We're committed to
realizing a world where work is enriching and

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a purposeful part of life. If
leaders inspire people to realize their own greatness

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while contributing their passion and business is
elated to unleashing spectacular cause in the world.

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Each week in these conversations, I
hope you walk away with something that

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changes the way that you think and
that you can immediately put to use.

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Much of the content we discuss on
this program as a reflection of the work

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I do. So as you listen, if you catch a glimpse of anything

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I can do to help, go
to my website at a lascortes dot com

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and use to contact Me feature to
message me. Let's talk about what's going

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on for you and how I might
be able to help at any rate.

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I'm glad we're connected, and thanks
for listening. Now on a this week's

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program with us today is Linda Crompton, an internationally recognized thought leader, senior

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executive and strategic advisor focused on all
aspects of the organization of the future for

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tomorrow's women leaders. She serves as
president and CEO of Leadership Women. We'll

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be talking about her experience of leading
this forty two year old organization in the

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midst of the Corona pandemic, what
she and her team are doing to pivot

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away from business as usual to serve
their members, and our own collaboration we've

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cultivated in the process. She joins
us today from Dallas, where we're each

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sheltering in place. Linda, while
come to working on purpose. Thank you,

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Elise, so great to have you. I always like to share with

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my listeners, Linda, how it
is that we get We got acquainted with

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my guests. So in our case, I took one of your programs called

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Leadership Texas in twenty fourteen. That
was my first brush of getting acquainted with

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the organization called Leadership Women, and
then I took the next program, Leadership

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America, on twenty fifteen. You
became president of the organization into twenty fifteen,

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and I've been speaking for various coaches
viewers for the last few years.

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So before we talk about Leadership Women, let's start with what I know to

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be a long standing interest of yours
women's issues. So where did that come

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from? How did it develop?
All those good things? Okay, well,

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of course that's my very favorite question
to answer. Okay, good,

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That's why we started with it,
right good, Right, Well, So

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you know we're all kind of a
sum aren't we, of our of our

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experiences, our background, our education, and that's where where our perspectives on

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work and leadership performed. So my
own background is maybe a slightly unlikely one

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in banking, in finance, and
in insurance, but I was always intrigued

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by the non financial aspects of that
world, you know, the financial world,

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meaning sort of the social impact of
banking, what role it plays,

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and the impact that different approaches have
on different communities. So very early on

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in my career I started looking at
issues like why so many more business loan

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applications from men were approved than for
women, for example, And as a

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result of starting to look into that, I created I ended up creating a

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review team to sort of get to
the bottom of it and see what we

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could do about it. And then, as you know so often happens,

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one thing led to another, and
I heard from so many women both inside

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and outside the bank. We established
a Women's Advisory Council to look at others

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where there might be you know,
unintentional discrimination, and then that led to

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creating the Return to Work Program to
help women that were wanting to come back

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into the work plans after having children
if they wanted to do that. And

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I even wrote a column, which
my staff sort of scoff at when I

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say that, but I did.
I wrote a column for a women's magazine

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for a while on various issues to
do with women and their leadership. So

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that's really been a constant thread throughout
my entire career, and when someone sent

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me the ad for the CEO role
for this organization, I jumped at the

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channels. What a spectacular way to
cultivate a life and career, Linda,

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I really appreciate, and again,
what we're focused on, what I'm focused

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on, what I hear is passion, and of course that's a big part

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of what I'm trying to help nurture
and development people who listen to this program.

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So thank you for illustrating it so
beautifully. So but why why did

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you join Leadership Women in twenty fifteen? You know, there's so many other

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sandboxes you could play in in life. Why Leadership Women, Well, you

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know more than one reason, I
guess. First of all, the reputation

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that it enjoyed. I mean,
everybody that I spoke to or talked to

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about the organization asking if they knew
anything about it, everybody said nothing but

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great things. So the reputation for
the kind of work that it did and

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how unique that it was. I
was also impressed by the longevity of the

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organization and it's close to fifty years
now, really that it got started by

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sort of the feisty group of Texan
women led by former Governor Ann Richards.

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So it's been around for a long
time. Everybody seemed to say nothing.

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I couldn't get anybody actually to say
anything negative about it, although I did

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try because I thought that would be
part of my ongoing due diligence. But

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then, of course, ultimately it's
mission so developing and delivering programs to improve

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the personal, economic, and professional
status of women, which of course is

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right up my alley. So all
of those things, and then I guess

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on top of that, the final
thing was just in the process of being

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recruited and doing my own due diligence, I met so many women and they

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were all so impressive, and it
just felt it just felt right. You

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know, My entire career up until
that point had been in banking and in

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corporate governance corporate law, which are
vitally important and interesting fields. But I

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think I just kind of got to
a point at least where I wanted to

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wake up in the morning and say
I can't wait to get to work,

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right, I just love what I
do. And as much as banking was

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interesting and corporate law, you know, was great and engrossing, but you

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know, it never made me feel
like that. I never woke up with

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that feeling. So I can happily
say I made the decision to join it,

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and I have woken up every morning
that way. Since sounds like meaningful,

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fulfilling work to me, that is
working on purpose, I'll take that

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any day. So I heard your
phone go off, So if you can

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later on silence that that'd be great. But just briefly, Linda, for

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our listeners who don't really know how
this works, if you could just say

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a little bit about some of the
programs that Leadership Women does so they can

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get acquainted to what the world has
looked like traditionally in Leadership Women as programs,

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because we're going to talk about how
it's changing throughout the course of this

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conversation. Yes, sure, so
Leadership Women has really been offering what it

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still does today for three decades or
four decades, and essentially the idea behind

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it is and what differentiates us is
that, yes, we do leadership development

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training and so do a number of
other organizations, but we really don't put

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the emphasis on skilled development. We
think there are lots of people who do

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skill development. What we do is
something different from that. So our emphasis

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is on first of all, diversity. So all of our classes. I'm

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sure you notice this and you saw
this and I loved it. Yeah,

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and continue to write when you when
you work with the classes, I mean,

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there's great diversity of ethnicity and age
and in perspective education career, because

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we think that is what makes for
richer conversations. So an emphasis on diversity,

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On experiential learning, so not just
reading about something but going to see

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it, meeting the women that are
running it, so experiential learning. And

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then the importance of networking, so
as you know, much of what we

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do has to do with people meeting
women, meeting other women who are doing

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exciting things and leading in new directions, and that makes them that they've now

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got a new contact and a new
person to call on for advice or help.

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And then I guess the final thing
is that the organization is all about

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issues, what is going on in
the world, what role do women play

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because we all know, you know, thinking back to that sort of foundation

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point of the organization, I mean, much of history is written as though

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there were no women at the time, right, or at least women of

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no importance. There were no really
no real women artists or explorers, or

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writers or scientists, and of course
we know differently now, so it depends

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on who writes that history. So
our women are in senior roles across almost

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every sector that you can think of, and they so every class gets to

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be introduced to these women and then
has the opportunity to maintain that connection to

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them through the network that they build. So those are really the differentiators.

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And we now have leaders in every
sector that you can think of, and

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we you know, we're obviously every
day aiming to increase that impact and increase

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the number of women that we have
in positions of real leadership in this country,

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which I have completely endorsed. And
I'm grateful for our partnership that I

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do get to work with you in
your programs because as you know, our

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missions are aligned there, so we'd
be very happy that we're doing this to

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other And for this conversation, Linda, part of what I wanted to make

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sure and surface for our listeners because
what you and I have talked about in

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our various conversations as we prepared our
work together and for this conversation is leadership

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is not for the faint of heart, especially not during a pandemic. So

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what I'd like to talk about next
is I want to contrast that before and

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after COVID nineteen for you in terms
of your stance on leadership. So,

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first, before the pandemic hit,
what did leading leadership women mean to you?

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Right? Okay, yeah, yeah, the good old days before the

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viron Yeah, those days years ago
already, right. So I guess what

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I'd say is, when I was
first hired into this role, I felt

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as though the baton or the torch, or however you want to think of

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it had been passed on to me. You know, that this great organization

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that so many women loved was now
in my care. So what I stood

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for then was that we had a
responsibility as an organized not to just survive,

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and lots of nonprofits struggled to do
that, but also to thrive because

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there is, and there was at
the time, so much to do.

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So I'm not sure what the founders
thought about where we'd be this many years

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down the line. Perhaps they thought
fifty years later this battle would be won,

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you know, full gender equity in
all sectors, women having the opportunity

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to be leaders across the board.
But of course we're still very far away

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from that. So in fact,
the World Economic Forum, I think now

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as they originally said one hundred and
eighteen more years for gender equity, and

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now they've bumped that up. Apparently
they thought that was too hotimistic, so

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they have they've made it even even
longer. So I guess, you know,

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to try and put it succinctly,
I stood for the sustainability of the

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organization and continuing to hold that torch
and then expanding our impact across the country

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beautifully said. Okay, now let's
now we're situated in April two thousand,

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money the pandemic has officially hit across
the globe. So now what does leading

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this organization mean to you? What
do you stand for leading it? Now?

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Well, I guess, first of
all, I would say the same

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things. It's not just taking the
easy option, it is the truth.

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I mean, I guess the same
things I stood for when I accepted the

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role, except now underlined and in
capital letters. Right. I feel that

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once I accepted the role that I
had a responsibility to the organization, but

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then also to the women and communities
that we serve. And so is that

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just became that commitment or that sense
of responsibility became even more acute once the

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flu hit, once the pandemic hit. So I think I told my staff

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on that first day that when we
were sort of just realizing what was actually

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going on, or beginning to realize
what was going on, that you know,

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the circumstance of this the crisis,
made me even more determined to ensure

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that we would be able to continue
the work that we were doing. And

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I was not I think I may
have said to Uliez, I was not

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going to let an organization it's been
around for decades fail on my watch.

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And I consciously thought that I had
that thought, and I shared that with

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the staff. I think I'm fortunate
enough to bring to the table both experience

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on the nonprofit side and the corporate
side, so both sets of perspectives to

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this role. This organization is absolutely
mission driven, but we also have to

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make sure, you know, that
we employ sound business practices to what we're

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doing to ensure that we stay around
to do that work. And I suspect

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that this was something that the board
of directors saw when they were and we're

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maybe looking for when they recruited me
for this role. So you know,

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I just think that for me,
it became a critical thing that this not

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this organization not be allowed to,
you know, to fail. But then

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I also felt, you know that
there's all these discussions going on at the

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moment, I just felt that we
shouldn't be returning to just the way our

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lives were before. We need to
exercise some real leadership in the kinds of

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changes that need to happen, because
much of this that we're experiencing is just

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kind of a direct result of the
way we live our lives on this planet,

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right, And that just accentuated my
conviction that women should and they need

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to be part of those changes and
should be leading some of those changes.

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And so as a women's leadership development
organization, we need to play a role

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in that. So my purpose now
is to be here and make that happen.

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In fact, as you know,
since I will be speaking with you

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for your speaker series on Tuesday in
a couple of days, what am I

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talking about. It's really that place
of anchoring yourself in purpose during the crisis,

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how to discover that and a boy, what I stand for there,

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Linda, is I especially believe now
more than ever, we need to really

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reach down deep into our purpose and
bring it to be able to help create

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this new world that we're making for
ourselves. And so you're a beautiful,

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walking billboard example of that, Linda, So thank you for that. You

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couldn't have said better myself. Okay. So one of the things that you

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and I talked about as we were
preparing for this conversation is we were talking

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about the enormous consequences of leadership,
especially in times of crisis like this,

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just how problematic week leadership can be. Say more about your perspective on that,

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Yeah, well, I mean I
think you know, I believe that

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very strongly, and it's because you
know, in good times, I mean,

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you have to be careful how you
say this, but in good times,

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it's just it's a lot easier to
be seen as a good leader,

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okay, because in good times,
people have got money to spend, their

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lives are going okay. You know
your company's doing okay because people are spending,

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so you can look good just because
you're at the helm of that organization.

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So I mean, obviously I'm simplifying
here because we just still get fire

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in good times too. But I
guess what I'm saying is it just it

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just doesn't demand as much from that
leader as when times are not so good.

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That's when you need strong leadership,
not you know, not because that

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person is necessarily any smarter. Lots
of times. I mean, in my

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various jobs, I found my employers
or employees are much smarter than I am.

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But not for that reason, or
because you know things that other people

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don't know, or but because when
things are falling apart, people just instinctively

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look to the person at the top
of the pyramid to take charge. And

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by that I mean to be visible, to communicate quickly and frequently and clearly,

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and to be able to work with
others to determine a path forward.

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No one brain is the match of
many, right, so you've got to

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be able to work with many people
to forward that to forge that path,

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and then to communicate that path,
just to give people the confidence that there

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is in fact a path forward and
that this too shall path, hopefully sooner

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than later. And that's why inspirational
leadership is so important. And on that

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note, Linda, let's grab our
first break. I'm your host, doctor

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re Le Scortes. We don't know
here with Linda Crumpton, an internationally recognized

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thought leader, senior executive and strategic
advisor focused on all aspects of the organization

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of the future for tomorrow's women's leaders. She serves as president and CEO of

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Leadership Women and joins it today from
Dallas, Texas. We've been talking a

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bit about her perspective on leading in
these times, before and after the pandemic.

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After the break, we're going to
talk about her organization pivoting in the

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pandemic as a viable value to its
members. Stay with us, We'll be

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right back. Alice Cortez is a
speaker and engagement and development. She designs

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00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:06.680
and delivers professional development, leadership and
engagement workshops and can bring her expertise to

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your organization. She will help ignite
meaningful development within your workforce that will increase

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employee engagement, performance and retention.
To learn more or to invite Elise to

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speak to your organization, please visit
her at www dot Elisecortes dot com.

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She would welcome the opportunity to help
get your employees working on purpose. This

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00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:37.359
is working on purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach our program today, send

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an email to a lease Ali at
Eleasecortes dot com. Now back to working

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on purpose. Thanks for stating with
us, and welcome back to working on

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purpose if you're just joining us.
My guest is Linda Crompton, President and

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CEO of a Leadership Women. I'm
your host at least Cortes. So before

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we get into this next set of
questions here, Linda, let me just

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grab a couple questions that are in
the chat room right now and I'm going

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to try to roll a few of
them up. So, Pam, Janis

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and Gene, I see your questions. Thank you so much for listening and

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for weighing in on a conversation.
And I think this next question that Gene

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is going to ask is going to
be addressed. In this next question,

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I'm going to ask you someone to
first do this. Gene. Your question

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is what do you feel a person
needs to possess to do an outstanding job

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in and out of a crisis.
So think about that if you will,

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Linda, as I pose you this
question, because I think the answer is

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contained in this your answer here.
So, Leadership Women is an organization that's

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really been built on convening cohorts of
women together for your programs, their personal

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live sessions, and so here we
are sheltering in place and social distancing that

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has put a hard stop to all
of that. So share with us how

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you and your team evaluated what to
do to keep this forty two year old

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organization moving forward. Sure, so
you know, I guess what I would

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say. The first thing is you
have to absolutely work together. It is

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up to the leader, however,
because it's who everybody looks to to determine

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the overall direction. So the first
thing is I did that right? And

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my first priority, I guess,
And maybe this goes to the question that

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was asked to some degree, I
know that all you have really when you're

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looking at an organization is your staff. If your staff lose confidence, if

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they become demoralized, if they get
confused, they don't know what you're doing,

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they don't know where they're going,
they're worried about their future, you're

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not going to be able to accomp
accomplished very much. So for me personally,

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my first my number one sort of
you know segment in terms of whatever

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is going to focus on is keeping
up their morale and their spirit. So

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there were a number of things that
I did, you know, to do

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to achieve that, which I'm happy
to tell you about. And then the

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second thing was you really I mean, obviously this is the case even when

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you're running an organization day to day, but in times of crisis, it

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absolutely is imperative that you are on
top of every single detail that affects this

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organization because if you aren't, things
can happen fast. I mean, gosh,

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this whole virus sort of at the
end of the day unfolded very quickly.

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So you really have to know,
you know, what is what the

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organization depends on, where it's what
form, its moneys are coming in,

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it's revenues, what's going out,
all of that to the absolute nth degree.

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Okay, And then the third bucket
or the third segment, is that

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what I said to staff is that
I want us not only to survive this,

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but also to make it through and
end up in an even stronger position

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than we were before. So using
this to fix problems and create some new

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offerings that I wanted to do.
So my job is to come up with

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that message and to convey that message. Okay, but in the doing of

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it, you need staff, right, so you have to discuss and agree

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and decide on all of these things. So how are you going to communicate?

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And I personally think that's imperative because
the minute that people aren't hearing from

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you, they're reading or hearing something
else, and that causes some doubt.

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And so we decided right away that
we would be speaking every morning at a

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particular time, and then as we
needed to through the day, but we

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always have that one set time to
communicate and that I was available twenty four

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to seven to them. Now,
I didn't expect them to be calling me

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at midnight on a Saturday with a
small issue. I mean, obviously use

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your discussion, but the main message
is just that I am here, like

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all normal sort of timelines are off. So so that was the second part

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of it. And then the issue
of the details. You know, I

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learned this from my banking day.
If you're not on top of accounts receivable,

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that can be very serious, very
quickly. So but I let staff

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work that out. I don't,
you know, I don't have to decide

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how they're going to collect that data
and how they're going to present that to

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me. That gives them something to
do. They want to do it,

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they've got the better ideas. So
it really is a sharing of who's going

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to do what you set the direction, You stay calm, you set an

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atmosphere of optimism, but you trust
that they know this stuff well enough better

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than you probably to be able to
come up with the mechanisms. So so

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we did all of that and then
we looked at you know, all right,

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we're building and creating our survival temperate, but we need something more than

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survival. We need to, you
know, talk about what would we do

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if we could do anything right,
if we if we were able to address

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issues that we could have addressed some
time ago, how would we do it,

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how would we finance it? And
again we worked that out ourselves.

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Everybody had a perspective and everybody put
that perspective in and then we said,

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all right, what are the top
three issues? And we decided on those

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and that's kind of how that's kind
of how we went about it. So

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I do think that's where your leadership
kind of comes in. That people are

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looking even for environments that appear to
be well, what's the word pretty,

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even like it's hard to figure out
who is the boss. Leaders play a

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very important role at times like this, and they set the tone and they

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by the way they present things and
the consistency and the clarity. That's how

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you stop people from panicking. And
that's I don't know if I answered your

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question. I went off on a
bit of a tangent there at least,

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but I like that tangent and I
do think it very much answered genesis question

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about the key qualities and a good
leader. A couple of things that I

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want to emphasize in there for our
listeners. So in terms of learning takeaways

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that I heard and not all of
what you said there, but what I

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want to emphasize is I heard you
talk about the criticality of a leader painting

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an inspirational future that followers want to
live into, that inspires them, that

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motivates them, that helps quell their
nerves and excite them to that possibility.

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And I also heard you say the
importance of being a strong communicator, and

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I would say a fantastic storyteller.
You tell the story that they're all working

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to live into horribly important qualities and
skills for leaders to have. So that's

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a couple things that I heard that
I just wanted to emphasize and celebrate.

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Okay, so next question, because
I want to get as much out of

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you as I can in the time
that I have you, I want to

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understand, help our listeners understand,
Linda, what this pandemic has forced you

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and leadership women to confront. Well, I mean, as I just gave

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a very brief brief reference, I
mean, the main thing that it got

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us to confront is that we have
really relied on our in person programming.

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That's what people love, and that's
very deliberate and we're not going to discontinue

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that. I mean, there are
lots of things that we through that that

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are an important part of who we
are and what we do. But when

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you are really only offering that,
that presents the problem when for whatever reason,

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people can't be there in person.
So that was the first thing we

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had to confront, is that our
main kind of delivery mechanism, if you

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like, was suddenly cut off because
people can't meet. And then I guess,

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you know, we've always known.
I've always known that we're staffed very

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sparely. But you know, when
you're trying to design and develop new things

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that you would like to do,
it's hard because you just have very few

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staff to do that. So you
always have known, I mean, I

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always knew that we we rested on
a very small number of staff, but

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the capacity limitation becomes a bit of
an issue. Now what saves you is

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that you are saving some time,
if you like, from not having to

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deliver the problem, so you can
free that up. But that was I

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guess a big learning and of course
it never I have to admit it didn't

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occur to me to day two that
when you reliant on corporations as corporate sponsors,

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and you just count on them because
they do it every year. Now

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all of a sudden, in these
circumstances, corporations are hurting, so they're

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going to pull back on everything that's
not absolutely necessary, and who can blame

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them? So you end up getting
hit in every revenue stream. So it's

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the perfect storm, right, So
diversity to those revenue streams is really the

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answer, and I know that academically. I learned that in my MBA.

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But you know, knowing it and
doing something about it are two different things.

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So I guess I would say all
of those things, and in a

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way, just saying to yourself that
something's worked that has worked very well for

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years and years doesn't mean it will
work forever perfectly, And that in all

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circumstances, So we've really had a
number of key learnings from what's happened.

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Yes, I think we all have, which is another reason I wanted to

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have you on air, and then
extending that idea, and you have a

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very fine One of the things I
appreciate about you is your strategic fine mind,

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and I think our listeners can learn
a lot from the way you think

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and process the world. So can
you share with us it's just a couple

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maybe key insights about life or business
that you've gained in this COVID nineteen pandemic.

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Oh sure, well you know.
So it ties into my last comment

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that unless you've gone through something like
this, you know, bad stuff comes

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at you fast, right Who knew? I mean from a pretty casual beginning.

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So I was in New Orleans in
the beginning of March and nobody really

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said anything. There was not any
question about not being potentially unsafe. You

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know. I was meeting with people
and going out for dinner and restaurants and

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nobody said anything. Came back on
the plane and then it felt like a

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couple of days later, suddenly you
know, things are starting to close up.

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So things happen a lot faster than
we are used to and that was

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a that was a real learning.
So I wrote that one down, and

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I think nobody is really no matter
how many kind of crisis preparedness courses you've

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been on, nobody's ever really prepared
for this kind of shop where the pressure

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is on from both the supply and
the demand side, so people can't get

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their materials, and also there's no
real market, so where's your money going

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to come from? Right, you
begin to understand. I mean, I've

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had a number of people say to
me, try to if asked me to

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explain how the economics works when the
government just prints money like this, And

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I have to admit I am at
a loss. I cannot explain that.

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I can give you my theory,
but I can't explain it. But nobody

404
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is really prepared for this kind of
crisis. So really the speed at which

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things happen, and then just all
those things that you learn right when you

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go to crisis preparedness. I went
to one through one of our programs last

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year, and they say the time
to gather supplies and figure out what you

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might need and how you're going to
communicate with other people is now, not

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when it hits, because when it
hits, you're too busy doing other things,

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00:29:59.720 --> 00:30:02.920
right, So you should have all
these things in place. And then

411
00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:07.079
just finally, I guess it's sort
of a it's a personal reflection, so

412
00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:11.279
now I should do a disclaim that
is not necessarily the view of leadership.

413
00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:17.759
But you know, it's kind of
funny. We all live as if as

414
00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:19.839
if we're surrounded by certainty. You
know, you've done this and done that,

415
00:30:19.880 --> 00:30:22.359
you've worked hard, you've got an
education, so of course you're going

416
00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:25.359
to get this good job and you're
going to make good money and you're going

417
00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:29.519
to start living the life. But
of course the reality is there's none of

418
00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:33.319
that certainty actually exists, right,
But it's hard to live with that because

419
00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:37.319
if you have to make decisions every
day and carry on, you know,

420
00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:40.160
and if you think that you or
a loved one could die any minute,

421
00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:44.759
it might be true, but it's
kind of disempowering. But you know,

422
00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:49.519
I do think that that that is
the reality, and it's good for us

423
00:30:49.559 --> 00:30:55.839
to, if we can stand it, to remind ourselves of that that it's

424
00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:00.880
because the positive side to that is
that you know, we can some degree

425
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:06.079
right that future not entirely and I'm
very mindful that we're not all even though

426
00:31:06.119 --> 00:31:07.960
we say it, you know we're
all going through this together. I'm not

427
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:10.519
so sure we are all going through
this together. I think a lot of

428
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:15.240
people are being hit extremely hard.
But nevertheless, you know, we all

429
00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:19.039
have to some degree control over how
we're going to react to it and what

430
00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:25.519
sort of future we're going to write
for ourselves. So beautifully, beautifully narrated,

431
00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:27.839
and let's now that brings us to
our last break. Let's grab that

432
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:30.319
now. I'm Alice Cortez, your
host. We are in the air with

433
00:31:30.359 --> 00:31:36.279
Linda Crumpton, an internationally recognized thought
leader, senior executive and strategic advisor focused

434
00:31:36.279 --> 00:31:40.079
on all aspects of the organization for
the future for tomorrow's women leaders. She

435
00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:44.160
serves as president and CEO of Leadership
Women and joined today from Dallas, Texas.

436
00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:47.960
We've been talking a bit about how
she and organization are pivoting in the

437
00:31:47.960 --> 00:31:51.119
pandemic. After the break, we're
going to talk about our collaboration to move

438
00:31:51.160 --> 00:32:14.079
forward. Stay with us, We'll
be right back. Alise Cortes is a

439
00:32:14.119 --> 00:32:20.000
speaker and engagement and development catalyst.
She designs and delivers professional development, leadership

440
00:32:20.039 --> 00:32:23.759
and engagement workshops and can bring her
expertise to your organization. She will help

441
00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:30.680
ignite meaningful development within your workforce that
will increase employee engagement, performance and retention.

442
00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:34.640
To learn more or to invite Elise
to speak to your organization, please

443
00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:39.279
visit her at www dot Elise Coortes
dot com. She would welcome the opportunity

444
00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:51.240
to help get your employees working on
purpose. This is working on Purpose with

445
00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:54.880
Elise Cortes. To reach our program
today, send an email to a lease

446
00:32:55.240 --> 00:33:08.119
Alic at Elisecortes dot com. Now
back to working on Purpose. Thanks for

447
00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:10.720
staying with us, and welcome back
to working on Purpose. If you're just

448
00:33:10.759 --> 00:33:15.079
tuning in, and my guest is
Linda Crumpton, President and CEO Leadership Women,

449
00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:19.160
I'm your host Lis Cortes. So
for this next segment here, Linda,

450
00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:21.240
I want to focus on the work
you and I have been doing together

451
00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:23.440
to collaborate. But before I do
that, I want a presence that one

452
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:28.079
of the things that you said as
we were speaking in our initial conversations is

453
00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:31.279
you did recognize that one of the
things that you already knew was you wanted

454
00:33:31.319 --> 00:33:35.519
a better way to connect and communicate
with your forty two years of members and

455
00:33:35.559 --> 00:33:38.599
graduates, and so you already were
thinking about ways to do that, and

456
00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:44.160
I know you've begun with by adding
Facebook groups and such. So before we

457
00:33:44.200 --> 00:33:46.960
get into what you and I are
doing together, what are you learning from

458
00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:50.279
your members that they that they want
to get from you? What do they

459
00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:53.920
need from leadership women now? Right? So it's I mean, as the

460
00:33:54.119 --> 00:33:57.720
usual answer is, right, it's
a diversity of things. It's a range

461
00:33:57.720 --> 00:34:00.920
of things. So I think we've
seen kind of the mood change a little

462
00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:05.799
bit from the first few days.
So the first few days there were a

463
00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:07.960
lot of questions that were focused on
us, you know, what's going to

464
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:10.280
happen to the programs? What are
we going to do? Is any of

465
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:15.079
this ever going to happen this year? And then it moved to more personal

466
00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:22.159
questions and issues like is there anything
that you can tell us about, for

467
00:34:22.199 --> 00:34:25.400
example, teaching our kids at home? We're struggling to try and make this

468
00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:29.960
work, and other people saying what
should I be doing with finances? I

469
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:31.440
don't know what I'm supposed to be
doing, and is there anybody is there

470
00:34:31.480 --> 00:34:35.559
anything that you can do that helps
us with that? So it kind of

471
00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:42.119
reverted back after the initial the initial
sort of flood of questions which was all

472
00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:46.639
which were all around the program,
and the year two more general and more

473
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:52.639
generic questions around coping during this crisis. So that's kind of what we have

474
00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:58.960
adapted to now. It's kind of
in a phase. It's it's it's uneven.

475
00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:04.159
I mean, sometimes the requests are
for really hardcore stuff like finances,

476
00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:08.000
like you know, healthcare, mental
health. Do you have any suggestions what

477
00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:10.480
we can do? Is there anybody
you know that can tell us something about

478
00:35:10.599 --> 00:35:15.719
I'm seeing the strain on a number
of family members. And then others say,

479
00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:19.280
you know, gee, I'd really
like just to just to get together

480
00:35:19.719 --> 00:35:24.119
on Zoom with no agenda. Can
we just bring coffee and just talk anything

481
00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:29.280
that we want to talk about,
just to have a relaxing session with you

482
00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:32.440
know, my fellow classmates or whatever. So it's really been, it's really

483
00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:37.480
been, you know, a variety
of requests along arong all lines. You

484
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:40.800
know what I find really interesting about
what you just said about that free forum

485
00:35:42.039 --> 00:35:45.199
connection. You know what that presence
for me, Linda is, It's what

486
00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:50.800
I got in the two years that
I was in your two various programs when

487
00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:53.480
you did bring us together, and
we got that ability just to connect.

488
00:35:53.519 --> 00:36:00.519
There was this organic unfoldment of conversation
and that it was incredibly invigorating and connecting

489
00:36:00.599 --> 00:36:04.559
and meaningful. And that's probably what
they're missing. I'm going to guess think

490
00:36:04.599 --> 00:36:06.679
it is. I think it is. I mean I think to some extent,

491
00:36:06.760 --> 00:36:08.199
you know, if you go through
a program, well you went through

492
00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:10.320
it, you would know. I
mean to some extent, as you go

493
00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:15.679
through with those women as your cohort
and bond with several of them and make

494
00:36:15.719 --> 00:36:19.440
real friends, you kind of create
a community. Absolutely, it sort of

495
00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:23.639
becomes a community. And so initially
they were asking us to help connect them

496
00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:28.679
to that community. Now they're kind
of taking that more in their own hands,

497
00:36:28.679 --> 00:36:31.599
which is which is great to see. So did you want me to

498
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:36.719
address the question about the Facebook groups? Yeah, you can, yes,

499
00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:39.280
absolutely go for it. Well,
I mean, I can't claim that that's

500
00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:44.039
the perfect example. Is where the
leader pronounces from on high, I think

501
00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:49.039
we need we need to connect these
people. You go do it right,

502
00:36:49.639 --> 00:36:52.320
Thank goodness, the staff know exactly
how to do that. So we've got

503
00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:55.599
every region in Texas connected. Now
we've started with our national ones. We've

504
00:36:55.639 --> 00:37:01.320
got three connected in across the country. We've got more rolling out this week,

505
00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:05.159
and initially they were kind of looking
to us and saying, you know,

506
00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:07.519
what are we going to do about
content? Like who's going to give

507
00:37:07.599 --> 00:37:10.360
us content? And now San Antonio
is in the lead on this, but

508
00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:15.880
many of these areas are now starting
even speaker groups in their area, and

509
00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:20.880
so they're starting to create create their
own content, they're starting to create their

510
00:37:20.920 --> 00:37:23.719
own advance. So it's kind of
perfect right there. They're starting to do

511
00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:27.760
that. We're still heavily involved,
of course, because it's all representative of

512
00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:30.920
us. But that's a good example
of where you know, coming up with

513
00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:34.920
the idea is one thing, but
actually making it happen is another. So

514
00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:38.159
that's gone well for us so far. It's wonderful and I love the exciteming

515
00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:43.079
in your voices you share it.
It's just wonderful. Okay, So let's

516
00:37:43.159 --> 00:37:45.599
talk about the work we've been doing
here. So you and I had a

517
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:50.639
call just about the same time the
pandemic was hitting to explore collaborating and the

518
00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:52.000
first thing I want to do for
with you, Linda and with all the

519
00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:55.480
listeners is to celebrate that that is
exactly the right thing. I think we

520
00:37:55.480 --> 00:37:59.519
need to do in a crisis,
collaborate. I think there's a tendency for

521
00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:02.320
people to kind of, you know, falling on themselves and just like they're

522
00:38:02.360 --> 00:38:07.039
stuck and their shell shocked, and
it's totally normal, and so finding way

523
00:38:07.079 --> 00:38:08.719
to get out of that I think
is so important. So but of course

524
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:13.400
I want to understand why what made
you choose me as someone to collaborate.

525
00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:22.320
I don't know what well that that's
an easy, an easy question to answer.

526
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:23.360
I mean, you know, I
know you. I've seen you,

527
00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:25.920
I've listened to you. I've seen
what you do with people. I can

528
00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:31.760
see how how well you engage with
people, you know, and I just

529
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:37.639
got a sense that we were very
similar in certain respects in terms of the

530
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:42.920
way we see leadership, and so
you know you it was it was an

531
00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:46.559
easy thing to do. I knew
that you were also an advocate for women,

532
00:38:46.599 --> 00:38:51.519
and you were always open to the
idea that two heads are better than

533
00:38:51.559 --> 00:38:53.400
one, and three even better.
And and I also think you know,

534
00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:58.320
at least we both share. This
is where you say, no, no,

535
00:38:58.440 --> 00:39:00.639
you're wrong about that, but I
know I'm not. We both have

536
00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:06.679
a fascination for learning. You know, I have absolutely overly educated, and

537
00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:08.880
I won't say that about you,
but you can say that yourself. But

538
00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:13.360
you know, I hope we're both
able to maintain that all our lives.

539
00:39:13.400 --> 00:39:15.960
And I find you a terrific source
of ideas, and you love and support

540
00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:20.800
what you're doing and what we're doing. So you're a perfect partner. Well,

541
00:39:20.840 --> 00:39:22.239
thank you. It's such an honor, and you know, we've had

542
00:39:22.280 --> 00:39:25.599
more fun than I think we're supposed
to have. It's almost criminal right to

543
00:39:25.639 --> 00:39:31.519
get to do this collaboration together.
So it's just amazing. So talking about

544
00:39:31.559 --> 00:39:36.000
the results of your various collaborations,
and so starting with what you and I

545
00:39:36.519 --> 00:39:40.599
are working on together, you've birth
this idea as Leadership Women Cafe online speaker

546
00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:46.440
series and we're launching it this Thursday, April twenty third. So I love

547
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:49.280
the idea, of course, So
what did you do? You took a

548
00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:52.480
problem need to be able to connect
with and support and grow your members,

549
00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:58.079
and so here we are. We're
bringing this program online and I'm so grateful

550
00:39:58.119 --> 00:40:00.000
that I get to be your first
speaker. Thank you for that beautiful privilege

551
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:05.519
and opportunity. But tell our listeners
more about your vision behind that and what

552
00:40:05.880 --> 00:40:07.760
do you have planned for that.
M M, well, I mean,

553
00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:10.480
you're grateful for the opportunity. I'm
grateful that you're going to be our opening

554
00:40:10.480 --> 00:40:15.599
speaker. So the idea there,
just I think I referred to it earlier,

555
00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:20.480
is that recognizing, you know that
a weakness is if you only ever

556
00:40:20.679 --> 00:40:24.039
deliver your content in one particular way
and you have no flexibility to do anything

557
00:40:24.039 --> 00:40:27.800
else. That's just not the way
you want to do things. And of

558
00:40:27.800 --> 00:40:30.679
course nothing brought that home to us
more then what's just been happening over the

559
00:40:30.719 --> 00:40:35.280
past few weeks. So the idea
was born in my head. I have

560
00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:37.880
to say I cannot take credit,
even though I'd like to, and I

561
00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:39.400
doubt that she's on this call,
so I might even get away with it,

562
00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:44.800
but I want I said, we
need a speaker series. We need

563
00:40:44.840 --> 00:40:46.800
a speaker series, and Laura,
one of my staff, said, okay,

564
00:40:46.800 --> 00:40:51.159
I'll come up with something. How
about the Leadership Women Cafe. I

565
00:40:51.199 --> 00:40:54.840
thought that is brilliant, yes,
and so she created the cafe. She

566
00:40:54.920 --> 00:40:58.719
came up with the idea of a
menu. And the menu, of course,

567
00:40:58.800 --> 00:41:01.159
is our list of speakers, of
which you are the first. So

568
00:41:01.800 --> 00:41:05.440
a lot of people are doing this. I know that, but I think

569
00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:08.360
just because our women miss the other
women, you know, I think there's

570
00:41:08.360 --> 00:41:12.280
going to be We've had good,
a good lot of interest in it so

571
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:16.000
far. It's not that this will
replace our regular programming, but it will

572
00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:20.719
augment it. And honestly, and
now I hope my staff aren't listening,

573
00:41:20.880 --> 00:41:25.199
but I think this will probably go
on indefinitely. I don't see this finishing

574
00:41:25.760 --> 00:41:30.079
after the pandemic is over, if
the pandemic is in factive or over,

575
00:41:30.119 --> 00:41:34.920
because what we're doing in the first
series is we are addressing issues, as

576
00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:37.920
you know, at least that have
to do with really dealing with this virus,

577
00:41:38.840 --> 00:41:44.679
so all the challenges that people have
and bring in experts in those particular

578
00:41:44.760 --> 00:41:49.960
areas and having them address and the
issues and answer questions and answers, and

579
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:52.840
then our plan at the moment,
my plan is to just continue doing this

580
00:41:52.920 --> 00:41:58.880
until women, you know, signal
that they're not interested anymore. But you

581
00:41:58.920 --> 00:42:01.159
know, we do have at the
moment, our programs run roughly once a

582
00:42:01.239 --> 00:42:07.320
quarter, and so I see this
as a great way of both, you

583
00:42:07.360 --> 00:42:13.559
know, introducing those classes to different
topics than we would otherwise have had time

584
00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:19.239
for in the in the program.
And secondly, it introduces them to those

585
00:42:19.280 --> 00:42:22.960
speakers, and it connects them to
us. So I think, you know,

586
00:42:23.119 --> 00:42:28.159
I think, uh, it's it's
going to be very successful move for

587
00:42:28.199 --> 00:42:31.920
us. So far, the reactions
from people being extremely positive. So so

588
00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:37.280
we'll see it all your shoulders tomorrow. Oh gee, thank you for that.

589
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:40.079
A little bit of pressure. No, one of the things that I

590
00:42:40.159 --> 00:42:44.119
want to point out that I think
is so brilliant about the idea. Yes,

591
00:42:44.159 --> 00:42:46.400
I believe too that it will it
will complement when you go back to

592
00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:51.199
live in person programming. But again, I see it as such a beautiful

593
00:42:51.239 --> 00:42:55.199
way to stay in touch with and
continue delivering value to those years of cohort

594
00:42:55.239 --> 00:42:59.480
women who've gone through the programs and
they still care about you and still want

595
00:42:59.519 --> 00:43:02.639
to support you. And when by
doing this you have created Now this is

596
00:43:02.679 --> 00:43:07.360
what I wanted listeners to get,
and it's kind of a precursor to what

597
00:43:07.400 --> 00:43:09.639
I'll be saying on Thursday is it's
the silver lining here, right, So

598
00:43:09.679 --> 00:43:13.800
you've been forced to do something totally
different in your business, and in so

599
00:43:14.079 --> 00:43:17.559
doing, you're creating a way to
be more meaningfully connected to much more of

600
00:43:17.599 --> 00:43:24.039
your membership than you were previously.
M I think that's absolutely right, So

601
00:43:24.119 --> 00:43:27.440
before I take give you your next
question that I want to ask you,

602
00:43:27.480 --> 00:43:30.960
we've got Vincent here and he said
he wants to know. So is this

603
00:43:30.960 --> 00:43:34.199
this is a national organization, he
asked, And is it only for women?

604
00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:37.760
Of course it is, but if
you could situate for him and get

605
00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:40.519
a listeners, you know the reach
of the organization. Oh yeah, sure.

606
00:43:40.960 --> 00:43:45.800
So it began in Texas, but
now it's national. So our flagship

607
00:43:45.880 --> 00:43:52.000
programs operate statewide, so that's like
Leadership Texas and then Leadership America is the

608
00:43:52.400 --> 00:43:58.320
national program. And basically the way
they work is that you sign up and

609
00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:01.400
register for the particular class that you
want to join, and then you are

610
00:44:01.440 --> 00:44:07.159
in that class for a year.
So if you're in Leadership America this year,

611
00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:09.840
we were supposed to be meeting in
Washington, d C. This coming

612
00:44:09.880 --> 00:44:14.880
weekend, so it would be two
days in well it sort of a full

613
00:44:14.960 --> 00:44:17.760
day and two half days in Washington, D C. Where you know,

614
00:44:17.800 --> 00:44:22.159
we had a private tour of the
Library of Congress and we were meeting with

615
00:44:22.440 --> 00:44:25.239
treasure Manution, and we were going
to the Press Club to have lunch and

616
00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:31.639
doing all these exciting things. So
the program is four there are four cities

617
00:44:31.960 --> 00:44:37.800
in Leadership Texas, three in Leadership
America, just because people in Leadership America

618
00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:43.119
find it difficult to take more time
than that in their work lives. And

619
00:44:43.159 --> 00:44:45.320
then you're meeting with that same cohort, that same class. You're all meeting

620
00:44:45.320 --> 00:44:50.039
in Washington, d C. We
are still scheduled to be in Los Angeles

621
00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:54.360
the third week in June, and
then in Atlanta in September, and then

622
00:44:54.400 --> 00:44:58.400
next year it will be different cities. So in those cities you're going to

623
00:44:58.480 --> 00:45:02.760
different different venues and meeting women that
are in senior roles there. So if

624
00:45:02.800 --> 00:45:07.840
we go to Washington, D C. We almost always have one of the

625
00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:12.159
Smithsonian leaders who are Who's Who's a
woman to do a presentation or we might

626
00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:16.039
have dinner there. So the whole
idea is that you're meeting other people,

627
00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:22.360
you are meeting leader women leaders in
that community where you're going, and you

628
00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:25.599
then there's all sorts of things that
you obviously that you do and hear hear

629
00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:30.559
from here about in the class itself. Mm hmmm, And thank you for

630
00:45:30.559 --> 00:45:32.800
that question, but sorry, sorry, I was just going to quickly say

631
00:45:32.840 --> 00:45:38.320
that we also have programs for young
women leaders. Now we don't exclude men

632
00:45:38.880 --> 00:45:43.920
in the sense that we you know, we are planning a national conference in

633
00:45:43.960 --> 00:45:47.159
Atlanta at the moment that is still
on in September, along with the final

634
00:45:47.199 --> 00:45:51.480
Session in Leadership America, and men
are invited to attend that that want you,

635
00:45:51.880 --> 00:45:54.840
and we're going to have a male
panel or male panel as part of

636
00:45:54.840 --> 00:46:00.000
that. But the classes themselves are
you know, are restricted to women.

637
00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:04.519
Excellent way to respond beautifully to that. We're getting so close to being out

638
00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:07.719
of time, Lindon, I've got
two more questions for you. So you

639
00:46:08.199 --> 00:46:12.360
made it quite clear that you're an
advocate for women's leadership in the future,

640
00:46:12.440 --> 00:46:15.440
and certainly the programs that you run, and then I'm grateful that I get

641
00:46:15.480 --> 00:46:17.760
to be speaking out here and there
are part of that. But tell us

642
00:46:17.760 --> 00:46:22.920
more about what this future looks like. Sure well, and I'll try and

643
00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:27.280
keep it the Saint keeping in mind
your comment there. So, just in

644
00:46:27.360 --> 00:46:30.199
terms of being an advocate for women
leaders I think my big a har moment

645
00:46:31.320 --> 00:46:36.440
was the realization I can't even tell
you when it was that women come from

646
00:46:36.519 --> 00:46:40.519
the margins so manner in the mainstream. Women for the most part, along

647
00:46:40.519 --> 00:46:44.280
with a lot of other groups,
are in the margins, pushed to the

648
00:46:44.320 --> 00:46:49.039
margins. But the great news is
is the margins is where you gain insight.

649
00:46:49.920 --> 00:46:52.960
It's not so easy to gain those
kinds of insights when you're kept you

650
00:46:53.000 --> 00:46:57.519
know, when you're kept out of
the center. But that's when you can

651
00:46:57.559 --> 00:47:00.400
see what changes need to be made. And that was the origin of my

652
00:47:00.519 --> 00:47:05.760
passion for women's advancement. And I
felt that women have an opportunity because they

653
00:47:05.880 --> 00:47:08.800
pushed to the sidelines to see the
changes that need to be made and to

654
00:47:08.840 --> 00:47:13.639
be a part of those changes.
And women have been doing that ever since

655
00:47:13.639 --> 00:47:17.519
they began agitating for the vote,
and probably long before that. So so

656
00:47:19.119 --> 00:47:22.719
that's where my interests began, realizing, you know what kind of a difference

657
00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:25.800
women could make. And now,
of course you know these in this crisis

658
00:47:25.840 --> 00:47:30.079
all sorts, there's all sorts of
examples in this pandemic. You look at

659
00:47:30.920 --> 00:47:35.320
Jacinda, you know, the Prime
Minister of New Zealand, and the four

660
00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:39.000
to five Nordic countries that are led
by women. They all took early action.

661
00:47:39.119 --> 00:47:45.239
They all have lower deaths rates than
the rest of Europe. And I

662
00:47:45.280 --> 00:47:47.320
could give you more details, but
at least you will shout at me.

663
00:47:47.559 --> 00:47:52.719
But it's only still the situation we're
in. We've only got ten out of

664
00:47:52.719 --> 00:47:57.039
one hundred and fifty elected heads of
state around the world as women. So

665
00:47:57.920 --> 00:48:00.679
this really needs to change. And
I think, I think that we've been

666
00:48:00.679 --> 00:48:04.360
saying this for a long time.
This is the moment, but I do

667
00:48:04.400 --> 00:48:08.000
see some real signs of change,
and I just hope it accelerates and doesn't

668
00:48:08.360 --> 00:48:13.440
it doesn't go backwards me and too
listeners catch what she said there, This

669
00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:16.920
is quotable and usable. Margins is
where you find your insight, beautiful and

670
00:48:17.079 --> 00:48:20.920
done. So here we're at the
end. I do like to give my

671
00:48:21.360 --> 00:48:22.760
guests the last word, if you
will, So, Linda, you know

672
00:48:22.800 --> 00:48:27.920
this program is about helping people across
the world develop more meaning, passion,

673
00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:30.039
inspiration and purpose in their lives and
their work. What would you like to

674
00:48:30.119 --> 00:48:36.519
leave them with today, I think, you know, just just say that

675
00:48:36.840 --> 00:48:39.639
it's times like this that test us
and show us you know what we're made

676
00:48:39.679 --> 00:48:43.840
of. And that was kind of
the essence of the Queen's speech. I'm

677
00:48:43.840 --> 00:48:46.719
British by origin and I always listen
to the queen speech and this special one

678
00:48:46.719 --> 00:48:50.400
that she did. She reminded everybody
that you know, this will come to

679
00:48:50.440 --> 00:48:53.159
an end and that you will want
to feel proud of the way you conduct

680
00:48:53.159 --> 00:48:57.840
yourself, and you conducted yourself during
the during the crisis. And so I

681
00:48:57.840 --> 00:49:01.559
think for me, you know,
I find my passion and purpose in fighting

682
00:49:01.639 --> 00:49:06.760
this good fight, if you like, working with all of our supporters and

683
00:49:06.800 --> 00:49:12.199
our staff to help prepare more women
to move into leadership roles. But I

684
00:49:12.199 --> 00:49:15.760
think everybody needs to find theirs,
and that's your area of expertise at least,

685
00:49:15.800 --> 00:49:19.199
I mean, and I agree with
it wholeheartedly. It's tied to our

686
00:49:19.239 --> 00:49:22.639
mental health, to what kind of
a contribution we can make in our lives,

687
00:49:22.039 --> 00:49:25.320
and to what kind of leaders we
can be. And if we've learned

688
00:49:25.320 --> 00:49:29.760
anything from this virus, it's that
time is of the essence. You know,

689
00:49:29.880 --> 00:49:34.400
whatever it is that drives you,
find it and get moving with it.

690
00:49:34.480 --> 00:49:37.960
And then and then lastly, just
that I believe that not only are

691
00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:43.920
women uniquely suited to positions of leadership, but they also look at issues and

692
00:49:43.960 --> 00:49:47.400
priorities differently. Yes, okay,
And with that we must cut into thank

693
00:49:47.440 --> 00:49:51.599
you so very very much for joining
us. It's a pleasure and privilege to

694
00:49:51.639 --> 00:49:54.119
be on the path with you and
working together. If you want to learn

695
00:49:54.119 --> 00:49:58.280
more about Linda and the programs Leadership
Women offer us, go to the website

696
00:49:58.320 --> 00:50:01.639
it's women dash leaders dot org.
Last week, if you missed the live

697
00:50:01.679 --> 00:50:05.239
show, you can always catch up
you recorded podcast. We were on the

698
00:50:05.280 --> 00:50:08.960
air with David Grayson talking about future
business leadership, sustainability and his latest book,

699
00:50:09.039 --> 00:50:13.039
All in the Future Business Leadership.
Next week, we'll be on the

700
00:50:13.039 --> 00:50:15.960
air with Justin Barnes back to talk
about his latest book, SISU Find Your

701
00:50:16.079 --> 00:50:21.159
Resilience the Finish Way. We'll be
talking about how to unleash this concept across

702
00:50:21.159 --> 00:50:23.239
your life for greater achievement and results
in life and work. See you there,

703
00:50:23.280 --> 00:50:25.480
and remember that work is at least
a third or life, So let's

704
00:50:25.480 --> 00:50:35.280
work on Purpose. We hope you've
enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to

705
00:50:35.320 --> 00:50:39.519
tune in to Working on Purpose featuring
your host Alas Cortes, each week on

706
00:50:39.599 --> 00:51:06.639
the Voice America Empowerment Channel. This
week, find your life's purpose at work