Why is honoring achievement important? How does it impact our business community?
The Scottish definition of leadership is “to show the way by going first.” When we recognize women who have accomplished what others did not think possible, we inspire others to take the leap of faith. Their courage and determination show the way and serve as role models for new paths. An example of this is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is, by definition, a leap of faith and, when we can encourage women to take that leap, we are cultivating our business environment. More jobs are created through new business and our community is enriched through these bold new steps. Our shedding light on these accomplishments thus enhances our community.
What is the single most important thing you have learned throughout your career that would inspire others/other women?
“You can do it!”
This was the theme of my birth. After challenges getting pregnant and miscarriages, my mother was told she couldn’t have any more children. One day, she went to the doctors and said she thought she was pregnant. They told her she was having a nervous breakdown and go to Florida for a rest. While there, she felt life and came back to tell the doctors they were the crazy ones! Seven years after my brother was born, I came along. Her message: Don’t let the doubters keep you back.
Sure enough, throughout my career and life, I have found that theme to help me persist when I doubted myself or heard others doubt me. Having clarity about my purpose and persisting with confidence even in the face of doubt has been my most important lesson.
What do you think we can do – now – to make a difference for young people/women in Arizona?
Research shows that young people who grow up in difficult circumstances who have an “internal locus of control” are able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps whereas those with an “external locus of control” are not. Those with an internal locus of control feel they can impact their environment, whereas external means they feel they are impacted by the environment.
It is important that we help young people understand that they can channel their energy and build their competence to make their dreams come true and to help others. When we legitimize their hopes and goals by listening to and encouraging them, we show them they are important. When we expose them to meaningful work, to meet role models and to experience new areas of culture and recreation, we broaden their perspective and support their engagement in a constructive path for their lives.
In A Few Words
- What was the last course, certification or training you took to improve yourself professionally? Governance
- What would you say is a single characteristic OTHERS might attribute to you that defines your success? Determination
- What is the one thing you feel you could work on professionally to be a greater success? Patience
- What is the one professional skill you have that has gotten you where you are today? Listening
- What is the single greatest issue facing Arizona today? An inadequate system of education for all children.
About Me
My mission is to bring people together to learn, grow, heal and assist each other on our journeys. My greatest accomplishments are those lives I have touched through my work and my journeys, whether that is a client, friend or acquaintance who is able to be more effective because of our interaction or a client organization (most frequently a family business) that can accomplish its mission and its stakeholders be more effective, or the nonprofits I support are able to achieve their mission (whether that is The Phoenix Symphony, the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy and/or the Aspen Family Business Group) because of my service on their boards.
The transition of the Aspen group to a nonprofit represents a great accomplishment with my colleagues as we can now impact many more family businesses who might not otherwise be able to access consultation or education.
