Taking Risks and Making Challenges: Advice from Dynamic Women in Business
By Melanie H. Axman (Boston)
Harvard Business School kicked off its 20th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference last Saturday, celebrating esteemed, accomplished, and professional women from various walks of life. Created in 1992 to highlight issues women face in the workplace, the Conference continues to draw emerging and distinguished female business leaders into a “conversation about how to proceed, succeed, and survive as women in business.” The panelists and speakers hailed from a variety of backgrounds and career trajectories, sharing their journeys, successes, challenges and even failures. In turn, they received a reception of energetic engagement, curious respect and supportive appreciation from their diverse audience (comprised of undergradudate and graduate students, young and experienced professionals, community leaders, and Harvard faculty.)
The morning began with a Keynote address by Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of GE. The focus of her discussion was on risks, consistent innovation, and the bravery to recognize failure as a critical and integral part of the learning curve and growth process. Throughout her career, including two years as President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal, she kept coming back to the notion of risk and risks worth taking. She said, “To live is to risk. Not to take a risk is to be stagnant. To stand still.”
“You have to stand for something. You have to stand very tall. Sometimes risks are risks that aren’t of your choosing,” she said. She challenged the captivated audience to allow themselves to fail fast, and fail in small enough ways that lessons were learned quickly and innovative solutions were the outcome.
Work/Life Balance – Creativity, Juggling, and Leveraging
The panel discussion on Work/Life Balance followed and panelists candidly honored the struggles that allowed them to understand the value of their time and simultaneously taught them to juggle their roles as mothers, daughters, wives and executives. A senior executive and mother of five children, Ellen Rogers’ professional track ground to a halt after her then 22 year-old son was critically injured in a car accident and became a paraplegic. She left her job at the office and decided to focus her days on his full time care, helping him through a lengthy recovery and rehab. During that time, she discovered “Kasey,” a Capuchin monkey which became the focus of her next successful endeavor: a book about her experiences and journey.
“The most important thing,” she said, “is reinventing yourself. Your circumstances are going to change constantly. As much as you think you can organize your career and plan for the future, things change. You have to adapt.”
The women’s experiences taught them that there was no easy solution or worn path that led the way. Achieving success at home and at work took creativity, unique solutions, juggling, and leveraging all the resources they had. Panelist and best-selling author and global speaker, Fawn Gemer explained, “The whole issue of work-life balance is about choices. Decide what your values are, who you are going to be and take control of your schedule very early on.” She challenged her audience, “If other people can get on your calendar, why can’t you? It’s just a matter of writing in “time off.” Stop putting so much pressure on yourself to succeed,” she told the room of bright, ambitious and accomplished women. “You are entitled to a full, happy life.”
Charging Ahead with Success
Susan Smith Ellis, CEO of (RED), mirrored this same concept during her afternoon keynote address. Admitting that things turned out much differently than she planned, she admitted, “We are very hard on ourselves – we look at what we don’t do well, and what we haven’t lived up to. It’s important to really focus on what you do well.”
During her rapid career growth, Smith Ellis sped up the corporate ladder, and held the title of Chief Executive Officer at 33 years old, running offices around the world. At age 40, she decided to have children and took time off from work. When her children returned to school, she found herself restless and jumped back in to the corporate world with a vigor and a success that astounded her peers. “People acted like I was brain dead [because I took time off], that I had nothing to offer. I wasn’t willing to let anyone tell me I was done at 46,” she said.
Crediting her mentors for the incredible guidance they bestowed on her, she considers herself a life long learner, although she stepped down from her role 3 weeks ago as it became something that was all consuming. She reflected on her success of growing RED from an $18 million to a $160 million organization, and challenged the group before her, “Don’t be a victim, and don’t let the drumbeat of statistics hold you back. You are the most educated, qualified, ambitious, attractive and focused women in history.”
