The podcast for business professionals advancing to executive and enterprise levels of leadership, brought to you by Leading Women Executives.
‘A Seat at the Table’ is now available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple, Google, and Spotify.
In this episode, Deborah Gordon, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, and Chief Legal Officer for Memorial Hermann Health System, discusses her career journey and becoming an authentic leader. Deborah explores issues that many women leaders face, including building an executive brand, overcoming imposter syndrome and investing in your own personal and professional development.
There are many benefits to serving on a not-for-profit board, including helping to fulfill an organization’s mission, expanding your skillset and broadening your network. Finding the right fit and understanding the expectations of Board membership is important to ensure an optimal experience. In this episode, Leading Women Executives Fellows Aimee Nolan and Sara Granack discuss their experiences serving on not-for-profit Boards, and how they have benefitted by serving as civic leaders.
Aimee is Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Chief IP Counsel at Grainger, and currently serves as the Board Chair for the Alzheimer’s Association, Illinois Chapter (Leading Women Executives, Spring 2014). Sara is Vice President, Corporate Communication & Reputation at CDW, and is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors for Bernie’s Book Bank (Leading Women Executives, Spring 2015).
In this inaugural episode of Season 4, Mary Ann Korenic, CEO of The Chicago Trust Company at Wintrust Wealth Management, shares her leadership and life journey. Having faced numerous personal and professional hardships, Mary Ann shares her perspectives on facing adversity and discusses how these challenges forced her to persevere and ultimately, conquer new summits.
In this episode, Deb DeHaas, CEO of Corporate Leadership Center, talks with Michelle Banks as she discusses her career journey and the key inflection points that led her to her current role as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Kohl’s. Michelle articulates the many ways that Kohl’s is working to surpass its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion goals across the key pillars of people, community, and customers. She also highlights the valuable role Kohl’s Business Resource Groups (BRGs) serve, bringing diverse perspectives and strategic ideas to the table, and championing a culture of inclusion and belonging.
Finding one’s leadership voice and style is never easy, and for women of color, it can be particularly challenging. Often women of color find themselves facing social and cultural constraints as the “firsts” in corporate leadership roles and feel pressured to conform in order to advance in their careers. In this episode, Valerie Purdie Greenaway, Professor of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University and Leading Women Executives faculty member, and Deepa Purushothaman, Co-Founder of nFormation and the author of The First, The Few, The Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America, discuss their research on the challenges of being a woman of color in business, and how companies can help to mitigate these issues.
Career transitions provide a valuable opportunity to pause and reflect before embarking on new ventures. Oftentimes, insights gleaned during this period help to guide future decisions, both professionally and personally. Having recently left JLL as Global Chief Human Resources Officer, Mary Bilbrey, CEO Perspectives Fellow, 2019, reflects on her career journey and lessons learned as a result of the pandemic. She also shares valuable perspectives on how companies can foster ongoing employee engagement and build a powerful corporate culture.
Every business leader can benefit from greater insight on how to collaborate more effectively with their in-house legal team. In turn, every legal team can provide greater impact when viewed as a strategic partner, collaborating with the business to achieve its goals.
In this episode, Laura Wood, General Counsel, Zoro US; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2019; and Tamela Merriweather, Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Northern Trust; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2018, discuss their work to build relationships within their organizations and showcase the strategic value of the legal function in business.
Research shows that when it comes to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), women make up only 28% of the workforce and are significantly outnumbered by men in fields like computer science and engineering. This outcome underscores the fact that girls and women are often discouraged from pursuing studies in science and math, limiting their access and preparation to pursue these areas of interest.
In this episode, Dr. Tarika Barrett, Chief Executive Officer, Girls Who Code, and Denise Lintz, Vice President of Enterprise Portfolio Management and Technology Shared Services at USCellular discuss their commitment and ongoing efforts to close the gender gap in tech jobs by equipping girls with computing skills to take on future opportunities and careers in STEM.
Business executives often credit a breakout role – a unique project or challenge in which they excelled – as a major part of their career success. The increased responsibilities and visibility these roles offer enable leaders to both demonstrate their skills and expand their capabilities in new and interesting ways.
In this episode, Lisa Badgley, Senior Vice President at Walgreens; CEO Perspectives Fellow, 2017; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2011, discusses her breakout role, and the many valuable lessons she acquired along the way.
In the past few years, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have become a key priority for companies, as they work to define their ESG goals and link them to long-term sustainability and strategic planning. Long before the concept of ESG became popular, Grainger focused on these goals and built them into an integral part of their corporate values and leadership objectives. In this episode, Corporate Leadership Center CEO Deb DeHaas talks with Grainger’s Kathleen Carroll, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer; Leading Women Executives Advocate; and Rebecca Derdiger, Senior Director of Diversity and Corporate Responsibility; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2021, to learn more about Grainger’s ESG journey and how they bring value to their stakeholders through their ongoing efforts.
Supporting top performers by encouraging them to take on stretch assignments and advocating on their behalf is at the heart of sponsorship. Those who have had the benefit of being sponsored often become sponsors, to ‘pay it forward’ and help develop others’ careers. In this episode, Discover’s Diane Offereins, Executive Vice President and President of Payment Services and Alisa Ellis, Global Head of Innovation and Emerging Products; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2020, share their experiences and advice on how to derive the most impact from sponsorship relationships.
Leading Women Executives hosted a virtual workshop in August focused on “Creating Workplaces That Work for Everyone” to address the challenges that all organizations are facing in the wake of the pandemic. Specifically, the discussion focused on the topics of: Reengaging and Retaining Talent, Rebuilding Culture and Reskilling Employees.
In this episode, three 2020 Fellows -- Jennifer Chuang, responsible for operations for Aon's top-down innovation initiatives, Aon; Sarah Huizingh, Global Marketing Director, Software & Services, Motorola Solutions; and Ashley Nasby, Director, Insurance Origination, NextEra Energy -- share their takeaways from the workshop and how they are applying those concepts within their organizations.
A key component of the Leading Women Executives curriculum focuses on negotiations, including how to recognize opportunities to negotiate, positions vs. interests, and different strategies for successful outcomes.
In this episode, Tracy Hedrick, Vice President, Card Operations, Discover Financial Services; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2020, and Heather Lindsay, Associate Vice President, Customer Service, Medicaid Operations, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2021, share their stories from recent negotiations and what they learned about themselves in the process.
As CEO of the American Red Cross of Illinois, Celena Roldan, CEO Perspectives Fellow, 2017, is responsible for leading her team, and thousands of volunteers, to serve communities in times of crisis. The past 18 months, in particular, have generated a wealth of leadership lessons in communication, transparency, building culture and affecting positive social change. In this episode Celena shares her perspectives on community leadership, as well as personal perspectives about the pandemic.
Serving on a corporate board is both an exciting opportunity and sizable responsibility. Board members have the opportunity to share their knowledge and business expertise, as well as glean new ideas to bring back to their own organizations. In this episode, Deidra Merriwether, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Grainger; CEO Perspectives Fellow, 2016, shares her experiences and advice as a first-time board member of Weyerhauser.
The words we use to describe others in the workplace, particularly when it comes to evaluating performance, need to be chosen with care. Often, we use different words when describing men and women, which can have a profound impact on perceptions, decisions and opportunities. In this episode, Lori Mackenzie, co-founder of Stanford’s VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab; lead strategist, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Leading Women Executives Faculty Member, explores the “Language of Leadership” and how making strategic word choices can benefit leaders, their teams and their organizations.
Fostering innovation requires a unique balance between decentralized creativity to ideate and build new solutions, and centralized allocation of organizational resources and support to bring those ideas to life. In this episode, Sona Chawla, Chief Growth and Innovation Officer, CDW; CEO Perspectives Fellow, 2010, and Leading Women Executives Advocate, discusses the links between innovation and technology; companies’ different approaches to developing innovation strategies; and how every leader can become a better innovator.
Succession planning requires a deep understanding of the company’s strategic objectives, as well as the interests and career goals of its valued leaders. In this episode, TransUnion’s Anne Leyden, Executive Vice President & Head of Human Resources and Katie Coleman, Senior Vice President, Human Resources; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2014, discuss their perspectives on career development planning and share practical advice for how to implement successful succession plans.
Deb DeHaas recently joined Corporate Leadership Center as CEO, following her retirement from Deloitte as Vice Chairman and National Managing Partner for the Center of Board Effectiveness. An active member of multiple boards and civic organizations, she is committed to making an impact as a business leader and member of the community. In this episode, Deb shares her perspectives on effective leadership, and how she weaves her professional and personal interests into a rich tapestry of life experiences.
This year has been a particularly challenging one, requiring everyone to find new ways of living, working and practicing resilience. Fellows from the 2019 program reflect back on 2020, and how lessons from the Leading Women Executives program helped them be more effective leaders throughout this tumultuous time. Featuring Summer Collins, Associate Vice President, Design and Innovation at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas; Liz Henderson, Senior Managing Director at Aon; and Khai Yang, Director Data Strategy at Allstate.
Leadership journeys often uncover opportunities to take on “stretch roles” – positions that require new skill sets and new responsibilities, and which yield great rewards. Moving into these roles requires courage, confidence and a willingness to step out of one’s comfort zone. In this episode, Kris Yates, President of Allsteel (a division of HNI Corporation); Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2011, shares how embracing stretch roles has enhanced her career and benefited her company.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to accelerate their digital transformation strategies to meet their customers’ needs quickly, creatively and efficiently. In this episode, we explore the concepts of the Digital Rubicon and proximity, and how Ulta is applying these lessons to how they do business. Featuring: Rob Wolcott, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The World Innovation Network (TWIN); Clinical Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University; managing partner with Clareo; and faculty member for our sister program – CEO Perspectives; and Prama Bhatt, Chief Digital Officer, Ulta; Leading Women Executives Fellow, 2016.
Corporate Leadership Center Co-Chairmen and CEO Perspectives and Leading Women Executives Co-Founders Cheryl Francis and Sheila Penrose reflect on their experiences as senior business leaders at a time when few women had a ‘seat at the table’. In this episode, they acknowledge important mentors who influenced them throughout their careers and share their experiences as business leaders, along with their hopes for the advancement of women in leadership.
Peer boards are an integral part of the Leading Women Executives program. These carefully curated, smaller groups of 4-5 women are designed to help participants cultivate a strategic network and valuable resource for professional viewpoints.
In this episode, a peer board of 2018 Fellows explores how their professional connections flourished into personal friendships. Featuring: Ashley Hall, Managing Director, Tax, KPMG; Stephanie Knuth, Vice President Marketing, Kohler Global Faucets; Tiffani Micencik, Vice President, Hospital and Health Systems Division, Great Lakes Region, Allscripts; and Monica Mueller, Executive Director, Motorola Solutions Foundation; Senior Director, Inclusion, Diversity and Outreach, Motorola Solutions.
The COVID-19 crisis has forced organizations to reassess and realign how they do business. Understanding customers’ changing needs is a critical step in the process, and requires companies to listen, learn and adapt quickly in order to succeed in this new environment.