I Demand More Women Leadership, Now!

Leaders help understand where a group needs to be and how to get there. Great leaders set a direction and create something new. The best leaders encourage others to do the right thing, because they want to do it, by building an inspiring vision. Leadership is an art of manifesting inspiration and collaborating to succeed.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

– Dwight D. Eisenhower

Men have predominantly helmed the top positions of power, in this country and in most businesses, behind the worst decisions that still impact us to this day. Quite frankly, male leadership has run amuck, leading the colonization of North America and the genocide of Indigenous peoples across the globe, instituting the trans-Atlantic slave trade and a war to uphold slavery, and introducing wars against Black people and minority groups around the world. 

In a time where the world is on fire, protests have gone on for more than 100 consecutive days for equality of justice and Black lives, and the most powerful position in the world continually lies to the people it was sworn to protect….we need to reevaluate our leaders. We need to be able to rest assured that the leadership we rely on will have our backs. We need to ensure self-interests are not above common interests and the best interests of those most vulnerable in our society. I Demand More Women Leadership, Now!

Manifesting inspiration and motivating others starts with empathy and compassion. If you cannot put yourself in someone else’s shoes, it will be more difficult for you to understand why they are motivated and what they are motivated by. According to Pew Research Center,

"Many, if not most, Americans see men and women as equally capable when it comes to some of the key qualities and behaviors that are essential for leadership. Being honest, holding up under pressure and standing up for what they believe in are some examples of traits that are viewed as essential for leaders in both politics and business and areas where majorities of the public say neither gender has the upper hand. In addition, while a majority of adults say male and female leaders have different leadership styles, relatively few think one gender has a better overall approach than the other."

So why does gender disproportion persist?

First Lady Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama has championed four primary initiatives as First Lady: Let's Move!, Reach Higher, Let Girls Learn, and Joining Forces, battling some of the most pressing issues facing Americans. These initiatives combat childhood obesity, encourage everyone to achieve an education level past high school education, help adolescent girls attain a quality education that empowers them to reach their full potential and ensure that service members, veterans, and their families have the tools they need to succeed throughout their lives.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Because of RBG, #RIGGBG may her soul rest in peace:

1. Employers cannot discriminate against employees based on gender or reproductive choices.
2. State-funded schools must admit women.
3. Women have the right to financial independence and equal benefits.
4. Men are entitled to the same caregiving and Social Security rights as women.
5. Juries must include women.

Activist and Olympic Gold Medalist Megan Rapinoe

Megan Rapinoe taken the blunt force of negative criticism for her unwavering support for LGBTQ+ initiatives, voting rights and Black Lives Matter movements.

The Entire WNBA (150+ player, coaches, trainers, management, and supporting crew)

The WNBA has always been at the forefront of initiatives with supporting #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, the LGBTQ+ community, gun control, voting rights, #MeToo, mental health, pay parity...and the list goes on. “This is not only necessary from a humanitarian perspective, but it may be one of the biggest opportunities that this league has and will ever have.” - WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike.

I Demand More Women Leadership, Now!

For far too long, I haven’t voiced my opinion or leveraged my power as a potential hire. I hope my next manager will be a woman (to the companies I'm interviewing without a woman CEO or direct manager ??...it's an uphill race). The best managers that I have had, have been women. The most successful teams that I have been a part of were led by women.

In order to heal and move forward, we must acknowledge our complicit, ignorant or unconscious involvement in injustice. RBG taught us all an incredible lesson, not only in her fight for justice in the supreme court, but also in a rare apology from a public official. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg removed the only blemish I acknowledge of her illustrious legacy, by apologizing to Colin Kaepernick after criticizing his anthem protests in 2016. RBG said she was "inappropriately dismissive and harsh" in a 2016 interview when she said she thought it was "really dumb" for the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and others to refuse to stand for the national anthem. This is true leadership. True leaders are honest in their success AND in their mistakes. We need leadership that can own up to their mistakes.

In honor of RBG and the women who have raised me & that I look up to, I end with an apology.

I apologize. First, this is an apology to the matriarchs (synonyms grandmothers, empresses, queens, matrons, women, rulers) of my family. The queens that I have never met, those that I have met who have raise(d)/influence(d) me, and those that I hope to meet in the future, born and unborn! This world has failed you and for that I apologize.

I Demand More Black Women Leadership, Now!

In 1962, Malcolm X said that “the most disrespected person in America is the black woman.” Quite frankly, we need Black women at the helm. Black women have traditionally been the loudest against injustice. Black women have voiced their opinions and have been left behind because of their boldness. Black women have waited the longest to vote, to have control over their bodies and to matter in this world. I Demand More Black Women Leadership, Now.

From this moment forward, I expressly acknowledge injustices that have been forced on Women and I make this promise to you –

I will fight for you….

by all the means that I can,

in all the ways that I can,

in all the spaces that I can,

in every moment that I can,

for as long as I ever can.

Excellence in Love, Truth and Service, Justin E. Mott -- October, 2020