Leading Future Forward

Welcome to The C-Suite! In this issue, I explore future-forward leadership, celebrate three phenomenal women leaders who shaped, supported and continue to inspire me every day and share several strategies to level up your leadership game.

Although a consensus definition for future-forward leadership has yet to exist, I define it as a leader's ability to focus themselves and their team on the infinite opportunities and unlimited possibilities to think differently, embrace calculated risks and move beyond the status quo to transformative innovation.

In today's challenging and evolving societal, political and business environments, leaders face a myriad of opportunities and challenges that require us to 'think differently' while actively and purposefully engaging our teams, peers and executives in new and unfamiliar ways to thrive and innovate.

I welcome your comments and thoughts.

Renée

Celebrating Extraordinary Women Leaders

As this year's Women's History Month celebration draws to a close, I want to honor and recognize three extraordinary women in my life who faced insurmountable odds and significant obstacles with the grit, perseverance and temerity to blaze trails and pay it forward for many other women and me.

Often, we find inspiration and role models in our classrooms, in the media and through historical events. I was blessed to look within my immediate family to find two exceptional female leaders, Shirley Walker, my mom, and Flora Walker Gillard, her sister and my aunt.

In the 1970s, my mom—who worked for then Michigan Bell, now known as AT&T—was a telephone operator. When the company was compelled to allow women into its telephone installation training program, my mom was among the first applicants accepted. Petite in stature and never short on tenacity and perseverance, she completed the training and joined the installation team. She also became a chief union steward of the Communications Workers of America for her local in Detroit, Michigan.

Imagine my mom pictured below, scaling up and down telephone polls in the 1970s within the male-dominated and far less culturally evolved work environment than we have today. I've learned many invaluable lessons from my mom, as we all have from our mothers. From a leadership perspective, she has taught me the importance of empowering yourself, having the courage and determination to attain your goals, being present for all opportunities, and using your voice to ensure everyone has a chance to succeed.

My aunt, Flora, worked as a typist for the city of Detroit in the 1960s, where she believed the workers were being mistreated. So, she organized 1,200 municipal workers before being recruited to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Michigan (AFSCME) as its first African American female staff representative in 1966.

Long before the 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling and at a point in history when women leaders—in particular women of color leaders—were highly uncommon and unwelcomed, my aunt's dedication, tenacity, intellect, perseverance and passion enabled her to break through many barriers in the business, labor and political arenas. Ultimately, she became a highly regarded Labor and Democratic Party leader whose persistence and unabashed ability to speak truth to power enabled her to join the ranks of the male labor leaders as an equal and to earn their respect and admiration.

For U.S. presidential, legislative and local elections throughout Michigan and nationwide, she galvanized Democratic voters and fought for public employees. She remained actively engaged in national and state politics until passing in 2018.?

She taught me so much through her servant-leadership style, including putting your people first, speaking truth to power, negotiating from a position of strength, leveraging power for the greater good, and effectively navigating male-dominated environments in business and politics.

During my tenure in the City of Detroit Mayor's Office, I had the opportunity to work for Nettie Seabrooks, who is also a trailblazer. She was the first African American female executive at General Motors. She also served as the first female deputy mayor and chief operating officer for the City of Detroit during Mayor Archer's administration in the1990s.?

Nettie believes a leader's primary responsibility is to ensure that their team has the opportunity to contribute at their highest level. It was her responsibility to remove obstacles and challenges that impeded her team members and to empower them to find and use their voices, develop as thoughtful leaders and take calculated risks to solve problems and achieve transformative innovations.?

Nettie's leadership style, quiet confidence and determination empowered me to use my voice, push beyond the boundaries of the status quo, and excel at successfully leading a matrixed team of more than 50 city workers from various departments to produce high-profile events, including the Detroit Grand Prix, Thanksgiving Day Parade, and develop the successful bid for the 2006 NFL Super Bowl XL.

Unquestionably, I am a better leader due to the many lessons, exemplary examples and encouragement these extraordinary women leaders provided me. I am forever indebted and continue to pay it forward to others as they pursue their passions, build their careers and navigate their entrepreneurship journey.

Leading Future Forward

Each of the previously highlighted women exemplifies future-forward leadership. They recognized opportunities, understood the obstacles and challenges, and moved forward to unleash?infinite opportunities and unlimited possibilities that moved beyond the status quo to transformative innovation.?In doing so, they also blazed new trails and created more opportunities for the women and people of color who followed them.

Often leaders focus on the daily issues and sometimes the opportunities as they are presented. They are less focused on effectively empowering their team members and unlocking transformative innovation. Future-forward leaders generally anticipate challenges and opportunities, encourage and support their teams to take calculated risks, accept failures and celebrate successes as they know creative problem-solving and transformative innovation includes some missteps.

"The true mark of a leader is the willingness to stick with a bold course of action — an unconventional business strategy, a unique product-development roadmap, a controversial marketing campaign — even as the rest of the world wonders why you're not marching in step with the status quo. In other words, real leaders are happy to zig while others zag. They understand that in an era of hyper-competition and non-stop disruption, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something special." - Bill Taylor , co-founder of Fast Company?

The other hallmarks of future-forward leaders include authenticity and inclusivity as a high degree of self-awareness, emotional maturity, and a flexible leadership style that fits the situation and team needs. Inclusivity creates a shared purpose in an environment that encourages diversity of thought and promotes the active participation from team members through their leadership actions and words.

Here are a few key strategies and resources to help you level up your leadership game.

• Strengths Finder.?A?Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and Businessweek?bestseller. It is one of the most recommended and preeminent leadership-assessment tools. Rather than identifying deficiencies, this tool enables you to discover your untapped talent and to coach others to develop their strengths. Additionally, it will help you determine how your leadership style and actions are perceived and the associated impact on your team members, peers and other executives.
• Inspire Action.?Great leaders motivate others to take action by creating a culture that rewards engagement and empowers others to use their talents, acquire new skills and develop as authentic leaders. Purposefully work to create an environment where you and your team will thrive.
• Pay It Forward.?We all stand on the shoulders of others, so we must share our knowledge and experiences, mentor others and create opportunities for others to pursue their passions, achieve their goals, and exceed our success.?

Wherever you are in your leadership journey, it is important to honor your history and to begin leading future-forward to grow and develop yourself and your team and to achieve sustainable success.?

In the United States, despite a Record-High Number of Fortune 500 Women CEOs in 2021, There Are Still More Than Ten Times as Many Companies Run by Men Than Women

In the United States, women were nearly half (47.0%) of the labor force?but?only 40.9% of managers in 2021.?

In 2021, white women held almost a third (32.6%) of all management positions.?

Women of color held a drastically smaller share of management positions:?

• Latinas: 4.3%
• Black women: 4.3%
• Asian women: 2.7%

In 2021, women made up the highest share of managers in human resources (74.8%). Their share of management in selected other industries was:?

• Medical and health services: 75.1%
• Marketing: 61.5%
• Food service: 48.5%

Source:?Catalyst Women in Management

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