Women Leadership is about Presence, Showing Up, and Creating One's Own Tribe

Women History Month??

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The month of March celebrates worldwide Women History Month.? I was featured in March 2022 in a University of Chicago Women’s series for Women History Month. It was, for me, like a “coming out” event. Professionally, I intentionally am creating the change I want to see in the world by being authentic and empowering other professional women.?

I can’t think of a better time in America to be a woman in the professional world.? This month’s content will highlight women – business owners, corporate board directors, entrepreneurs, investors, and organizations that support women and a glimpse of my experiences on how I coped when often I was the only woman in the room.??

My thesis in undergraduate school: "Women’s Career Choices: Six Models"

?My final thesis for a degree in Business administration often came to mind when making career decisions.???

The original copy, typed on a Brother electric typewriter from the 1980’s, has followed me on my travels to live and work abroad and was stashed away in a cupboard. It followed me back to the US, and occasionally, when contemplating professional choices, I would pull it out of its leather binder to ponder.???

Titled: “Women’s Career Choices: Six Models,” author Brenda A. McCabe, Berea College, an excerpt:?

“Research material on women’s career choices abounds with theories. However, no theory has clarified the terminology nor determined standards by which this life process can be analyzed, without receiving criticism from researchers of this field of study. (Predominantly men at the time of the research). The career changes that occur in women’s lives have yet to be incorporated into a comprehensive theory. This paper surveys several theories on vocational choice. And concludes: the changing environment plays a powerful role in career choice and the situation or place of work needs to be reappraised and restructured to facilitate the appreciation of both female and male traits.? Juanita Kreps, asserts that “the second bottom line for corporate social responsibility is to recognize situational barriers facing women and men.?The first line is profit."?

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Juanita Kreps was an economist, educator, and businesswoman. She studied at Berea College, where I too got my undergraduate degrees.??

She was a first in many leadership roles:??

A specialist in labor demographics, Kreps taught at Denison University, Hofstra College, Queens College, and Duke.??

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• She rose through the ranks at Duke to become the university's first female vice president.??

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• Kreps served as the first women director of the New York Stock Exchange in 1972.?

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• She served as the 24th United States secretary of commerce 1977-1979.?

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While my thesis was written over 30 years ago, and according to Kreps at that time, the overall first order of corporate social responsibility was to return profits;? I am heartened to see that the second order of corporate social responsibility has moved beyond recognizing the situational barriers facing men and women, to securing greater Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the rank and file of the corporations as well as in leadership roles.???

I have respect for the time that two generations will take to respond to the changing environment that continues to play a powerful role in career choices.??

I can’t think of a better time in America to be a woman in the professional world:

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1. Women are starting businesses like no other time before in the United States of America.?

?During 2021, the second year of the Covid 19 pandemic,?women started 49% of new businesses in the US in 2021, up from 28% in 2019, according to a new study.?

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2. Women have money and we want to manage it and are driven by criteria unlike that of prior wealthy individuals.?

?The largest wealth transfer in the history of the United States has begun with the boomers –? the generation of people born between 1944 and 1964, who are expected to transfer $30 trillion in wealth to younger generations over the next many years. Of note,??

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• Women now control some $10 trillion (about $31,000 per person in the US) in U.S. financial assets; by the end of the decade, that figure will rise to $30 trillion (about $92,000 per person in the US).?
• “As more and more women have a say in significant financial decisions, it’s easy to see they’re not adhering to business as usual,” said certified financial planner Marguerita Cheng of Blue Ocean Global Wealth.?

1. The Jobs Act or commonly known Jumpstart our Businesses Startups Act signed into Law in 2012 unleashed an opportunity to create a way for companies to use crowdfunding to issue securities, something that was not previously allowed.??

In a webinar hosted by Carta, Building an Ownership Economy, Carta CEO Henry Ward and Rep Jeff Patrick McHenry discuss how to democratize access to capital markets in a more inclusive way to link to prosperity and reduce the inequity in society.??

?When I began to invest in companies in the United States, there were only a small number of Angel funds and VCs dedicated to women entrepreneurs. Today the number of funds – angel funds, venture funds and PE has grown exponentially. Please find a Medium article by Joshua Henderson, on The Global Support Ecosystem for Women Entrepreneurs and Investors:

https://medium.com/been-there-run-that/the-global-support-ecosystem-for-women-entrepreneurs-and-investors-961b3abc2c9b??

"When you learn, teach, when you get, give" Maya Angelou

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?I did not have female professional role models, when moving up the career ladder. I remedied that by creating my own tribe or board of directors, Club 26, to nourish me and we are still going strong.???

Special thanks to Maite Aranzabal, Leslie Freschet, Maria Garcia, Maria Eugenia Giron, Maria Jesus Gonzalez-Espejo, Sylvia Jarabo, Maria del Mar Martinez, Emma Mateos, Ana Munoz, Krista Walochik and Roza Zarza, my tribe.??

Professional and personal events over more than 20 years provided a set of practices that I define as: Presence, Showing Up and Creating your own Tribe that guide me still today.??

Whether it be giving or teaching from my experiences, like Maya Angelou’s inspiration, my objective is to empower the next generation of women leaders.?

This blog during the Women History Month is in tribute to the women that came before me and helped pave the way to greater opportunities to have impact.?

If you are a women founder on the private company journey, and you would like to learn about how to build presence, show up or create your own tribe, book time with me at Next Act Advisors.?

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Brenda A. McCabe?

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