Women’s Leadership to the Fore at 21st Annual Bioneers Conference

By Gloria Feldt | October 16, 2010 |

I am extremely pleased to be speaking at the 2010 Bioneers Conference. If you’re unable to attend the conference in person, you can watch live webcasts of my keynote address, “Riding the Leadership Wave,” as well as the afternoon panel discussion that I am participating in, entitled “Moonrise: Women Leading from the Heart.” The webcasts will be available right here on my website, so grab a latte and enjoy the discussion!

If you’ve been following my Heartfeldt Blog or my 9 Ways Blog, you know that I’m very passionate about encouraging women to embrace their power and step into positions of leadership – now! I invite you to join the discussion by leaving a comment – and don’t forget to come back often, because the 9 Ways Blog will be featuring a different discussion topic each week.

Women, Power and the Transformation of Leadership

By Gloria Feldt | October 15, 2010 |

This was this morning published over at the Women’s Media Center.

Ever had the experience of awaking at night from a nightmare where you’re onstage to give a speech and find you’ve forgotten entirely what you had planned to say? It happened to me but I was wide awake.

Last January, I was slated to give a keynote to a packed house of activist women who had traversed winter snows to attend the SeeJaneDo Passion to Action conference in Grass Valley, California. The speaker to precede me was Bioneers co-founder Nina Simons.

I’d had a chance to meet Nina at breakfast that morning and was eager to hear her talk about the women’s leadership program she’s created within Bioneers, a diverse global coalition of environmental groups that connect to leverage their common mission, which is nothing less than saving the planet. Like so many social movements, Nina told me over hearty biscuits and country gravy, the majority of environmental volunteers doing on-the-ground work are women—but the leadership was primarily men.

Nina began her speech, and my wide-awake nightmare began to unfold. Yes, my notes were neatly tucked away in my folder, and yes, I knew exactly what I wanted to tell the women assembled. The problem? Nina was giving my speech. Almost word for word, and definitely idea for idea.

Video of Leaders and Speakers at Passion Into Action Conference

By Gloria Feldt | July 29, 2010 |

Women–power–leadership; it’s all here in this short video summary of the SeeJaneDo Passion Into Action conference at which I spoke last winter, along with an inspiring lineup of women doing amazing things for and in the world.

JK Rowling Talks About the Benefits of Failure

By Gloria Feldt | May 16, 2010 |

If we haven’t failed at something by the time you reach midlife, we probably aren’t trying to break boundaries or reach our deepest dreams. This video of JK Rowling’s commencement speech to Harvard graduates delivers a profound message–that “rock bottom is a solid foundation” from which realize that when you have nothing left to lose, you are completely free to start anew on the path to your life’s ambitions.

She said it better than I did, as you would expect from the author of the Harry Potter books, so take a watch.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

Leading Across Borders: Creating Women Entrepreneurs in Iraq

By Gloria Feldt | April 25, 2010 |

Regular Courageous Leadership contributor Anne Doyle sent me the link to this inspiring article by journalist Diane Tucker. Entitled “In Iraq, Women Entrepreneurs Staring a New Kind of Insurgency,” the piece is a good illustration of how financial resources underlie the capacity to achieve independence and elevate their status in society. It’s this kind of social change that also contributes to building a stronger democracy.

Tucker interviewed an American woman of Indian descent Amber Chand. Chand–who grew up in a wealthy family that lost everything when she was a child and later became an entrepreneur herself, is teaching Iraqi women, as well as women in Afghanistan and other countries in distress, how to become successful businesswomen. Here’s the story in her words.

Thanksgiving to Three Courageous Leaders

By Anne Doyle | November 25, 2009 |

On Thanksgiving Eve, I’m grateful to three courageous leaders. First, Dana Kennedy, Executive Director of Emerge Arizona. Dana not only works every day to recruit, train, and support pro-choice Democratic women to run for office, she put her convictions into action by running for Phoenix City Council. Though she didn’t prevail this time, I hope she will run again until she joins the ranks of leadership consultant and occasional guest poster here, Anne Doyle and political blogger par excellence Jill Miller Zimon, both of whom mounted their first political races and won city counil seats in Auburn Hills MI and Pepper Pike OH respectively.

As then-AZ Governor Janet Napolitano, now Secretary of Homeland Security, once told me, “You can’t win if you don’t run.” That’s a great leadership lesson, whether we’re talking politics or profession, civic engagement or choosing life goals.

Nervous about taking the plunge? Help is a Google away. In the political realm, check out this report featuring Emerge Arizona.

Get Your Coven Together and Create a Revolution on Friday the 13th

By Gloria Feldt | November 13, 2009 |

If you are a writer and a woman, you’e probably heard about the great new website SheWrites started by a very powered woman, Kamy Wicoff, and already boasting a membership of over 5000. I just posted this over there and couldn’t resist sharing it with you. Seems that Publishers Weekly released its annual list of Top 10 Books, and guess what, there wasn’t a single book by a woman on it. So Kamy swung into action, which I love. The rest of the story will be obvious. (BTW, if you’re a woman writer, join up today by clicking the picture on the right.)

So here’s what posted at SheWrites:

I like Friday the 13th. Thirteen is a great number. Why? First of all, my birthday is on the 13th, April 13th. Every once in a while it lands on a Friday, and I feel just as lucky then as when it falls on a Tuesday. The gifts are just as much fun to open. Publisher’s Weekly has handed us at SheWrites a gift by calling attention to the lack of books by women writers on their Top 10 list.

I also like Friday the 13th because 13 is the number of a coven. Covens are powerful. Every women needs her coven, no matter what her religion is or what she thinks about witches. We need our circle of women friends, our old or new girls network. Our sister courage. Our girl gangs. One of us alone can accomplish a lot, but 13 of us together make a movement. Remember, thirteen colonies started a revolution and formed a new nation in 1776. Kamy has challenged us to create our own revolution.

Why Obama Won’t Be Our Next “Greatest” American President

By Gloria Feldt | November 8, 2009 |

A few posts ago, I asked how you rate President Obama’s leadership on health care reform.

There were some intriguing responses. I said at the time that I agreed with Jeff Friedman, who replied via Facebook:

As seems to be the case with almost every issue he tackles, his heart is in the right place, but he doesn’t seem to have the stomach for a good, old fashioned street fight. And, unfortunately, until he quits trying to be Conciliator-in-Chief and starts to tackle the Republicans and the Blue Cross, I mean the Blue Dog, Democrats head on, most of his positive agenda for the country is going to fall by the wayside. If only he had the stubborn, confrontational approach for his good ideas that George W. Bush had for his horrible ones.

Still, I had the audacity to hope that Obama would gain strength in his role and become increasingly willing to put forth bold initiatives to solve problems such as the 40 million Americans lacking health insurance and many millions more teetering on the brink of losing it along with their jobs or being so underinsured they can’t afford primary or preventive care.

I take to heart the position of smart young author Courtney Martin (please read her Washington Post column about this topic here and vote for her to be their next new pundit) that Obama is exercising a significant kind of leadership when he says citizens must lead ourselves by participating in the process not just during elections, but every day.

Courageous Leadership Transition at the Women’s Media Center

By Gloria Feldt | October 27, 2009 |

As a board member of the Women’s Media Center, I’m delighted to share this announcement of a very positive passing of the torch, or more properly increasing the number of torches lighting the way to making women visible and powerful in the media: a tribute to the founding president Carol Jenkins and a warm welcome to incoming president Jehmu Greene. Here’s the press release that just went out.

It is with great pleasure that we announce to you that Progressive Women’s Voices alum Jehmu Greene has been selected as the next president of The Women’s Media Center. She brings great expertise in feminist/progressive organizing and media — and she is, we believe, the perfect woman for the organization’s next stages of development. We are sharing this announcement with you before our public announcement tomorrow because we value your support of the WMC. Thank you.

Women Weigh in on Barack Obama’s Nobel Win

By Guest | October 19, 2009 |

Guest post by regular contributor Lee Reid Taylor.

Barack Obama and the world woke up Friday morning to the unexpected news that the president had received the Nobel Peace Prize. Women’s responses to the announcement ran the gamut: from accolades, to shock and even disbelief. Some question whether the award is premature, while others believe it is a call for Obama to act on his political oratory of peace.

Obama is the third sitting president, following Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, to receive the honor. The first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize was a woman, Bertha von Suttner, in 1901. Female recipients of the Peace Prize include: Jane Addams, Ayn San Suu Kii, Betty Williams, and Wangari Maathai (just to name a few). Of the ninety-six Nobel Peace Prizes awarded, only nineteen were given to women. The fact that Obama is now a recipient leads some to ask, “Why him, and why now?”

Women have different interpretations of why this award was given and what impact it will have on the president’s policies.

Leadership