10 May It’s About the People, and Always Will Be

Last week I spent two amazing days at the Georgetown University Womens’ Forum. The event kicked off with a conversation with Sally Yates and wrapped up with a conversation on Women in the Media moderated by Greta Van Susteren. These two conversations bookended inspiring and thought provoking conversations on Feminism as a Personal and Professional Identity; Disruption, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Uncovering your Unconscious Bias; Fireside Chat with Ashley Merryman and Exploring the NextGen of Work with Katherine Londergan, Cynthia Lopez, Kelly Otter, and Faye Ricci.

One of the key takeaways from the panel on Exploring the NextGen of Work, was that as much as technology will disrupt our careers and workplaces, it will still be critical for us to develop and maintain relationships and the role of people leadership, purpose and culture will become even more important in organizations, and will continue to be differentiators in business. The moderators reinforced much of the core beliefs of The Silverene Group and advice I share with leaders and CEOs on building effective relationships:

–  Actual conversation, whether its face to face or over the phone, is always going to trump text, Slack or whatever other mediums may exist – don’t shy away from it.

–  Start from a place of openness and curiosity by asking complex, open-ended questions. If you don’t know how, you may want to read Leading with Questions by Michael J. Marquardt.

–  Great leaders continuously learn from those around them and aren’t afraid of not knowing “the answer.”

–  Be authentic in your interactions. Your personal values should drive your decision making and your personal exchanges. Make time to get to know what drives, inspires and motivates the people around you.

So, while we may spend 25% of our day on email or check our phones 150 times per day, it’s great to hear that this panel of experts still firmly believes that human touch, diversity and culture will continue to increase in importance. #culture #diversityandinclusion #womeninleadership #leadership #GUWF2018

This article was originally published on my LinkedIn. Find it here!