Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business hosted a panel discussion on women in leadership positions called “Women and Leadership: The Courage to Dream Big,” which emphasized the importance of empowering the next generation of women to take risks in the pursuit of their ambitions and take a proactive role in pursuing their dreams.
The panel was moderated by Catherine Tinsley, Georgetown McDonough professor of management and executive director of the Georgetown University Women’s Leadership Initiative, included Kara Ross, owner of Kara Ross New York LLC; Maria C. Hackley, Citigroup managing director; and Regina Scully, founder and CEO of Artemis Rising Foundation.
“When women succeed, America succeeds,” exclaimed Nancy Pelosi, majority leader, U.S. House of Representatives, during her opening remarks to the discussion.
Tinsley then presented her research on women in business. She noted that “Women own 7.8 million U.S. businesses; a 44% increase from 1997-2007; twice the growth rate of men.” Despite these positive statistics, the advancement of women to top positions within publicly traded corporations, the ratio of women to men is still woefully imbalanced.
Ross offered some advice by stressing the importance of women helping to mentor and finance to build women’s careers. She also encouraged women to take risks, saying, “You can’t be afraid to hear the word ‘no.’ ”
Scully shared how most of the top executives in media are men– thus men are the one’s deciding what content and images get broadcast though traditional channels. She advocated using the media to communicate the value of women’s contributions to the global economy.
“The media is one of the most powerful tools in our culture right now to make change—to make social change, to make policy change, to change ideologies. We can move the needle by using the media to shift the way we communicate with our youth about our culture.”
You can see the entire discussion here.
