The 28th annual Women’ Thrive Conference hosted by MichBusiness provided a chance to recognize the achievements of women in business around the state.
But it also served as an opportunity for those accomplished women – recognized as Shooting Stars, Women in Leadership and MichBusiness Hall of Famers – to share their views in a variety of panel discussions that touched on topics ranging from culture to mentorship and leadership. Here’s a sample of the discussion:
Hall of Fame Panel, moderated by Terry Barclay, president and CEO of Inforum Michigan
Question: How have you navigated setbacks and difficult challenges? What did you learn and how did you grow?
Michelle Richards, who runs the Great Lakes Women’s Business Council, said it’s “really hard for us” in times of crisis and challenges.
“Our initial instinct is to have an emotional response, followed by trying to control whatever it is that’s going on,” she said. “If we can control it, then we can somehow make it go away, and that doesn’t work. One of the things I’ve learned over years of practicing and failing is the first thing you have to do is take a step back, take a deep breath, put your emotions in another room for a moment, and build a list of facts.
“Make a list of what you know, then make your response based on that. You’re more likely to get to a favorable solution.”
Reverend Faith Fowler, executive director of Cass Community Social Services, stressed “turning off the negativity” and cited incidents like the 9/11 attacks.
“When you hit that really stressful time, you have to turn off that ‘loop,’ don’t buy into the negative stuff that’s coming,” Fowler said. “You have to turn it off so you can think about a solution. As long as you’re participating in the negativity that is everywhere now, you’ll … never move forward.”
Question: What are the biggest challenges that leaders should be considering for the future?
Grace Lee, CEO and president of Ashford Connex, LLC., pointed quickly to the ever-changing world of technology.
“When I first started my company 30 years ago, the internet (was just starting) … We would tell clients if they wanted to sell their house we can do a webpage for you, and they would call us scam artists,” she said, drawing some laughs from the crowd. “Look how the 30 years has changed. We have e-commerce – Amazon really changed everything. Now we can’t get away from talking about AI, how it’s going to change the workforce, displace workers.
“I think that’s the biggest challenge for leaders,” she added, “to see how we’re going to maintain focus and help the workforce adjust to the technology changes.”
Question: What do you think are the top important skills every current and potential leader should have and continue to develop?
Richards believes leaders must have “integrity at all costs.”
“If people can’t trust you and recognize that you live by a moral and ethical code, they’re going to question everything you do,” she said. “That really means you’re not a leader, you’re sometimes an obstacle and you’re something they try to get around. Second … we need to be really responsive to humanity with compassion and empathy. We don’t know all that people have gone through … Empathy and sympathy and thoughtfulness when it comes to people is going to be key to us as a country recovering, and not just in terms of being a leader.”
Lee believes agility and adaptability are going to be paramount.
“The world has changed, and everything is not what it used to be,” Lee said. “How are we going to move forward? How are we going to adapt with … the technologies, the multigenerational workforce. I think that will be the challenge for leaders.”
Women in Leadership Panel, moderated by Maria Dwyer, Member in Charge at Clark Hill
Question: How do you define leadership?
Tiffany Douglas, inclusion chief executive and underrepresented talent strategy executive for Bank of America, said she believes leadership is “more about a feeling.”
“I think it’s when good people create spaces where people feel brave, they feel empowered and where collaboration and teamwork thrive,” Douglas said. “Most of us recognize it when it’s absent. It’s like good design, you don’t know it’s there until it’s bad design. We don’t have the opportunity to thrive or make mistakes or create spaces for grace when leadership is absent. When people put themselves out front and take the blows for their teams is when people feel safe and feel they can grow and be encouraged and have development.”
Zeena Elhasan, general counsel and board secretary at The Kresge Foundation, said leadership exists “wherever you go in life … whether it’s in your personal life or in your workforce.
“From a professional setting, some of the most important characteristics of leadership are inspiring others and motivating,” she said. “Any good sign of a true leader is communicating appropriately a clear and concise vision of purpose, and then inspiring your team to execute on that goal.”
Nicolet Lewis, executive vice president and chief people officer for the Detroit Pistons, said leadership is about being accountable.
“Leadership is accountability for yourself, good or bad, through wins and losses, I work for the Pistons, so I’ve learned a lot about accountability,” she said, drawing laughter. “A leader’s job is to impact and guide outcomes. It’s not their words, it’s their actions. The leaders who have helped me throughout my career … could get people to do things because they’re an inclusive leader and people want to work for them.”
Question: With so many companies being virtual or hybrid, how have you handled mentorship and balancing your teams in this new environment?
Dana Williams, president/CEO of Detroit Employment Solutions Corp., said the advent of virtual work shouldn’t have surprised anyone.
“Widespread virtual work was coming, we just didn’t know when,” she said. “We just had a real challenge (Covid) that forced us into it. I think a lot of what we learned … was that we found out there was still not the sense of belonging we had fought for so many years after actions like affirmative action and so many diversity initiatives.
“It became really important to be more intentional about creating those relationships with each other,” she added. “Now it is creating a zoom coffee chat, meeting someone intentionally after work, asking if we can meet in person instead of virtually, and reaching down to those who may not know to do that.”
Kenyetta Hairston Bridges, chief operating officer and executive vice president of economic development and investment for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., believes the hybrid work environment has “allowed for greater flexibility for us to be able to work together as teams across the country.”
“I think that’s a good thing, but it has also demanded a more intentional way of communicating and increasingly communicating more regularly,” Hairston Bridges said. “I like one-on-one meetings to make sure I’m supporting my team, to make sure we’re working through any challenges they are having. I think it’s important … for greater transparency and collaboration. That’s very important in someone else’s growth. They have to know all the pieces on the chessboard.”
Question: We now have 5 generations working in the workforce. What is one thing we should preserve from past generational leadership styles?
Lewis said she’d make sure to preserve the “work ethic of the Baby Boomer generation.”
“I find myself teaching what I call ‘growing in place,’ putting your head down, doing the work and owning your craft,” she said. “People have strived for excellence because they’re great at it. I think the work ethic is something that can be taught, but it has to be taught early in your career. It’s a hard thing to unwind if you don’t have it. You have to be born with it. It’s how you show up every single day.”
Hairston Bridges also harkened back to the Baby Boomers and how the work ethic then included a “structure that was needed.”
“We have this great flexibility with these hybrid working models … but I think that structure needs to come back because it places the guardrails for people to work within and know what they’re supposed to do,” she said. “I see millennials in the workforce who don’t really have a clue of what they should be doing. They want to do a million things, but those million things aren’t getting us to that North Star. We need to continue to cultivate those personal relationships that you saw during the baby boomer (generation).”
Shooting Star panel, moderated by Jennifer Kluge, president and CEO of the National Association for Business Resources
Question: What are things we should preserve as generations change?
Ashley Chambers, vice president of business development at Chief Financial Credit Union, said it’s community engagement.
“As we live in such a digital world, really engaging on that one-on-one level as human beings … really staying engaged and helping our communities thrive,” she said.
Alexandria DeSano-Salvaggio believes it’s a combination of a “strong work ethic and humility.”
“If someone is criticizing you … they’re actually helping you grow, so take it with a grain of salt and it’s going to help you thrive,” she said. “Don’t feel like you have to fit in the box. Be different, be true to yourself and be authentic.”
Jessica Morales of Target Steel would preserve being “comfortable with change.”
“(Change) is so constant in our lives, every day is different,” Morales said. “Also taking a risk on the underdog. I was the underdog, I had no experience at all, I just hit a year (with the company) and I’m sitting here on this stage. It’s possible.”
Question: How important have mentorship and support networks been in your career journey?
Hannah Reisdorff of Clark Hill said the importance of mentors can’t be overstated.
“We can’t emphasize the importance of mentorship enough,” she said. “My advice for women is, if you feel like you don’t have a mentor … don’t be afraid to ask. If you are drawn to someone professionally and think, ‘I look up to this person and would love for them to take me under their wing,’ if you ask for a little bit of their time and they’re receptive to that, the door is open to that relationship.”
Corri Wofford, external affairs director for the Regional Transit Authority, said she looks at mentorship through “a bit of a different lens.”
“I’ve sought mentors on two sides of the coin,” Wofford said. “I’ve always looked for a mentor who represents me in the workplace, but I’ve also looked for a mentor who is completely opposite to me, to give me a different perspective on how I look at a situation. To be able to find someone who looks at things a little different … can kind of coach me.”
Morales said it’s “extremely important” to have a mentor.
“My mentor … reminds me every day that super women are everywhere,” Morales said. “She reminds me I’m capable and powerful and able to get it done. My advice to young women is to be coachable, accountable and passionate with your superpower, because we all have one.”
