Picture of the conference that formed the subject of the previous posting. That's me circled in neon, looking askance as always.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Leaders who happen to be women
I was asked by my office to attend a conference on ‘How women lead’ hosted at the Seaport Hotel in Boston. I went with much trepidation fully expecting it to be a run-of-the-mill, self-helpish kind of gathering with some good food thrown in. I went for the gourmet breakfast and lunch and the chance to make some interesting contacts but, on the contrary, it turned out to be quite a day. Two of the speakers – Christiane Amanpour and Queen Latifah - made the conference worth its while. I left the conference thinking that true women leaders are almost sexless, or rather they are not women who are leaders but leaders who just happen to be women.
Christiane, a CNN war correspondent and the winner of several awards, spoke about the women in the Bankan and other war torn areas who have leadership thrust upon them. These women have to speak up to survive; they have to run with leadership because the alternative is death. She spoke passionately but without sentiment. She was quite magnetic. Answering a question from the audience about how she juggles parenthood and globe-trotting to war torn areas Christiane was quite candid – “I live with constant fear but I’ve learnt to manage it…And the fear factor has multiplied in the last seven years after my son was born…Being a parent comes with certain responsibilities the most basic of them being trying to stay alive…these days I try not to be away from home for long durations if I can help it.” Here is a woman of the world who has risen above her gender. It is women like Christiane who make gender insignificant, and it is increasingly women like her that I’m inspired by and drawn towards.
Queen Latifah came on stage to the strings of “When you’re good to mama, mama’s good to you”. Unlike Christiane she spoke not about the world but about herself. She talked about her childhood in a poor neighborhood in Maryland, her parents, her brother and how she got to where she is today. She was funny, self-effacing and quite honest. There were no rhetoric, no Hollywood-style gimmicks and absolutely no self-propaganda. She let the audience meet the poor black girl who made it big because she never really tried to do anything she was not good at. The audience gave her a standing ovation and no one deserves it more than her.
When life decides to put me in my place it does not do so by half-measures. Not only was I proved wrong by the speakers of the day but, contrary to my expectations, the fare served for lunch was also below par!
Christiane, a CNN war correspondent and the winner of several awards, spoke about the women in the Bankan and other war torn areas who have leadership thrust upon them. These women have to speak up to survive; they have to run with leadership because the alternative is death. She spoke passionately but without sentiment. She was quite magnetic. Answering a question from the audience about how she juggles parenthood and globe-trotting to war torn areas Christiane was quite candid – “I live with constant fear but I’ve learnt to manage it…And the fear factor has multiplied in the last seven years after my son was born…Being a parent comes with certain responsibilities the most basic of them being trying to stay alive…these days I try not to be away from home for long durations if I can help it.” Here is a woman of the world who has risen above her gender. It is women like Christiane who make gender insignificant, and it is increasingly women like her that I’m inspired by and drawn towards.
Queen Latifah came on stage to the strings of “When you’re good to mama, mama’s good to you”. Unlike Christiane she spoke not about the world but about herself. She talked about her childhood in a poor neighborhood in Maryland, her parents, her brother and how she got to where she is today. She was funny, self-effacing and quite honest. There were no rhetoric, no Hollywood-style gimmicks and absolutely no self-propaganda. She let the audience meet the poor black girl who made it big because she never really tried to do anything she was not good at. The audience gave her a standing ovation and no one deserves it more than her.
When life decides to put me in my place it does not do so by half-measures. Not only was I proved wrong by the speakers of the day but, contrary to my expectations, the fare served for lunch was also below par!
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