Women in the LEAD

Women And Power

“In the Baha’I faith, it is a basic premise that “the equality of men and women is not, at the present time, universally applied.  In those areas where traditional inequality still hampers its progress, we must take the lead in practicing this Baha’I prpinciple.  Again, Baha’I women and girls must be encouraged to take part in the social, spiritual and administrative activities of their communities.”

From the Baha’I Universal House of Justice

For years I’ve been fascinated by the commitment that the Baha’I faith has made to the advancement of women.  I guess what moves me the most is that the Baha’I; Quaker and Unitarian faiths have all put social justice and equality at the forefront of their founding principles.  How can these principles be carried out across the globe in a way that the empowerment of women no longer needs special focus but is a natural outcome of human relations?  What voice, wisdom and knowledge do we as women, now need to bring forth in the world?  What small action can you, as a man or a woman, take to support this equality?  For when we are all equal, the world will experience true peace.

Examine your role in creating an equitable, compassionate world.

• Where do you make your greatest contributions?
• Where is there room for growth for you to contribute further?

Maureen Simon

An Aim In Life

“An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding; and it is not to be found in a foreign land, but in the heart itself.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

I guess I’ve always been pretty clear about why I’m here.  My journey began years back at seventeen years of age when I chose to study human services and community organization.  My heart has always been with people.  My dream has always been to be a part of maximizing human potential in every possible way.  I have dedicated my life to this aim.  However, each day and each year of my life sure as to what the best way for me to achieve this aim would be.  But I always kept the question alive.

I am convinced that the answer does lie in our heart, not in a foreign land, and it’s our personal responsibility to embark upon that exploration.  As I’ve written many times, I believe each of us is here for a very specific purpose that no one else could fulfill.  Some days the clarity of that purpose feels very far away, but we owe it to ourselves to stay conscious and inquisitive.  You are a very special part of a whole.  Without you, things would be very different.

“What is your aim?”

“Can you look in your heart and trust that the answer is to be found there?”

Maureen Simon

A Prayer For Peace

“I offer you peace.  I offer you love.  I offer you friendship.  I see your beauty.  I hear your need.  I feel your feelings.   My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you.  Let us work together for unity and love,”

-Gandhi’s Prayer For Peace

I read this prayer for peace the other day and it opened a flood gate within me.  Inner voices within me raised many questions.  I wondered if we offered each other peace, love and friendship --- again, how different would this world be?  If I could see your beauty, hear your need and feel your feelings how differently would I relate to you?  If we could believe that our wisdom flows from the highest source and salute each other, what would be the general feeling on the street?

What do we have to lose?  Let’s work together for unity and love.

Maureen Simon

Authentically Loving

“Women are under such constant pressure to be loving and sweet, that the freedom to be themselves is the greatest gift a man can give them.  Even if he really doesn’t understand her feelings, the attempt to do so calmly makes her feel powerfully supported.”

John Gray, “Mars & Venus In Touch

As we embark upon another Valentines Day, a day of sharing love and connection, it’s important to look at ways that we can relate more deeply to each other in partnership. Throughout history, women have had to be loving and sweet and have often not found their true voice of authenticity in the thick of supporting others.  Many women that I know are questioning themselves deeply to find the freedom to be themselves and to live and speak from a place of true authenticity.  How can we live in partnership and support each other’s needs?  There is much research that documents the difference in the way men and women listen and speak.

Here are a few questions to inspire your thinking about love and partnership:

Do you feel fully heard in your relationship?

Do you always speak your full truth?  If not, why?

Are you clear about what your partner needs?

Do you speak clearly about your needs?

Is there room for more passion and compassion in your relationship?  Where?  Or how?

How can you contribute to your relationship on this special day, Valentines Day?

If we place our attention on loving deeply, we will love deeply.  If we place our attention on listening from the heart, we will hear from the heart.

Maureen Simon

Working Together: Men and Women at Their BEST!

Anthropologist, Helen Fisher wrote:

"Men and women were built to put their heads together, not only in their professional lives but in their personal relations. As the sexes come to understand their different strengths, each has the opportunity to gain priceless insight into the other's world; both have the opportunity to achieve new empathy and rapport.

It is time to honor our gender differences, enable women's natural talents to flourish in the workplace, build new understanding between men and women, and work together."

Fundamentally, I agree with Helen. All the studies indicate we are uniquely different and we need one another. What I believe is our greatest challenge as women is believing in ourselves enough to step into the role she describes. Certainly, all over the world, we are seeing role models to inspire all of us.

Although, IBM had women in key positions dating back to the 1940's, still some decades later, the Northwest US was a little slow to catch on. Good for me! I was one of the early women managers and my first management job was in Alaska. It was quite a switch in my life as I left the metropolitan life of Los Angeles to learn to live without lettuce and adjusting to both darkness and light in abundance, depending on the time of year. When I arrived, I discovered a group of daring, rugged and manly "bush pilots" were to be the members of my management team. My office --- a converted heater room with brick walls and no window. Frankly, it was terrifying as I recall! Through many twists and turns in our journey together as a leadership time we rose to great heights together. One key learning for me was that ACCEPTANCE is not totally something someone else can give you. Being accepted begins in our own heart.

To fully participate and bring our natural talents to the world, we have to accept ourselves. We have to build confidence in what we bring. We have to master the skills that make us make us ready, willing and VALUABLE in any collaboration or opportunity that comes your way. This is true for both women and men.

PERSONAL INVITATION FOR YOU:
I am speaking at a Microsoft Office Live Meeting LEADERSHIP FORUM on February 23 --- called WORKING TOGETHER; WINNING TOGETHER. It is a one-hour online session ---- complimentary (no charge). I want to extend a personal invitation to join me. Learn more and enroll. If you have friends or colleagues you think might benefit, I welcome them!

In this seminar you will learn:

• How men and women work differently and how our differences can be put to work
• Four critical skills to help you transcend changes and make you more valuable as a collaborative partner and leader in your own right
• Tips for building, repairing and maintaining collaborative relationships to expand your leadership value to your organization, your customers and business partners.

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead

Trusting Beyond Ourselves

“Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.”

Rabindranarth Tagore

Life requires us to see beyond ourselves and to hold great trust in moments of mystery and uncertainty.  Wisdom teaches us that light follows darkness.  Look back on your life and notice – has darkness ever not been followed by light?  What strength and courage it takes to remain trusting when life presents us with many challenges.  What tools do we need to endure moments of extreme challenge?  “Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.”

• What challenges does your life hold at this time?

• What tools do you need at this time to meet extreme challenge? 

• How does faith play a part?

• What light may follow the dark?

Maureen Simon

Conversation and the LOVE we feel?

Recently, I found a wonderful little book called Conversation: How Talk Can Change Our Lives by Theodore Zeldin. It seems that LOVE is a timely topic and conversation a unique connection to it.

One question Theodore Zeldin poses is "Can conversation really change the kind of LOVE we feel? He writes:

You might argue that nice people who like each other will inevitably have nice conversations. But I would reply that mutual attraction has notoriously never been enough to produce free and easy relationships. Lovers are increasingly not satisfied with just being loved: they want to know why they are loved, and that involves conversations; compliments are not enough. Take the case of a woman I have met who, despite her beauty, has always had trouble with men, because she argues rather than converses: she feels she has to win her arguments to prove that she is the equal of her man, she is relentless until he gives in; the result is mutual exhaustion. Or take the case of another woman who is too uncertain about what she thinks, or about her ability to express herself, so that she leaves men constantly guessing about her feelings, and gives the impression of being colder than she is. In both cases, I don't think the answer is simply for them to explain what they feel, because so long as they feel it, the same results will follow. But in conversation feelings are handed back and forth until an intimacy develops, and the other person's concerns become one's own. LOVE ultimately means that another person's welfare, hopes, and fears matter as much as one's own. Physical contact is the basic source of intimacy, but conversation extends that intimacy to many aspects of life where holding hands is not enough. That's why I think we are entering a new age in the conversation of LOVE."

With all the horrible things going on around the world and all the pressures of work and life, it was nice to take a few minutes to think about strengthening our ability to have meaningful conversations with those we love --- using them as gateways for coming closer together on a new level, discovering our own conversation of LOVE. I think this new consciousness about conversation can extend to our children and families and colleagues. The world would be a better place for us all --- our workplaces would be more welcoming --- are communities more peaceful, if we all worked to develop a conversation of LOVE within our span of influence. There is a gift to give far greater than chocolate or flowers, don't you agree?

"Love is the gift of one's inner most soul to another so both can be whole."
---unknown

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead

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PERSONAL INVITATION FOR YOU: 

Join me for a Microsoft Office Live Meeting Leadership Forum February 23
Working Together; Winning Together (online seminar)
How men and women are putting their differences to work!
Complimentary (no charge)  Learn More and Register

Visit Women in the Lead at the Global Dialogue Center

TELL YOUR HEART THAT THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR

…”tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than suffering itself.  No heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams because every second of the search is a second encounter with God and eternity.

,,,follow the path laid out.  The path to destiny and to happiness.  Most people see the world as a threatening place, and because they do the world turns out indeed to be a threatening place.”

Paulo Koelho

Excerpts from The Alchemist

So many great teachers today – the work of Koelho, Ester & Jerry Hicks, masters of great spiritual teachings and others reiterate the message over and over again that fear is our greatest enemy.  It is time to replace fear with trust and to move from immobility to great mobility.  We do this through moving towards the direction of our dreams.  Be clear about what your dreams are and move in their direction.  You will gain all the support you need to bring them to fruition.

Maureen Simon

We Must Educate All Girls!

Some 90 million girls are being excluded from primary schools around the world for reasons that include outdated stereotypes defining a female's place as in the home and social pressures for early marriage, the United Nations said Friday.

The U.N. Children's Fund said 46 countries were failing to get as many girls as boys into school, and that the global body's long-term goal of universal education for children was far from a sure thing…… according to UNICEF's 100-page study on gender and education…”

An Excerpt from: U.N.Says 90M Girls Not Getting Education

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published:

November 25, 2005

Women are one of the worlds most needed natural resources. The UN reports that the enrollment of girls in school has fallen far below their expectations. Voting and education are two foundational pieces of creating societies of equality. WE need, as a world to awaken to the fact that when we all have equal rights and equal footing in the world we will all benefit greatly. What will it take? What can you and I do to support this awakening?

Maureen Simon