Outsell Women’s Conference
Special thanks to CAS who underwrote the event and is leading the way promoting women and STEM and who supported another potent event focused on improving our industry’s stats for gender equality in the C-Suite and D&I in general. And to Divya Ramakrishnan, Vice President Global Marketing at CAS, for telling her story and why it was so important for CAS to join the movement.
Our day started with an opening keynote from none other than Cathie Black, luminary, ceiling-breaker and leader who opened with Breaking Ground. We heard about the importance of mentoring and sponsoring, and a personal career trajectory and lessons learned from Deb Walton, EVP & Chief Revenue Officer of Refinitiv as well as tales about Crossing the Divide from Kelly Lake, CEO of CEB and Managing One's Career from Lara Boro, exiting CEO of Informa Intelligence, soon to be CEO of The Economist Group. Later we spoke of Getting to Yes from Kimberly Churches, CEO of AAUW who spoke of negotiating effectively and the importance of changing corporate constructs designed for an era that is no longer valid. Visit here for their salary tool too — a must have for ensuring negotiations are fact-based.
Mother-daughter powerhouse Karyn Schoenbart, CEO of The NPD Group and Best-Selling Author, Mom.B.A.: Essential Business Advice from One Generation to the Next and Danielle Sporkin, SVP Global Client Partner of Essence, talked about the generational divide or lack thereof. The need to stop stereotyping millennials and the importance of acknowledging the generations that came before and after, reverse mentoring, and all. Success across generations is another type of diversity and it’s essential to blend ages in today’s corporate world.
We had an amazing panel of four dynamic leaders, Joy Altimare, Chief Engagement and Brand Officer of EHE Health, Katie Palencsar, Chief Brand Officer of Legends Access, Sakti Kunz Business Growth & Transformation Executive, and Melissa Walston, VP Marketplace Operations, Ad Platforms of Verizon Media moderated by our VP, Office of the CEO, Jeannine Bettencourt, talking about Success and Blocks Climbing the Career Ladder and what they need and want from companies to support their journey to the C-Suite. We spoke of what works and doesn’t, integrating work and family, and owning one’s voice. Eve Ellis, Financial Advisor, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management advised on achieving and managing wealth, personalizing portfolios and where to get started. Her mantra “have a portfolio that looks like you.”
Jay Hussey, CEO of SRI, Outsell Corporate Partner and Event Sponsor led a powerful panel talking about D&I programs ‘that work’. These are three leaders you will want to know. From McGraw-Hills “just right” and “it’s good for business mantra”, to Dow Jones talking about measurable indices and compensation plans tied to D7I, to localizing programs and making them work bottoms up. We learned a ton about how to think about D&I in a holistic way. Heather Terenzio, Founder & CEO of Techtonic spoke of the power of being background agnostic to be truly diverse and inclusive. Wow.
Mike Lewis, author When to Jump and Founder & CEO of his organization of the same name talked about his story of following his passion for a higher purpose and the baby steps that added up to the jump. He shared his formula and his inspiration and did so with humility and realness that makes you want to take him home to family dinner. He’s amazing.
And last but not least to the amazing We Promote Women Sponsors who put their money where their values are and demonstrated they are brands who care about promoting women into our industry’s C-Suite and D&I in general. Special thanks (in alpha order to) These are companies you’ll want to work for!
ALM
Government Executive
The Institution of Engineering and Technology
ISMS Solutions
Kinscape
NBS
NewsBank
The NPD Group
PLOS
Questex
Reputation Institute
SRI
TES
Thomas
WIS
Wood Mackenzie
Lessons learned — as always at an Outsell Event, great content meets incredible networking. One CEO told me she hired someone she’d never have met based on last year’s event and we saved her a $60,000 recruiting fee. As another speaker said — ‘in the power of women’ So what did we take away?
- Be bold
- Be mindful and make a difference
- Be honest, excited, confident, and LEAD
- Have role models; sponsor and mentor more
- Color outside the lines
- Be courageous and take risks
- Be curious and take the road less traveled
- Encourage a variety of perspectives and drive inclusivity
- Choose your context
- Publish pay audits and insist on gender and pay equity in leadership
- Change job descriptions to reduce bias an encourage the applicant pool
- Think about intersectionality
- Manage a portfolio that looks like you and reflects your risk tolerance and values
- Keep cash on hand and own your financial future
- Be background agnostic
- Speak up and have a big voice
- Value diversity of all kinds
- Make a difference
- Have fun.
- Know when to jump
With that, we wrapped an amazing day. Special thanks to all our amazing speakers and the attendees who invested in themselves, their teams, and their commitment to leaving things better. Let us know what this event meant to you and don’t forget to review our rankings of companies and their leadership gender diversity. What gets managed gets measured and we’re committed to tracking and analyzing it all. How does your company’s gender diversity in the C-Suite rank against the industry at large and your peer group? See our rankings or give us a call.
