Life Equity

Marsha Blackburn

• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781418573966
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business generale
• Index: Business

The life you've led has prepared you for the life you dream of.

For too long and for too many, the word leadership has had a masculine ring to it. Because women are such natural team players and consensus builders, many may simply view a strong desire to lead as, well, a bit rude. What we've failed to realize is if you define leadership as the art of getting a group of people working together effectively toward a common goal?then women bring some mighty powerful leadership skills to the table. So why don't we jump in?

We long to dive into the challenges and make a difference, but holding us back are questions and self doubt:

• Do I have anything left to offer after my kids are grown?
• What if I fall on my face?
• Will anyone recognize what I have to offer?
• Do I have what it takes to make a real difference?
• How do I break into, or get around, the good ol' boy network?

Whether you're a new college graduate, an empty nester, a divorceé starting life on your own (again), or a discontented cubical worker, Congressman Marsha Blackburn says you are an amazing, talented woman:

Here is exciting news: there is a key truth that will unlock extraordinary possibilities for you. The simple but powerful truth is that your accumulated skills go with you. The ordinary, everyday tasks you have been performing are actually the foundation for getting you where you want to go. In even the most unglamorous roles, you have built real leadership ability that has prepared you for bigger things.

Today, more than ever, the world needs leaders for jobs big and small, and women have been training for these tasks their whole lives. They can make a difference in their own lives and in our culture?and you can too.

CHAPTER 1
I’ve Been Down That Road

There are no laurels in life . . . just new challenges.

—KATHARINE HEPBURN

I have given them new names, but the individuals I described on the preceding pages are real. They are amazing, talented ladies. I share their stories because, in one form or another, the questions they have asked are being asked by millions of women in this country. As I travel and meet with women from other countries, I am discovering those questions are, in fact, universal.

I have heard these kinds of fears and uncertainties voiced many times. I have voiced some of them myself.

You see, on January 3, 2003, I stepped through the ornate bronze doors of the Capitol building in Washington DC, headed for the House Chamber, and took my seat in the 108th Congress of the United States. A few months earlier I had become the first Tennessee woman ever elected to Congress in her own right. (Several pioneering Volunteer State women had finished out the terms of their deceased relatives in decades past, but none had initiated her run for this office.)

Along the road that led me to that moment, I had the privilege of talking with thousands of women. I heard their hopes and aspirations, fears and frustrations. And in the exciting years since, I have spoken with thousands more, of all ages and from all walks of life.

In the course of those rich conversations, some common themes have emerged. For one thing, I am deeply impressed by how many women genuinely hunger to do more, be more, and have a bigger impact on their communities and nation. But I have also been struck by how very many of these accomplished, intelligent ladies are hampered by self-doubt and fear.

Because women are such natural team players and consensus builders, many may simply view a strong desire to lead as, well, a bit rude.

Though they may not think of it this way, what these women aspire to can be encapsulated in a single word—leadership.

Leadership is a word much used and often abused. The shelves of our bookstores sag with tomes promising to teach it. Arenas are consistently filled with eager corporate climbers hoping to master its secrets.

For too long and for too many, the word leadership has had a masculine ring to it. In fact, I have encountered many amazingly talented and capable women who have trouble identifying with the concept of leadership as a resonant goal for themselves. “I’m just not that kind of woman,” they say as they compare themselves to the Hollywood stereotype of the hard, humorless, driven climber. In fact, because women are such natural team players and consensus builders, many may simply view a strong desire to lead as, well, a bit rude.

But in every case, if I speak instead of influence—if I ask them if they would like to be a more positive influence in their world— they invariably give me an impassioned “Yes!” John Maxwell, one of the world’s foremost authorities on leadership, has repeatedly pointed out that leadership and influence are synonymous concepts.¹

Furthermore, if you define leadership as the art of getting a group of people working together effectively toward a common goal—what one prominent corporate consultant calls “getting everyone in the boat rowing in the same direction”²—then women bring some mighty powerful leadership skills to the table. And oh, how we need them.

Way back in 1992, Megatrends author John Naisbitt recognized an emerging and important approach to leadership at which women excelled. In their book Megatrends for Women, Naisbitt and coauthor Patricia Aburdene describe this trend toward a “women’s leadership style,” which is based on openness, trust, ongoing education, compassion, and understanding.³

I note with interest the growing chorus of experts who recognize that this “women’s style” of leadership is precisely what is called for in this volatile, uncharted new century. It is a style of leadership that

• empowers individuals instead of making demands,

• restructures organizations instead of controlling from the top down,

• chooses to teach rather than issue orders,

• excels in role modeling in place of decreeing,

• values openness rather than rigid control of information, and

• communicates with a focus on listening as much as or more than on talking.

In a day in which we face unprecedented challenges—locally, nationally, and globally—far too many prospective women leaders are standing in the shallows. They look with half-longing, half-trepidation at the deeper waters.

They long to dive into the challenges and make a difference. But holding them back are questions—questions like the ones posed in the stories of the four women on the preceding pages. I hear other questions too.

“How do I break into, or get around, the good ol’ boy network?”

“Where are the mentors who can show me the way?”

“Where do I start?”

It’s not about demanding our rights. It’s about deploying our gifts.

I write today because we must dive in. It’s not about demanding our rights. It’s about deploying our gifts.

It’s not about glass ceilings, quotas, and symbolic progress. It’s about successfully shouldering responsibility because we’re good at it and we’re needed—whether others recognize it or not—and it is vitally important.

Why? Because our nation is being robbed.

We are living at a moment of unprecedented challenges in our nation’s history. Some are social. Some are economic. Others are cultural. And in each case, our nation awaits the innovative and difference-making leadership of women.

That is why it is our responsibility to accept a changing role for ourselves as new doors open; to be fluid in moving from one arena to another, always taking with us the skills we have acquired; to welcome new opportunities as they are presented to us; to acknowledge with grace, rather than embarrassment, our accomplishments, successes, and victories; and to serve as guides to others who would follow in our footsteps.

Here is exciting news: there is a key truth that will unlock all of these extraordinary possibilities for you—one that forms the central message of my life and of this book.

That simple but powerful truth is this: your accumulated skills go with you. The ordinary, everyday tasks you have been performing are actually the foundation for getting you where you want to go. In even the most unglamorous roles, you have built real leadership ability that has prepared you for bigger things.

Leadership: A Transferable Commodity

Epiphany may be a bit too dramatic a word to describe it, but not by much. I can tell you the place, the day, and the hour I received the flash of insight that charged me with courage and changed my destiny. It has been my privilege to share it with thousands of other women during the intervening years.

Before I describe that pivotal moment, allow me to briefly outline the journey that led me to that spot.

In 1989, I was a busy wife and mother—with two youngsters at home and a frequent-traveler husband who was bootstrapping a growing business. In addition to all that and an ever-changing bundle of volunteer roles, I did a little part-time marketing consulting just to keep my skills sharp and current in the business mix.

My life was full in every sense of the word.

It was in this context that a call came one day urging me to take the chairmanship of the Republican Party of Williamson County, Tennessee.

The challenge was a sobering one. Though my husband and I had been politically active as voters, volunteers, and donors, I wasn’t sure I was right for the role.

Nevertheless, after some mighty soul-searching and discussion, I accepted the job. I took it because, though my days were certainly filled with meaning and purpose, I was also feeling a growing sense of concern for the cultural decay and diminishing civility I saw all around me. My children would sit with me and watch the evening news, and I often had to change the channel. Much too harsh for young minds, I would think. Somebody should do something about this. As I worked with elementary school children in enrichment programs, I witnessed the children’s repetition of troubling adult behavior. I listened as the small-business owners in my community lamented their ability to stay in business because of increased taxes, regulations, and government rules.

More and more frequently, I had found myself wondering if there wasn’t something I could do to make a difference. Perhaps this would provide just such an opportunity.

On top of all that, I recognized that this offer was an unanticipated open door. I had neither sought nor coveted the responsibility. But as has become more and more clear to me along the way, upon the hinges of such open doors swing our destinies. Some might call it Providence, or the unfolding of God’s will. But whatever you call these doors of opportunity, I’ve learned to not ignore them— even when stepping through them doesn’t make perfect sense or isn’t exactly what I’d planned.

So with some trepidation, I applied what I felt were my limited gifts, knowledge, and energies to the task I had been given. For me, it was all about a word my parents taught me early in life— stewardship. They taught me that when something is entrusted to you, it is your responsibility to do your best with it. And so I gave it my all.

In my available time, I threw myself into my new role. I had never been a county chairman of a political party before, but I had been responsible for organizing scores of programs, clubs, and events for my son and daughter. The success of these kid-centered activities invariably required the recruitment and organization of other helper moms and dads, as well as promotion, delegation, scheduling, and problem solving. I simply took what I knew about being the chairman of the homeroom mothers and applied it to building a political party organization in my county.

I simply took what I knew about being the chairman of the homeroom mothers and applied it to building a political party organization in my county.

It worked! In two years, the number of dues-paying members in the organization grew tenfold. At the same time, we were successful in raising the overall community awareness level of the need for fiscal accountability in our government. Our team made remarkable gains, and people noticed.

On the heels of those small but meaningful successes, I was recruited to run for Congress in 1992. Once again, I wasn’t completely convinced I had any business being a candidate for, much less a member of, the United States Congress. But once again, it was an open door, so I took a deep breath and stepped through to see where it might take me.

I was just one of seven fine candidates running to be the Republican nominee that year. Yet to the surprise of some, including me, I won the primary. I found myself in the general election vying for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As it turned out, I did not win that election. But I did ultimately see how the issues and initiatives I was able to raise during the campaign made a lasting impact with the public. And though I found that I enjoyed the experience of running for office, I doubted very much that I would ever run again. I did assume, however, that what I learned about campaigns would be put to use at some point in the future. I was correct.

Two years later, an acquaintance was planning to run for Tennessee’s governorship and asked me to organize his campaign in the mid-state region. (Somehow I had gone from being pretty much a full-time wife and mother to a sought-after political strategist. And I wasn’t precisely sure how!) I agreed, and he ultimately won the governor’s mansion.

Immediately following the election, I found myself appointed to head the Tennessee Film, Entertainment & Music Commission, where my job was to preserve and expand Tennessee’s already world-class creative content development and entertainment markets. It was an amazing and rewarding experience that gave me the opportunity to work directly with some of America’s most innovative produc...