Posted on August 30, 2011 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

Do Women Wait Too Long Before Claiming Power?

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Do women handle recognition and power differently than men?

In a recent interview, Karen Moses, Chief Operating Officer of Australia's Origin Energy put it this way:  

The key difference I see between men and women at work is that the men are prepared to demand to be heard and recognized before they have demonstrated their worth.  Women wait to be recognized well past the time when their value is clear to everyone around them.  
I encourage women to accept that they have an equal right to be there, to recognize the value of their contribution and to not apologize for their difference.  

Moses really hits it on the head.  Women on the whole undervalue their contributions and are more likely to stand back and wait for someone (often a male leader) to recognize them.  Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we valiantly lead and encourage our peers, craft novel solutions to all sorts of dilemnas, bravely take on flying monkeys and witches, yet wait for the man behind the curtain to “grant” us the power that we carried inside us from the very beginning.  


Why is it that women hold back?  Do we avoid, fear, even disdain power?  In her book Powering Up, Anne Doyle quotes Kim Campbell, former prime minister of Canada and a woman with a great attitude towards power: 

 

I love power.  I want it.  I'm power hungry. Not for myself but because when I have power I can accomplish things.  I can serve my community, I can help open doors for deserving people and I can influence decisions.  If you think you would exercise it ethically, don’t disdain power.  You must embrace it as the essential currency for making things happen.”

Put that way, embracing power seems much more authentic and congruent with my values.  What do you think?

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

A Landmaam and an Engineer: Investing in the Next Generation of Women Leaders

g2e22e20000000000004e0fee540c16331dc1fe07fe94f803649f5d30c1.jpgRecently I spoke to an impressive group of women leaders attending the Women's Energy Network North Texas leadership conference.  As I looked out on this successful group of women, I couldn't help but think how proud June Brooks (pictured here) would have been.  I was privileged to know Mrs. Brooks in the 1970's when I was a young woman coming of age in the oil patch town of Ardmore, Oklahoma.   An accomplished speaker who proudly introduced herself as a "landmaam," she was the only woman delegate to the World Petroleum Congress held in Tokyo in 1975.  For those not familiar with the term, a landman refers to men and women who handle the business end of oil, gas and mineral production. In the 1970's, most landmen were in fact men. So back then knowing a landmaam, much less one who had travelled from Ardmore all the way to Japan, was important to aspiring young women like me.  

Today, more women have entered the energy industry, but few hold top leadership positions. That's why it mattered deeply that Lisa Stewart gave a good part of her day to speak to the Women's Energy Network leadership group. Stewart, a petroleum engineer by training, Founder and CEO of Sheridan Production Partners and former President of El Paso Exploration & Production, spoke with wisdom, humility, humor and grace. (How could you expect anything less from a woman who named her company after her yellow labrador retriever?) But what mattered more than her words was her presence.  This is a woman who has a lot on her mind at the moment, including how to invest almost $3 billion in capital.  She could have met with the group by video conference or rushed in and out.  But she didn't do that.  So her presence sent a message that was more important than any words she, or those of us following her at the podium, could express:

You can do it.  Your leadership matters.  You are someone I'm willing to invest in.

Really the same message June Brooks sent back in 1975. 

So thanks to June Brooks and thanks to Lisa Stewart.  I think your investment is going to pay off.