Esther Nazarian, Jr. High music teacher, yanked me out of the room by the ear and called me a Bold Young Woman.
Fast forward 15 years. I am one of four organizers of the Women in Manufacturing Conference back in the day when we made things in the U.S.
Continue reading to find out how a leader responds when the truth speaks to him. It’s how change happens.
First Annual Women in Manufacturing Conference – Day 1
Over 200 women work in small groups to identify the current conditions for women in manufacturing. The resulting flip charts wallpaper the room.
Day 2 – Morning
Chairs are set up auditorium style. Following introductory remarks, we stroll around the room to read what’s on the flip charts. We then resume our seats and talk about what it is like to be sitting here surrounded by the world we live in every day. Lots of women. Lots of words. Lots of talk.
Day 2 – Afternoon
After lunch we are again seated auditorium style awaiting the arrival of Bill H., Manufacturing Vice-President of a Fortune 50 company, and his staff. He will speak about women in manufacturing. The rear doors open and they walk down the aisle one after the other. The room is silent. They climb the three short steps up the stage. Bill stands at the podium and his troops, all men – all white men, are seated to his left and right. The silence is tense. Bill begins to speak. My heart is pounding so hard that it might just be drowning out his voice. (It pounds almost as hard now as I write about it.) I look at the flip chart wall paper. I am a radar tower for all the emotions in the room. I feel that I might explode if I try to contain IT for one more minute. Surely, I think, someone is going to say SOMETHING about what’s going on in the room. No one speaks. Time slows. I rise. It is almost an out of body experience. I hear my own voice. “You have come here to talk about and listen to what it’s like for women in manufacturing. We are grateful. We spent all day yesterday talking about this same topic and our conversations are papered across the walls. But the real data is in the room right here in front of us, and it would such an enormous loss if we did not name and address it here, now, in real time.” I may have said more, but I don’t remember. You get the gist.
And then it happened. Right there. Right then. Bill asks to be invited back the next year with a commitment that HIS STAFF WOULD LOOK SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT.
I am not so arrogant as to believe that I caused this to happen. Everyone saw the live data in the room – or at least I think they did. Speaking it facilitated a public commitment – an step that helps instigate change. This chain of events also demonstrates how critical it is for leaders to walk among their constituents and listen.
Second Annual Women in Manufacturing Conference
Bill is back. His staff is seated at the front of the room. There are two women – one of whom is black, one black male, one Hispanic male and 6 white men including Bill.
The End. And the beginning.
P.S.
Dear Esther Nazarian – I am proud to be bold.
P.P.S
Speak up. You never know when power might just listen and do something.
P.P.P.S.
Some years after this incident I interview Bill for research about the effects of more women in leadership roles. He does not remember me speaking up at the conference, but he clearly recalls the changes he made to his staff. And all of that is a good thing.