Being Thankful and Positive...Serena Williams

It's important to know your history...

When asked how she felt about Maria Sharapova earning more money in endorsements than she, the #1 Women's Tennis Player in the world replied: 

"If they want to market someone who is white and blond, that’s their choice. I have a lot of partners who are very happy to work with me. I can’t sit here and say I should be higher on the list because I have won more. I’m happy for her, because she worked hard, too. There is enough at the table for everyone. We have to be thankful, and we also have to be positive about it so the next black person can be No. 1 on that list.

Maybe it’s meant to be the next person to be amazing, and I’m just opening the door. Zina Garrison, Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe and Venus [Williams] opened so many doors for me."*

--Serena Williams, #1 Women's Tennis (in the world), as of August 2015

*Source: Serena Williams Has The Perfect Response To Maria Sharapova Endorsement Gap

4 Steps To Achievement...William Arthur Ward

"Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently."
 
--William Arthur Ward

The Things We Need...Philip Pullman

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”

--Philip Pullman

The Courage To Be Original...Shania Twain

"I find that the very things that I get criticized for, which is usually being different and just doing my own thing and just being original, is the very thing that's making me successful."

--Shania Twain 

Stick With It!...Mara Schiavocampo

“The harder the struggle, the bigger the gain. The important thing is to stick with it, repetitively and consistently.”

--Mara Schiavocampo, Journalist and Author, "Thinspired: How I Lost 90 Pounds -- My Plan for Lasting Weight Loss and Self-Acceptance"

Tomorrow's Problems...Margaret Mead

The solution to adult problems tomorrow depends on large measure upon how our children grow up today.

--Margaret Mead

#LeadershipTuesdays: Be Well-Rounded...Glen Llopis

"The best women leaders I know have circular vision that enables them to be well-rounded people. For example, they have their finger on the pulse of the culture and can talk to you about the latest pop-culture news – but then easily switch gears to give you their perspective on what is taking place on Wall Street. "

Glenn Llopis, "The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits Of Women", Forbes, 2/3/14

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY presents Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. There is no new feature today.* However, please see our blog archives of recent features by checking the right side of this page. 

For other Leadership Tuesdays features on leaders like Indra Nooyi, Bishop Vashti McKenzie, and more, go to our website here: womenatliberty.com. You may also visit our Facebook page, Women Making History, for additional postings on leadership and other topics of interests to women. 

*Leadership Tuesdays is on vacation in August 2015.

Go Within...Will Self

“A creative life cannot be sustained by approval any more than it can be destroyed by criticism.”
 

--Will Self

Confidence...Roger Staubach

Confidence doesn't come out of nowhere. It's a result of something...hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication. 

--Roger Staubach 

The Family...Charles Franklin Thwing

Under any system of society ... the family holds the future in its bosom.

--Charles Franklin Thwing, The Family: An Historical and Social Study

 

You Will Become Like The Company You Keep...W Clement Stone

"Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them."
 
--W. Clement Stone

My Anchor Holds & Keeps Me Steady...Ed Miliband

My beliefs will run through everything I do. My beliefs, my values are my anchor and when people try to drag me, as I know they will, it is to that sense of right and wrong, that sense of who I am and what I believe, to which I will always hold.

 

--Ed Miliband

 

How To Facilitate Reconciliation...Timothy B. Tyson

“If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth.”
 
--Timothy B. Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story

 

#LeadershipTuesdays: Leadership and Accountability...Michael Hyatt

Everyone wants to be a leader. However, few are prepared to accept the accountability that goes with it. But you can’t have one without the other. They are two sides of the same coin.

--Michael Hyatt, Author and former Corporate Executive 

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY presents Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. Today's quote is from an article, "How Real Leaders Demonstrate Accountability", by Leadership expert and author, Michael Hyatt. Often times people see and are attracted to the visibility that a leader gets. But, it is the act of being accountable and accepting responsibility for one's actions that makes a person a real leader. Michael Hyatt gives practical examples of what accountability looks like from his days as a corporate executive.

To see other features on Mayor Muriel Bowser, Real Estate Executive Michelle D. Freeman and others, please check the right side of this page. For more Leadership Tuesdays features, go to our website here: womenatliberty.com. You may also visit our Facebook page, Women Making History, for additional postings on leadership and other topics of interests to women.

Time...Faith Baldwin

Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations. 

--Faith Baldwin

The Main Ingredient In Organizational Change...Vince Lombardi

Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
 

--Vince Lombardi

 

Tell Your Story...Jennifer Weiner

“Tell the story that's been growing in your heart, the characters you can't keep out of your head, the tale story that speaks to you, that pops into your head during your daily commute, that wakes you up in the morning.”
 
--Jennifer Weiner

The Formula For Real Success...Anthony Robbins

“It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently.” 

--Anthony Robbins

Persevere Until It Is Finished!...John Quincy Adams

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. 

--John Quincy Adams 

Dress Up and Go Make It Happen!...Israelmore Ayivor

“Never be complacent about the current steps; don't agree and follow the status quo. Be determined that you are making an indelible impact with great change. Now, dress up and go to make it happen!”
 
--Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes

#LeadershipTuesdays: When Its Okay To Be Inpatient...Ursula Burns

“We all need to be more impatient with the status quo. I believe we all need to shift the emphasis of our thinking -- from why we can't create more jobs to how we can create more jobs… from why we can't compete to how we can compete… from why hunger, poverty and injustice exists in the world to how they can be eliminated...In other words, we all need to be a little more impatient.”*

--Ursula Burns, Chairwoman and CEO, Xerox

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY presents Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. There is no new feature today. However, please see our blog archives of recent features on Mellody  Hobson, Jessica Alba, the importance of trust to an organization, business ethics, how to manage conflict and more, check the right side of this page. For more Leadership Tuesdays features, go to our website here: womenatliberty.com. You may also visit our Facebook page, Women Making History, for additional postings on leadership and other topics of interests to women.


*Source: http://www.xerox.com/assets/images/corporate/pages/about-xerox/leadership/CEO_landtop_en-us.jpg

The Past's Relationship To The Future...Confucius

“Study the past if you would define the future.”
 
--Confucius

Fill Us With The Light Of Day! (w/Song featuring Lauryn Hill)

Joyful, joyful, Lord we adore thee, 

God of glory, Lord of love; 

Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, 

Hail Thee as the sun above. 

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; 

Drive the dark of doubt away. 

Giver of immortal gladness, 

Fill us with the light of day!

Love Is...Toni Morrison

"Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all."

--Toni Morrison

Lead Your Life...Will Rogers

“Lead your life so you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”

--Will Rogers

Getting To The Top!

"The toughest part of getting to the top of the ladder, is getting through the crowd at the bottom."
 
-- Anonymous

The Power Of Knowledge In Action...John Quincy Adams

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.
-- John Quincy Adams

#LeadershipTuesdays: When Trust Means Everything...Roger Staubach

"If you don't have trust inside your company, then you can't transfer it to your customers."

--Roger Staubach, NFL Super Bowl-winning quarterback

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. Last week, Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League (NFL), denied an appeal and upheld a 4 game suspension of the New England Patriot's Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady for his role in Deflategate. This latest Patriots' scandal came to light after the Patriots' win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game in January 2015, several days before Super Bowl 49. For those who are not aware of the scandal, some of the Patriots' footballs that were used during the AFC Championship game, the playoff game right before the Super Bowl, were found to have been underinflated and not up to the NFL required specifications. Tom Brady has consistently declared his innocence in the scandal and has vowed to appeal the latest decision in federal court.

Goodell's decision to uphold Brady's suspension made a couple of things clear: 1) No one is above the rules of the game; and 2) The integrity of the professional football game is essential to the NFL. Apparently, Tom Brady destroyed a cell phone that contained some 10,000 text messages, a high amount of which included texts between he and the Patriots' equipment manager. The NFL had requested that he provide the cell phone to them along with two others during their investigation of Deflategate. In an article posted on USAToday.com, "Tom Brady's cover-up worse than crime" by Nancy Amour, Goodell said:  

"Rather than simply failing to cooperate, Mr. Brady made a deliberate effort to ensure that investigators would never have access to information that he had been asked to produce. Put differently, there was an affirmative effort by Mr. Brady to conceal potentially relevant evidence and to undermine the investigation. All of this indisputably constitutes conduct detrimental to the integrity of, and public confidence in, the game of professional football."

Why is this so important? The NFL with its 32 teams and owners is a "$9 billion a year enterprise".  This figure includes ticket sales, television revenues, sponsorship, licensing and merchandising, and advertising, etc. The NFL reportedly has an estimated 150 million fans. Women make up about 45% of those fans and the percentage is growing. Women fans, who make most of the purchasing decisions for households, represent an important and lucrative demographics for advertisers.

The Super Bowl, the crown jewel game of professional sports, is the most watched television event of the year. This game had a 114.4 million viewers in 2015 which was a more than a two million viewer increase over the 2014 game. With regards to social media, 28.4 million tweets about the game were sent during the live telecast. Lastly and most important to the NFL, the price for 2015 Super Bowl television commercials was $4.5 million per 30-second ad. The NFL draws in a lot of revenue during this game.

All that being said, what is the "So What?" Goodells' ruling and sanction against Tom Brady is sending a strong message to the league's fans and sponsors that you can trust in our brand, organization and the way we play the game and do business.  He is saying that, 'we value you and your commitment to and confidence in our organization and we want you to continue to support our teams with your time and money.' He made it clear to everyone that even an undisputedly talented, golden quarterback like Tom Brady will not be allowed to break the rules and compromise the trust the fans have in the NFL. And at the end of the day, that's good business.

Nona O.

Also check out a previous blog by Nona O. on the Deflategate scandal, "Patriots' Deflategate: How You Play The Game Matters!".

Sources:
1) Women are pro football’s most important demographic. Will they forgive the NFL?, Drew Hartwell, washingtonpost.com, September 12, 2014.
2) Super Bowl XLIX posts the largest audience in TV history, Frank Pallotta, money.cnn.com, February 2, 2015.

Advice on Achieving Goals...Kristi Yamaguchi

I never wanted to feel I hadn't worked hard enough.
 
--Kristi Yamaguchi, Gold Medal-winning Olympic Figure Skater

A Legacy That Really Matters...Shannon L. Alder

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
--Shannon L. Alder

How True Love Perceives...Vera Nazarian

“Love -- not dim and blind but so far-seeing that it can glimpse around corners, around bends and twists and illusion; instead of overlooking faults love sees through them to the secret inside.”

--Vera Nazarian, Salt of the Air