Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you'll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it.
--Ralph Marston
Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Today and all this week #MotivationalMoments is featuring quotes on thankfulness and gratitude. Again today I start off with the familiar adage, "Actions speak louder than words". And this is very true for Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments.
Gravity Payments is a credit-card processing and financial services company that is based in the Seattle, Washington area. Dan Price and his brother Lucas founded the company in February 2004. A few years ago he had an encounter with an employee that changed the way he pays his employees. He talked to one of his employees who was a phone tech making $35,000 a year and an employee who was a former veteran. Both struggling trying to make ends meet on their current salaries. Dan was bringing home a $1.1 million dollar salary at that time. Gradually, Dan made a decision to pay all of his employees a minimum salary of $70,000 and he announced it this past Spring. (See Remember the Guy Who Gave His Employees a $70,000 Minimum Wage? Here’s What Happened Next.) Everybody knows leadership is a tough job. But, when you strive to do right by people and you are really concerned about the welfare of your employees, you demonstrate to them the values you expect to flow through your organization. Dan Price put his money where his mouth is and this is a great leadership lesson on demonstrating appreciation and concern. To learn more about Dan's decision and how he came to change the pay structure at his company, see the video below. For more information on Leadership Tuesdays or WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here.
The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.
--John Wooden
Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Actions speak louder than words. People may not always tell you, but they watch to see if you 'walk your talk' or live by the principles you "preach" to others. Hypocrisy in a leader is one of the things that can kill morale in a organization or group.
Today's leadership resource provides seven simple ways that a leader can effectively lead by example. Check out "7 Simple Ways to Lead by Example" by Brent Gleeson on the Inc.com platform. For more information on Leadership Tuesdays or WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here. Also, feel free to visit the Women Making History web page to stay up to date on information and resources to help you live a better life.
"I never worry about the problem. I worry about the solution." Shaquille O'Neal, PhD, Entrepreneur, Sports Commentator, Championship-winning Professional Basketball Player, Actor and Artist
Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. The technology industry has been in the press a lot lately for its lack of diversity and its steps (or lack thereof) to increase the representation of women and minorities. I recently heard a statistics from Vann Jonesthat the industry will have 1.4 million new tech jobs in the next 10 years. He's one of the advocates bringing attention to the need for more diversity in the tech industry. Current forecasts suggest that the U.S. will only be able to supply 400K of these jobs.
Leshell Hatley, an engineer, educator, researcher, and entrepreneur based in the Washington, D.C. area, is preparing a diverse population of youth to be ready for the future jobs in technology. For more than ten years, she has been teaching children the "how to's" of technology. Leshell has developed unique programs that expose youth to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics, and Computer Science and she has documented best practices for how to teach technology to African American youth.
Through her non-profit foundation, Uplift, Inc. and as a teacher in public and private schools, Leshell teaches K-12 students how to create mobile apps, build robots, and design gaming systems. Earlier this year she spoke to an audience in the Nation's Capital on the power of creativity in using programming and robots in education. Her work has been recognized by companies like Microsoft, the MacArthur Foundation, and Google.
Leshell is currently finishing up her PhD (2016) in Learning Technologies Design Research at George Mason University (Virginia). She is also on the staff of Howard University (Washington, D.C.) managing a National Science Foundation grant that supports women STEM faculty members.
To find out more about how Leshell is preparing today's youth for tomorrow's opportunities in technology and science, see below. For more information on Leadership Tuesdays or WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here.