Is The Means As Important As The End?

"As soon as men [and women] decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy."

– Christopher Dawson

The Experience Of Living...Nikki Rowe

"You are always going to meet disturbances outside yourself, it's the experience of living ~

There will be dark days and there will be days of laughter and somewhere in between you'll create a healthy balance within yourself and call it a life.

We can't stop the storm, but we can learn to watch it pass."

--Nikki Rowe

Your Powerful Mind...Napoleon Hill

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

--Napoleon Hill

#LeadershipTuesdays: Keep Standing Up...Richelle Goodrich

“You are right, I do fall down a lot. But that wouldn’t be true if I never stood back up.”

― Richelle E. Goodrich, Author, "Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year"

#LeadershipTuesdays: Want To Be A Great Leader?

Great leaders have integrity.

Full stop period. They are not perfect, but they are motivated by core beliefs and values that are based on truth. No matter what you see and hear in the press, most people want leaders who possess and consistently act with integrity.

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. Today's Leadership Tuesdays' post talks about the importance of leaders modeling integrity within the organization. 

In order to have integrity in your organization, you as a leader must communicate your expectations, demonstrate your values, and correct behavior that is inconsistent with a comitment to integrity. Anything less leaves the door open for behavior that will eventually manifest itself in acts that are detrimental to others and the organization.

Integrity has the opposite effect. Integrity builds trust. It builds trust and currency within and outside of the organization. People are willing to be patient in difficult times when you have built trust with them through your consistent commitment to them and truth-telling.

Check out today's resource on building trust and maintaining integrity within your organization:

"Trust and Integrity – The Core of Leadership" by Karen Colligan 

For more information on Leadership Tuesdays, click here. 

by Nona O., Founder, womenatliberty.com

Create Loving Memories...Nona

Even if you live one hundred years, life is short when you compare it to forever. Memories of love, of experiences with the people you love, of laughter, of togetherness, and of struggle with people you love are the images and energy that will continue to live, energize and inspire when we are gone.

Create loving memories that bring smiles to sad faces and courage to despondent hearts. Their energy is powerful. Their energy is love."

--Nona, Founder, womenatliberty.com

Check out these special moments from the Kodjoe Family Day of Adventure.

#LeadershipTuesdays: You Are A Leader...Jamie Woodburn

“You don’t need a title to be a leader. You lead by example.”

--Jamie Woodburn, Marketing and Communications Manager with Workforce Strategies, Inc.

On Tuesdays, womenatliberty.com provides #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders.

Follow #LeadershipTuesdays on Twitter at @LeadershipTues to see daily posts with resources that help you develop and strengthen your leadership skills.

A Living Example I Could Follow...Clarence Budington Kelland

"He [She] didn't tell me how to live; he [she] lived, and let me watch him [her] do it."

--Clarence Budington Kelland

There Must Be Action...Mellody Hobson

"...corporate America is on notice. You can't just talk about issues. There must be action. Talk is cheap." 

--Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President, Ariel Investments

On Tuesdays, womenatliberty.com provides #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. 

Mellody Hobson has been a leading and consistent voice on racial inequality in corporate America and its unwillingness to be accountable for making meaningful change. In a frank conversation with the @TheEconomist's Anne McElvoy, Ms. Hobson speaks about how corporations can be braver on race and hold themselves accountable for the change that is needed.

Mellody's talk is required viewing for all leaders working for change as it relates to diversity and inclusion, and racial equity. Check out, "How can business be braver on race?"

Follow #LeadershipTuesdays on Twitter at @LeadershipTues to see daily posts with resources that help you develop and strengthen your leadership skills.

Teach Them The Power Of Their Voice...Glen Henry

“There’s a thing about teaching your kids the power of their voice. When they’re babies, we’re always listening. As soon as they make a noise or cry, we’re there trying to troubleshoot. When they get older and develop their own opinions, we tell them to stay in their place and mind their business. Then when they turn I9 or 20, we want them to speak up for themselves and stand up against injustice but we never taught them how to do that. We need to teach them the power of their voice, but first, we need to be ready to listen.”

--Glen Henry, Beleaf In Fatherhood 

Read more and learn about the DADS documentary featuring Glen Henry, Jimmy Fallon, Ron Howard and other celebrities:
A-list celebs and every day heroes highlight the many faces of fatherhood in ‘DADS’, The Grio, 6/21/20

#Leadership Tuesdays: Leading In A Crisis

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."

--Abraham Lincoln

To effectively lead people in a crisis, you must have the trust of the people you lead. How do you gain their trust? You gain their trust by telling them the truth about the situation and the path forward. Telling the truth builds trust, lying destroys trust. Give them the facts, don't give them spin. People know integrity when they see it.

Secondly, they must believe that you care about them and their wellbeing. Listen to them. Talk to them, not at or down to them. Walk with them. Empathize with them.

Also, please know that your track record matters. If you have been tone deaf in the past, or if you have been callous or untrustworthy, people are not going to trust you. They're going to trust your actions.

As crisis manager and lawyer Judy Smith said, "There's always an opportunity with crisis. Just as it forces an individual to look inside himself, it forces [an organization] to reexamine its policies and practices." A crisis is not the end of the world. It can be the beginning of something much better than what was before if leaders meet the challenge with integrity and a commitment to change.

If we look at our current national crisis, the #BlackLivesMatter protesters are saying what we have, the policies, systemic racism, and callousness regarding black and minority lives when it comes to police accountability, is not working. Do you hear them? Don't be tone deaf.

We must take this opportunity to build something better now. But it must start with the truth. What we have is not working for all. Only then can we move to build something better that includes accountability, true equality and opportunities for all.

On Tuesdays, womenatliberty.com provides #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Follow #LeadershipTuesdays on Twitter at @LeadershipTues to see daily posts with resources that help you develop and strengthen your leadership skills.

Character Is...Helen Gahagan Douglas

"Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action."

--Helen Gahagan Douglas

So Many Beautiful Things...Gloria Estefan

"There are so many beautiful things that are a part of the world, and I've always looked at life that way; I've always tried to put on a smile and a brave front, not just for my kids but in my own life and all the difficulties that I've gone through."

--Gloria Estefan

Brave Hearts...Cyril Ramaphosa

"We have brave hearts and won't retreat. We are not going back; we are going forward."

--Cyril Ramaphosa

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff, But Be Aware Of It

"Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path, and you will find you have crossed the mountain."

--Author Unknown

Ask 'What Can We Do Now' and Then Do It!

"An America that asks what it owes its most vulnerable citizens is improved and humane. An America that looks away is ignoring not just the sins of the past but the sins of the present and the certain sins of the future."

--Tanehisi Coates

Hold On, This Story Has A Great Ending!

"As we commemorate what seemed like one of the darkest days in the Christian tradition, we are strengthen in this present time of great challenge because we are blessed with knowing the end of the story. Dark days don't last always, night turns into morning, and death is not final.

We believe that Jesus was resurrected after death. Therefore, although we experience darkness today, we know that a day of rejoicing is coming. And we rejoice because we anticipate the breaking of a new day. Hold on Resurrection is coming!"

--Nona O., Founder, womenatliberty.com 

Hold On and Stay Committed...Earl G. Graves, Sr.

“Hold on to your dreams of a better life and stay committed to striving to realize it.”

--Earl G. Graves, Sr. (1935 -- 2020), Founder, Black Enterprise and Entrepreneur 

Take Courage...Catherine The Great

"Yesterday, I spoke to a grocery store cashier as I was coming though the check out and asked her how she was doing. She said she was alright and that she had faith and trust in God. I took time to talk to her and was encouraged by her expression of faith during this difficult time. I said a little prayer for her as I left the store.

The lesson is we can make it together. Share a little, offer a kind word. Be patient. Do what you can to make the world brighter during this seemingly dark time.

--Nona O., Founder, womenatliberty.com 

When Given The Opportunity To Succeed...Virginia Addicott

"People come into your work life and sometimes you just see things in them. It is very clear that the person has the ability, the aptitude to do these things, but they hadn’t been graced with the opportunity.”

--Virginia Addicott

Every other Tuesday, womenatliberty.com provides #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. In February 2020, Fedex announced that Ramona Hood, a 28-year company veteran has been appointed President and CEO of its Custom Critical division. The division provides a range of transportation capabilities for expedite ground, air, temperature control shipments, and industry-specific solutions. Custom Critical provides services in the U.S., Canada, and internationally, and is based in Green, Ohio.

Ramona Hood
Photo: Fedex.com

In Hood's new role, she is responsible for the division's performance and strategic direction and will lead the executive leadership team. Incidentally, she started her career at Custom Critical as a receptionist in 1991 when she was a young mother. Now as the first black woman to be named President/CEO at Fedex, Ms. Hood is the embodiment of the colloquial phrase, "started at the bottom and now we are here".

Hood is the successor to Virginia Addicott who retired after 33 years with FedEx and 12 years as CEO of Custom Critical. Addicott's quote above is taken from a February 24, 2020 article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and it represents Addicott's sentiment toward Hood. Addicott ended the quote above by saying, "Ramona was one of those people." She characterized Hood as a "fantastic leader" and expressed excitement for Hood in her new role.

Virginia Addicott
Photo: Akron Beacon Journal

Ramona Hood is a graduate of Walsh University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and she also has a MBA from Case Western Reserve University. She is the proud mother of two daughters, Mariah and Kayla. For more information on Ramona Hood, see her profile here.  For more information on #LeadershipTuesdays, follow us on Twitter at: @LeadershipTuesdays

or visit womenatliberty.com.

Everyone Has Something...Elizabeth Vargas

Everyone has something that scares them. Everyone must make a choice at some point whether to be brave. Everyone has a story.
--Elizabeth Vargas, Journalist 

Focus, Focus On The Good...Nikki Rowe

"The world is broken he said, how will you fix it?

I don't think anyone can fix it but we can teach ourselves & each other to focus on the good and the important and maybe little by little this place won't feel so heavy."

--Nikki Rowe

Trust and Love Yourself...Golda Meir

"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement."

--Golda Meir

Don't Give Up...Joanna Gaines

"Don’t quit, and don’t give up. The reward is just around the corner. And in times of doubt or times of joy, listen for that still, small voice. Know that God has been there from the beginning—and he will be there until . . . The End."

--Joanna Gaines, Entrepreneur and Author, "The Magnolia Story"

We Have To Empower Each Other...Tamron Hall

"Every time a young girl comes in and asks me for advice, if you start your conversation with, 'How hard is it as a black woman,' or, 'How hard is it as a woman,' I turn you around. Because I cannot - we cannot look at the roadblocks and see the road at the same time.

If you keep running into a brick wall, as they say, don’t keep running into it. Find a way over it.

Women, teenagers, we have to really empower each other."

--Tamron Hall, Journalist and Host/Executive Producer, Tamron Hall Show 

I Raised My Voice...Malala Yousafzai

"I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. … We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back."

-- Malala Yousafzai, Activist and Nobel Prize Winner 

Be A Tree With Roots...Dick Gregory

“A man [woman] without knowledge of himself [herself] and his [her] heritage is like a tree without roots.” 

--Dick Gregory, Comedian and Activist 

Follow Your Heart...Rihanna

"I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world."

--Robyn Rihanna Fenty

Rihanna is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur who has made a name for herself in both the entertainment and fashion industry. Her Fenty fashion brand has excelled in an industry filled with more established competitors because it embraced inclusiveness and set out to provide a makeup foundation for every skin color.

Rihanna is personally and intricately involved in Fenty Beauty. She said, "Some are finding their shade of foundation for the first time, getting emotional at the counter. That's something I will never get over."

The Fenty brand also markets lingerie, clothing, shoes and accessories and is reportedly worth $3 billion with Rihanna being a 50% partner with luxury brand LVMH.

fenty.com

rihannanow.com

Rihanna created the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) in 2012 to honor her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. CLF supports and funds groundbreaking and effective education and emergency response programs around the world. With the voices of Rihanna and her fans, CLF also engages in global advocacy with the goal of improving the quality of life for young people everywhere. In 2017, Rihanna received the Humanitarian of the Year award from Harvard University for her work with CLF. 

#LeadershipTuesdays: Your Best Champion...Ayanna Howard

“Your best champion and cheerleader is yourself. Always be proud of your accomplishments, big or small.”

--Ayanna M. Howard, Ph.D., Educator, Researcher, and Innovator

Every other Tuesday, womenatliberty.com  provides #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Dr. Ayanna Howard is an engineer and innovator whose accomplishments have been highlighted in TIME Magazine, Black Enterprise, and USA Today. As one of the 23 most powerful women engineers in the world in 2015 (Business Insider) and one of 2018's Top 50 U.S. Women in Tech (Forbes), she says through her quote today that you must be your best cheerleader and be proud of your accomplishments, even the ones that you consider insignificant. In a world that constantly marginalizes minorities and women, you have to learn to speak to and be proud of the qualities that make you special. You should also be aware and proud of how you utilize those qualities to add value to your work.

Currently, Dr. Howard is the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Professor and Chair of the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, GA. At Georgia Tech, she is on faculty in the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Director of Human-Automation Systems Lab (HumAnS) where they are studying how human-inspired techniques can be used to enhance the autonomous capabilities of intelligent systems.

Howard has published over 250 peer-reviewed publications and received support from various agencies including: National Science Foundation, Procter and Gamble, NASA, ExxonMobil, Intel, and the Grammy Foundation. Before entering academia, she worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory--California Institute of Technology, where she was a Senior Robotics Researcher and Deputy Manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist.

See Dr. Howard's TEDTalk below on "Making Robots Smarter". You'll gain tips on how you can talk about your accomplishments without sounding boastful and arrogant. 

*2023 Update: In 2021, Dr. Ayanna Howard was named the Dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She is the first woman to lead the College of Engineering and one of only a few African American deans or directors in the U.S. She is also the college’s second Black dean. Dr. Howard earned her Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Brown University, her Master’s degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and her MBA from Claremont Graduate University.

Follow us on Twitter at: @LeadershipTuesdays
or visit womenatliberty.com for more features and resources.

Take Responsibility For Change...Cory Booker

"You don’t have to be one of those people that accepts things as they are. Every day, take responsibility for changing them right where you are."

– Cory Booker, U.S. Senator, 2020 Presidential Candidate, & Former Mayor of Newark, NJ

https://www.booker.senate.gov

Be inspired! Watch Heather Headley as she sings "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand": 

Being Black In America

“I think the experience of being black in America creates resilience—a steady steadiness. And it creates courage and pride. Not pride in a boastful way, but being proud, as you need to be in moments when you feel completely rejected, completely ignored, overlooked, sidelined.”


—A senior executive of a Fortune 50 financial services firm

Quote taken from "Beating the Odds" by Laura Morgan Roberts, Anthony J. Mayo, Robin J. Ely, & David A. Thomas, Harvard Business Review, March-April, 2018

#LeadershipTuesdays: Laws of Leadership for Black Women

"In order to become a leader and remain an effective one, you must always consider yourself a Very Important Person (VIP). This doesn’t mean that you should be arrogant or cocky and walk into your job believing that you already know everything you need to know. 

Instead, it means that you need to feel confident that you are bringing much value to any workplace and that your cultural strengths, values, and work ethic will stand you in good stead as you go about learning how to do your job, and that you will be successful despite any challenges you may face, whether they are small or large."

--Elaine Meryl Brown, Marsha Haygood and Rhonda Joy McLean Joy McLean, Authors, "Laws of Leadership for Black Women"

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Today's we offer an inspiring quote from the authors of "The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women" and a recent Wall Street Journal article on the disappointing lack of women in CEO roles.

Currently there are 33 women CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies, a net increase of nine from 2018 to 2019. For women of color, the results are not so promising. Ursula Burns, one of the most visible black women Fortune 500 CEOs, retired from Xerox as the CEO and Chairman of Xerox in 2016 leaving a definite void. Last year, Mary Winston was the only one woman of color on the list of Fortune 500 CEOs when she was named interim CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond. She held the interim position for seven months.

The issues that are preventing women from reaching the top leadership positions include access to C-Suite positions, being considered for the "CEO pipeline", and also sponsors that help them get leadership opportunities in operations where they will get profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities. One thing is for sure you have to have mentors and sponsors who believe in you and your abilities and are willing to open doors for you. Otha "Skip" Spriggs, President and CEO of the Executive Leadership Council, a nonprofit organization that opens channels of opportunity for the development of Black executives, said that there is not a lack of talented and qualified Black managers, but there is 'an access issue'.

Lastly as the quote above encourages, women especially women of color must see themselves as C-suite and CEO material and prepare yourself throughtout your career for these type of opportunities. Seek training and assignments that will develop your leadership skills. Further, don't get pigeonholed in traditional managerial tracks that don't offer P&L and other operations' experience. You are capable, you are smart, you bring value and you have a work ethic that prepares you to lead at the highest level. Carpe Diem!

To read today's featured article, "Where Are All the Women CEOs ( WSJ), click here. Follow us on Twitter at: @LeadershipTuesdays

or visit womenatliberty.com.

Write It and Speak It...Ciara

"I truly believe that if you put your goals in writing, speak them out loud, and work for them, they will happen."

--Ciara

I'm Clear Why I'm Here...Frederick D. Haynes III

Can you follow your Father’s voice in spite of the noise?

--Reverend Dr. Freddy Haynes III

To view more of this clip, go to: http://ow.ly/RSo330qgeqa

For the entire sermon, go to: https://youtu.be/WAPkBhcl0-8

You Have To Have A Plan...Nipsey Hussle

"The most important thing, number one, is you gotta get rid of doubt. If you got doubt in what you're doing, it's not gonna work and the way to do that is you have a plan. 'Cause if you got a plan, it's not just like a pipe-dream, you have a step-by-step list of things to do to get to your goal. If you don't have that, it's very hard to really have faith in what you're doing 'cause soon as something pop up, it's gonna look like the end-all."

-- Nipsey Hussle, (Ermias Joseph Asghedom, 1985-2019), Rapper and Entrepreneur 

Choose To Step Up...Andrew Gillum

"I don't want to be that person who's looking squarely at the shortcomings in the process right where I sit and then choose to walk away and do nothing."

--Andrew Gillum, 126th Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida 

In 2018, Andrew Gillum was the first black nominee of the Democrat Party for the office of Governor in Florida.

#LeadershipTuesdays: Your First Move in Change Management...Aja Brown

"I recommend leaders tackle the hardest things first because they may take the longest for you to actually impact. And if you have a time limit as most people do, you need to be effective with how you deploy your time, your resources and your people. So it's critical to really work through those hard things quickly and early on so you can have a realistic strategy to be successful."*

--Aja Brown, Mayor, Compton, California

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Today we profile Aja Lena Brown, the 18th mayor of Compton, California.

Brown made history in 2013 by defeating the incumbent Eric J. Perrodin to become the youngest mayor ever elected in Compton. She is currently serving her second term as mayor having been reelected in 2017.

Mayor Brown is an example of a home grown talent with vision and passion to make a difference. She went to school and grew up in the area where she serves as mayor and she is the embodiment of one who believes that change is not only possible and but doable.

Brown launched a 'New Vision for Compton’, a revitalization strategy centered on 12-key principles that focuses on family values, quality of life, economic development and infrastructural growth, and began her work in Compton. Her goal is to improve outcomes through policy reform, innovation and strategic partnerships. Since becoming Mayor, she has  accomplished the following:

• Decreased homicides from 2014 to 2015;

• Reduced the unemployment rate by 50 percent in Compton from 18 percent in July of 2013, to 9 percent in the month of December 2015;

• Executed policy that improves access to Compton City employment through the First Source Hiring Agreement, adopted in October 2013, which mandates 35 percent local hiring for city assisted and funded projects; and

• Eliminated hourly motel rentals and condemning businesses that incubate human trafficking, and other illicit activity.

Brown is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy, Urban Planning and Development and Master’s degree in Urban Planning with a concentration in Economic Development. She is married to her best friend Van Brown and they are the proud parents of their first child, a daughter named J'ael.

For more information on Leadership Tuesdays and WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here.

*Quote from GLS Conference, Chicago, Illinois, August 2019

A Sunday Blessing...Thema Bryant-Davis

"May this be the season your spirit awakens. May this be the season you remember your name. May this be the day your clarity returns."

--Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis, Minister, Psychologist and Educator 

@drthema 

A Good Fight...Kamala D. Harris

“Any fight – any good fight – is born out of optimism.”

--Kamala Harris, U.S. Senator, 32nd Attorney General of California

Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle

Legacy...Pericles | Kobe Bryant (1978--2020)

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

-- Pericles

Happy 2020!

"At the dawn of this new day, year and decade, may positivity possess you, grace embrace you, and your vision propel you into greatness."

--Nona O., Founder, womenatliberty.com and #WomenMakingHistory