The Importance of Our Origins...Mike Norton

“When we reject our origins, we become the product of whatever soil that we find ourselves planted; the colors of our leaves change as we consume borrowed nutrients with borrowed roots and, like a tree, we grow.”

--Mike Norton, Fighting For Redemption

Don't Let People Box You In...Lucy Liu

You have to look out for becoming trapped in a place where people want to see you all the time doing one thing.

--Lucy Liu

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 

Harnessing The Power Of Conflict...Margaret Heffernan

"But it strikes me that the biggest problems we face, many of the biggest disasters that we've experienced, mostly haven't come from individuals, they've come from organizations, some of them bigger than countries, many of them capable of affecting hundreds, thousands, even millions of lives. So how do organizations think? Well, for the most part, they don't. And that isn't because they don't want to, it's really because they can't. And they can't because the people inside of them are too afraid of conflict."

--Margaret Heffernan, Serial Entrepreneur and Author

Every other Tuesday, womenatliberty.com provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. This week's #LeadershipTuesdays feature is on the importance of having your own voice and having "your voice" heard and valued by the organization when it differs from the majority. Why is it important for an organization to value constructive conflict and those who may not always agree with an idea, policy, or a decision held by the majority? See the following quote from the Margaret Heffernan's TED Talk video:

"The fact is that most of the biggest catastrophes that we've witnessed rarely come from information that is secret or hidden. It comes from information that is freely available and out there, but that we are willfully blind to, because we can't handle, don't want to handle, the conflict that it provokes. But when we dare to break that silence, or when we dare to see, and we create conflict, we enable ourselves and the people around us to do our very best thinking."

There is a skill in learning how to disagree and harness the power in disagreements and constructive conflict to enhance relationships, discover new opportunities, and improve product/services and processes. A certain level of trust and respect must exist for both the organization and individuals within the organization in order for people to feel safe speaking up without fear of retribution. When these elements are not valued within the organization at every level, senior management as well as employees, we suffer events like the GM Ignition Switch Defect or the 1986 NASA Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster where precious lives are lost.

So what does it take to be able to appreciate constructive conflict? Check out Margaret Heffernan's Ted Talk by clicking here. You will enjoy the brief talk and be enlightened. For more information on #LeadershipTuesdays or womenatliberty.com, click here. 

Defining Myself...Bell Hooks

“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else’s whim or to someone else’s ignorance. ” 

--Bell Hooks

Image: WashingtonPost.com

Listening To Your Heart...Sue Bender

Listening to your heart is not simple. Finding out who you are is not simple. It takes a lot of hard work and courage to get to know who you are and what you want.
--Sue Bender

Work On Being Who You Really Are...Anna Quindlen

The thing that is really hard and really amazing is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

--Anna Quindlen

Uniquely You...Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Insist on yourself; never imitate. Every great man [woman] is unique."  --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be Yourself and Lead...Ursula Burns

"You can probably be somebody else and follow all your life, but you cannot be somebody else and lead." 

--Ursula Burns, CEO, Xerox

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. Today, Leadership Tuesdays continues a series looking at the why women are not seeking advance degrees in business at the same rate as they get other professional degrees and why women are not proportionately represented in senior leadership positions in business.

Meg Whitman's mom gave her some of the best advice that a mom can give any child. That advice has served her extremely well. Sadly, her mom's words still does not apply equally to all women in the United States much less to women around the world.

Taking a look back to the Fall of 2004, Carlotta Mast wrote an article that appeared on the Graduate Management Admission Council's website,gmac.com discussing why women continue to make up less than 50% of the student body at business schools. As stated in her article, companies and business school all say that want to increase the number of women in their leadership positions and programs. But why isn't this happening?

To read her article, click here. For more information on Leadership Tuesdays,see here.

Leadership Tuesdays: Grow Up To Be The Best You Can Be...Laurel Richie

I think that you should grow up to be whoever you are. Don't try to follow the crowd. Don't try to be somebody else. Find the wherewithal to be yourself. I really believe that if you do what you love and do what makes you happy, you'll be sitting in chairs bigger than this one (i.e., WNBA President).

--Laurel J. Richie, President, Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)

Twice a month on Tuesdays, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. This week, Leadership Tuesdays is featuring Laurel J. Richie, the first African American president of the WNBA and the first African American to head a U.S. professional sports league. She was named to her current position in April 2011.

On Friday, May 18, 2012, the WNBA will kick-off its 16th season as Ms. Richie nears her first anniversary. With play as competitive as ever, teams filled with the nation's top female basketball players, and some of the most passionate fans around, Richie is building upon the league's current success. And although she has no previous connection to the sport, this seasoned business executive brings a wealth of marketing experience in consumer marketing, corporate branding, public relations, and corporate management. 

In a video from the NBA TV Network, Ms. Richie talks about the current state of the WNBA and what she hopes to accomplish in moving the league forward. To learn more about Laurel Richie and view the  Leadership Tuesdays' feature, click here. For more information on Leadership Tuesdays, see here.

We Are Who We Say We Are...Nona

We must strive so that who we say we are, and the principles we say we hold dear, are one and the same with who we actually are and the things that we do.  --Nona O.

Be Who You Are...Shelly Lazarus

You cannot be afraid to be who you are.  Live your values.  Live your life.  

–Shelly Lazarus, Chairman, Olgilvy and Mather Worldwide

See Leadership Tuesday's, Developing Women Leaders on the WOMEN AT LIBERTY website for more information.