Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
Hi! Welcome to the Two Piers podcast. I’m your host, Erica D’Eramo. During our second episode of season one, we’ll be recapping the 20th annual Rice Women in Leadership conference.
Ally Cedeno, founder of WomenOffshore kicked it off with a rousing welcome. She and her team did an incredible job pulling together speakers and content that struck a great balance. The sessions were realistic and honest, while remaining inspirational and energizing. We can’t cover all of the speakers and panelists, but we’ll try to cover a large portion of it.
The opening keynote was masterfully presented by Ann Fox, a Marine Corps veteran and the president and CEO of Nine Energy Services. Her humor, humility and honesty made for a powerful, and at times heart-wrenching discussion. She reminded us that having a diverse set of perspectives can make the difference between life or death at times.
From there, we had a choice of four morning panel sessions - I attended the Founders Corner: From Vision to Adventure. The panelists included Jillian Fink, CEO and Co-founder of OcciGuide, a medical device company; Kathleen Perley, CEO and Co-founder of Decode Digital, Diana Murakhovskaya, co-founder and General Partner, The Artemis fund, and Erin McClarty, Founder, Erin McClarty, PLLC. Side note: we’re big fans of Erin over here at Two Piers and we’ve been working with her for some time now.
We learned from Diana that in 2019, only 2.8% of VC money went to companies founded by women, however 19% of all exit value comes from female founders. We clearly have some work to do.
One key theme was around what constitutes success versus failure.
Kathleen discussed the definition of a win and identifying the right KPIs or key performance indicators. In fact, testing out ideas and knowing something’s not right - that can be a win. Erin focused us on identifying what success was for us, and whether we’re working toward that. One helpful tactic is to identify what you’re “not” going to be.
There was also a theme around structure, including blocking out time and setting boundaries, with yourself, your clients and your loved ones. It’s important to set aside time for reflection and strategy. Within your daily structure, we must make sure there’s a focus on what makes money, with an understanding that it needs to be both short term and long term revenue. The panelists also discussed setting aside a separate space or office to work in. Finding a coworking space or partner can also help add structure.
One great question from the audience that we felt was particularly insightful: for over-achievers that are not used to having risks, how do we face potential failure? Erin suggested that communities such as the one at the Women in Leadership Conference, create the space to fail and share. Kathleen credited her academic struggles with dyslexia for teaching her how to get comfortable with failure and move on quickly. It doesn’t hold her back. Jillian recommended doing your research such that you have the confidence to go your own way.
In parallel with the Founders Corner, was the Lessons Learned in Leadership panel. This included the following panelists:
Lynda Clemmons, VP sustainable solutions at NRG discussed the value of listening to where people are at
Sruba De, Vice President, Global Retail Insights & Solutions, Mastercard Advisors, discussed what makes a good leader: powerful communicator, ability to influence, thriving outside comfort zone. Sruba also discussed the importance of having our own set of personal directors: someone believes in you, mentor to sponsor, biggest critic. These should be people that have directly seen us work.
Tandra Jackson, Managing Partner, KPMG discussed servant leadership and putting the client first
GiGi Lindberg, VP and Commercial Relationship Manager, BBVA and Founder and CEO, Meritaj discussed tactics for, and importance of, responding rather than reacting.
Midway through the day, we took a break for a networking lunch and met some of our fellow attendees.
The afternoon included a selection of workshops, and Two Piers facilitated a session on Tough Conversations. So why this topic? Difficult conversations affect everyone. Fundamentally, we have a few choices - we can try to avoid them, we can handle them poorly, we can handle them well. We all know people that can handle them well. We discussed our intended learning outcomes:
Recognize what makes difficult conversations difficult
Identify tools to prepare for them
Understand ways to navigate confrontation and de-escalation
Determine how to close out and resolve these interactions
We won’t re-work the workshop here, but keep a lookout for a future podcast dedicated to navigating conversation. We had some great questions from the end, and have picked up some ideas for how to make the content even more valuable.
While we were in the Tough Conversations workshop, Delifina Govia was facilitating her workshop called “How to Live for 300 Years - Maximize Your Personal and Professional Life” Delfina is a partner at Veritas Total Solutions, and we’re big fans of her here at Two Piers. Her interactive workshop focuses professionals on balancing their personal and professional lives. This was far from a lecture - it was a working session that even involved a bit of math. If you missed out on her workshop at the Women in Leadership Conference, she’ll be hosting a free, extended version of the workshop on March 6th to celebrate international Women’s Day.
Following the afternoon workshops, there was a panel discussion on The Frontier of Diversity and Inclusion in Business. The panelists included:
Deborah Byers - E&Y’s Americas Industry Leader and also E&Y’s Americas Oil and Gas leader
Janelle Daniel - VP HR, Community Relations and Sustainability at Transocean
Amy Dalton - SVP Americas, BCD Travel
Larry Perkins - Assoc. VP HR and Diversity Organizations MD Anderson
The panelists discussed where they saw the future of diversity, and it’s clear they all see it as a central tenet of doing business.
Deborah raised the issue of unspoken rules and suggested we acknowledge them and either eliminate them or get them into the limelight.
Janelle discussed the implications for industrial environments and the need to address technical environment, such as adequate PPE or suitable changing facilities.
Larry observed that MD Anderson has always been good on paper. We loved his assertion that diversity is a fact, whereas inclusion is an act. We also need to lift as we climb and bring future generations with us.
Deborah noted that it takes 20% of a workforce to change before we start noticing a difference. You can look great on paper but we need to focus on the right roles.
For the closing keynote, Sandy Asch discussed the Roar Leadership Experience. She stressed the importance of being purposeful, transparent, calm and courageous. She also spoke powerfully about velcroing yourself to your purpose. This can help you stay on track, and also energize you when you hit challenging times.
We wrapped up the day with a reception hosted by Dean Peter Rodriguez, whom we want to thank for his support this year and in years prior for the Women in Leadership Conference. Another shout out to Ally Cedeno and her team for a great lineup and excellent content.
Thank you for joining us on our second podcast. You can expect another installment in two week’s time. In the meantime, you can find more content on our social media feeds on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. As always, feel free to reach out via our website: twopiersconsulting.com.
Have a great week and we’ll meet you back here soon.