It will be a night forever remembered! Thanks to our attendees, Walk of Fame inductees, current and previous honorees, and valued sponsors for making the WICT Rocky Mountain 10th Annual Walk of Fame Gala a resounding success.
 
In keeping with the 10th anniversary theme, the evening centered on Reflections of Our Success, paying tribute to our past, celebrating today, and focusing our sites on the future.  More than 450 cable industry professionals and friends attended the gala, which inducted two new Women of the Year into the Walk of Fame, and honored eight other inspiring leaders and up-and-coming professionals.

The evening began with a knock-'em-dead musical number and concluded with thoughtful and inspirational remarks by industry veteran June Travis and our two new Women of the Year: Jill Stark, vice president of the West Operating Group for Charter Business, and Kelly Bumann, vice president, Brand Strategy and Marketing Communications at Starz Entertainment.

 

When my manager told me that the Mentoring Program would help me grow not only career-wise but also personally, I wanted to laugh.  At the time, several friends and long-time co-workers had just left the company, and I was very unsure of myself. My personal life wasn't much easier--I was dealing with the aftermath of a shooting that my family had been involved in years before; my best friend was beset by family issues and struggling to hold on to her house; and worst of all, my older sister was told that she was dying. The thought of beginning a mentoring program, saddled with all these issues, actually seemed funny to me. However, my manager has never put me down the wrong path, so I submitted my paperwork.  I'm sure whoever processed that paperwork will never know the impact it had on my life!

On my way to the first meeting I remember thinking, "There are so many other things that need to get done. And why would I bother someone else with everything I have going?" But all my fears vanished the second I met my mentor, Pam Stinson. She made me feel as though we were long-lost friends, and she really was there to help.

Pam challenged me to look at things from a different point of view--and mostly to look at myself. Like everyone else, I set goals for myself in the mentoring program. But in the end, I didn't complete any of them--because the program helped me realize that these weren't the right goals for me after all. Instead, I learned that the first thing I needed to do was to take care of me. For so many years I had focused on what would make everyone else happy, forgetting to make myself happy, forgetting to look around and see that I was loved. I never documented or even spoke of this, but Pam knew what needed to happen and made me realize it. Pam saw way before I could that I needed to find myself and be myself. It sounds simple, but it's not that easy to make happen. I didn't realize how much strength I had until I had one of my first lunches with Pam.

The lunch happened on a day when I felt so stressed, I thought I was losing my mind. Just days before Comcast Cares Day I had been put in charge of community service at two locations, and I really was questioning myself. Pam helped me to understand that I wasn't losing my mind--that in fact I was on the right path and the project was going to be successful. In addition to this moral support and encouragement, Pam also gave me confidence that I do have the tools and the strength to face anything that is pushed my way.

The second round table of the program also was extremely helpful to me. It taught me that one of the things holding me back was the "box" I was carrying with some of my co-workers and even friends. With some people I was holding the "I Am Better than You" box, and with others it was the "Why Me?" box. Once I put those boxes down and opened them, I realized that there was nothing there and got rid of the dead weight. 

The most meaningful lesson I learned in the program was that it's okay to be me, quirks and all. One of those quirks is a love of music; I believe music can speak louder than words and can touch the heart faster. The song that fits what this program did for me is "I Have Arrived" by Linda Davis. "For so many years I've tasted tears.... And I've learned to live with things that I cannot change." The WICT Mentoring Program helped me change the way I view myself and others, so that I can live with the things I can't change.

The program has ended now, but I have built friendships and I see a new beginning. I know that life has more things in store for me, from growing in my career to letting my sister go. I don't expect things to be perfect or easy but I do know that I have a strong foundation and I can get through these things my way.  Thank all of you who had a part in this program, and most of all thank you for giving me the power to say, "I Have Arrived."

Missy is one of 30 women who will spend a week immersed in leadership analysis, case study work, and business and personal leadership skill development. Participants are selected based on qualities such as their commitment to building leadership skills and their service to the community.

Currently, as Senior Manager of Engineering Operations at Comcast, Missy oversees a team of 80 people. She believes her entire team will benefit from the Rising Leaders experience will help her entire team, by giving her the opportunity to share ideas with others and take a deeper look at her team's operating model. "I like the program's continued push for self-reflection-and having the opportunity to get out of my day-to-day world and prepare for the next step," she says. "I want to be in a position where being strategic and forward-thinking is the job!"
 

Leadership has for decades been seen and practiced as a male endeavor.  If leadership is the catalyst for all human potential, how can it employ qualities that reflect less than 50% of the population? Successful leaders use the full spectrum of masculine and feminine attributes as needed.  Several studies explain why this is the case.

Social science research indicates that men are seen as more individualistic, domineering, control oriented and aggressive. Women are viewed as tending to build relationships and community; emotionally oriented, and supportive of others. Neither is better. Both are necessary.

I conducted interviews with 25 men and 25 women leaders about whether and how women are influencing the practice of leadership.  All 50 participants believe that the presence of more women in managerial and leadership roles over the past 15 years is having a positive effect. They stated that women have emphasized the need to think more intuitively, to collaborate, to use emotional intelligence, to be inclusiveness and to demonstrate support for others. The men and women in this study consider these qualities to be more typical of women.  Decision making--a trait they saw as more masculine--remains very important, but aggressive behavior, also viewed as stereotypically masculine, is both less important and less acceptable.

These studies shed light on how the country's financial situation might be different if more women were leading on Wall Street.  First, because women focus more on relationships and social values, they might have asked how building enormous wealth for a handful of individuals would benefit society.  Women's more inclusive and collaborative tendencies also would have invited diverse views to important discussions and decisions. One prevailing perspective would not have carried the day. Questions would have been raised.  Alternatives would have been explored.  We would not have seen entire leadership teams march like lemmings over a cliff.

For things to move in this direction there should be at least three women on top leadership teams.  With fewer than three members of any minority group, questions about the prevailing culture often are not raised, and if raised, they are either ignored or discounted.

One of the underlying problems that lead to the financial crisis is a leadership culture that does not question its own perspective and assumptions.  Why?  Because it is made up of an overrepresentation of one group--in this case men. Those who might see things differently are underrepresented.  Bear in mind, however, that if women had been overrepresented and men underrepresented, we would simply be having a different set of problems today.  What we really need is a leadership culture that integrates masculine and feminine perspectives.

Visit Dr. Perschel's web site, www.germaneconsulting.com, for additional articles on leadership, as well as a free email newsletter. And remember, you can build your own leadership skills through a host of WICT programs-mentoring, Rocky Mountain Leadership Institute, and other events locally, as well as the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute, the Rising Leaders program, and other leadership forums at the national level.
 

 

Cathy Kilstrom was the very first recipient of a new national award--the Chapter President award. (Cathy also has the honor of serving on the national board.) Lee Clayton Roper brought home the Chapter Leader award, and Rebecca Rusk Lim received the Volunteer award. 

Another double honoree is Lee Clayton Roper, principal at International Media Advisors. At the 2009 NCTA Pioneers Banquet (just after receiving the WICT Chapter Leader award) Lee was inducted as a Cable Pioneer.  Lee was one of 25 illustrious women and men honored for their long-term service and contribution to the cable industry.

 

Maria Arias of Comcast has been named Area Vice President for Southern Colorado. In her new position, she'll lead all operations for the Southern Colorado group--300 employees serving nearly 130,000 customers. 
 

 

Entry - access to industry events and an opportunity to network with industry leaders
Regular - Entry plus access to exciting programs like WICT Mentoring and Rocky Mountain Leadership Institute.
Executive - Regular plus access to small forums for industry executives to meet and discuss key issues.

To find out more, click here.