EmpowHER Women in Leadership Series | Part II

With her is Lisa Moore, who is the founder and president of No One Listens To Me. And I just pulled a couple of words from her website. Have you ever been frustrated because your voice isn't heard? Have you ever thought I already said that? Have your contributions gone unrecognized? Well, No One Listens To Me is dedicated to the respect and value of many perspective uplifting voices to contribute to the strategic, innovative and competitive solutions. That's just a quick snippet from the website, but let me tell you, Lisa is a connector. She brings people together to collaboratively create the future and translate deliverables into understandable behaviors and moves ideas to action. More than 25 years of global business experience, both public and private, domestic and international. Lisa has served as a senior executive within the healthcare, insurance, textile food service point of purchase, display consumer products, oil and refining industries. She's coached presidents and CEOs to engineer new organizational cultures and frontline leaders to effectively navigate their path forward. In 2023, Lisa was named by Savoy Magazine as one of the most influential diversity and inclusion executives. So we welcome Lisa Moore to this session of EmpowHER welcome, ladies. I'm so excited about this conversation. Lisa, I'm going to turn it over to you.

Lisa Moore: Thank you, Gail. I am excited as well and I can't wait for our conversation with you and especially with Diane as we move forward. Thank you all for using your emojis because we want to engage you as much as possible. To kick this off, I'd like to say that we are all on our own unique personal journeys. And every journey begins with a vision. And for me, every success begins with a clear vision. So to have a clear vision, you have to have some lens that helps give you a really good perspective. And in this session, we invite you to really focus in. If I'm not using too many camera and aperture words. To really focus in on your life, your goals, and your intentions. When you do that, you're open to incorporating different perspectives because you know what you want to achieve and every voice is valuable. I don't think I need to say this, but because you're doing it already, please continue to use the emojis. If this is resonating with you, we love the thumbs up. If you've had a similar experience, let us know with your heartbeat. And if you're learning something new, we'd love to hear it as well. So please use those.

I'd like to start out by talking about what I mean by being intentional and intersectional. And so it's important for me to say that most of my life I just let things come to me. I don't know if anybody else has had that experience, but my job, my friends, my community where I live ... I moved as part of a job. I even moved to North Carolina and people said, "Don't paint your house. You're going to be moving in two years anyway." And that framed my life, my behaviors and my thoughts. I was really on this road that wasn't really my own personal journey and it wasn't satisfying. I actually thought that most of the time that I was watching a life on television and that was my life. I wasn't really in it. And I got to speak with Diane, so I can't wait to hear what she says about this, but she is much more focused than I was. It took me about until about 20 years ago, I became more intentional and I said, "Hey, I need to own my choices. I need to make good choices." And I won't say that it's been the easiest path, but I've learned more, I've achieved more, I've met more people, I've heard more ideas. I'm so much more satisfied, and I wake up every day thinking about what's possible versus, oh, this is what I'm doing again today.

And so that's all a part of me accepting myself and embracing my uniqueness. And that takes me to intersectionality. And that's a term that was created in 1989 as a way to define how we might be additionally marginalized by our unique intersections of how we identify. Like a social and a political framework. And that can be oppressive if you think about it. I like to think about it more as enabling. It's not just demographics like age and race and gender, but it's a culmination of education experiences, epiphanies, and that's helping me embrace my uniqueness and really see the value of others as how they are unique and what they can bring to me in terms of learning my connections and my network.

We are going to talk about four concepts as we move forward in this presentation on how you might bring intersectionality and intentionality to your life and on your personal journey and their curiosity, diversity, the power of words, and how to expand your capability. We are going to share ... Diane and I, both stories and frameworks. And the first one is a framework that I'm calling Orca. And I created this model to help me move forward to where I am today to action. You'll have a handout of this if you don't already. You'll have a handout of this model. But the first step is thinking about what is happening now. That's one of the questions I ask all the time. What actually is happening? And then reflecting on how you're feeling about it. I call it my ride on my emotional bus. Am I sad? Am I scared? Am I happy? Am I anxious? Am I joyful? And then thinking about what are the conversations I need to have to move me forward? And then deciding why is this important to me and what will I do as a result of it? Because as my sister reminded me, nothing changes without action. And we know that now more than ever in our lives.

Okay. So the first thing we're going to talk about is curiosity and using that curiosity to seek diverse perspectives. The first thing is ask open questions and then really, really listen to the answers. Think about seeking ideas that are different from your own. That's where I found the most value in my life is finding those people that will tell me, this is how it really is, Lisa and or did you think about this? And it might be something I couldn't possibly think about because I didn't have that foundation. And then be willing to learn from those conversations.

So I want to tell my first story about curiosity in terms of a work experience. I got this really great job. It was so cool, and it's the first time that a title really mattered to me because it was everything that I'm excited and passionate about. It was consumers, it's culture, it was transformation. But after I accepted and got over the first part of, oh, I've got this great job, I realized I don't know anything. I don't know the city, I don't know the community, I don't know my team, I don't know the consumers, I don't even know the industry. And so I was walking in with this high expectation of myself and so was the company, and so was my team, and I didn't know anything. So the first thing I did was say, "Okay. How many questions can I ask in a day and get away with it without people being annoyed?" So I asked every question that I could think of. I ask everybody, why are you doing that? What's happening there? Why is that important? And with the Orca model, what is happening? What actually is happening in this?

And so as a result of that, I got actually to our consumers and the people that met with them face to face. And in doing that, I got to experience what our customers and our consumers experienced. It was so exciting and so revealing because this was all about a transformation. This exciting word. And my team did it with me. We went on the road, we sat in these places, we sat in classes, we learned from everyone, and then we created a model that we thought would resonate with everyone. And before we tested it broadly, we went back to all the people who were kind enough to give us their perspective. And in doing that, our project was very, very successful. It was successful not just for me, but for my team, for the company and for our consumers. And so I think back and think how originally as I was growing up, people tried to beat curiosity out of you. Sit still, don't move, don't do that, fit in, put on these clothes. But the value of curiosity in personal and business settings, it's so critical, especially in the age we are today. When you think about original thought and how valued ... That's going to be the differentiator as we move forward. Because everything else is captured digitally and you can recall it. Diane, do you have any thoughts about curiosity?

Diane Wasser: Thank you very much, Lisa. That was really well said, and thanks everybody for being here today. When I first started this conversation about taking part in this, I hesitated because I thought, I don't know that I've been very intentional over my many, many years. And when we started talking, Gail and Lisa both helped me see that the way I say it, maybe I did it in a less structured way, but my intentionality through high curiosity. And I think it goes back to how I was raised. My parents saw everybody the same and would teach me how to respond to people and really understand them. And so that to see how they were receiving the information or the surroundings around them. And I grew to really try to learn something from each interaction from people as well as learn about them and about myself because then I could really kind of foster that in future conversations.

And I think understanding how other people digest information is helpful because it helps the conversation that you're having and makes them feel more a part of it, but it also helps you because the one thing you can control is yourself. And I always say even to my children when they were little and now I always competed with myself. I'm an only child. I'm not that great at sports, but I always competed with myself because it was just way too distracting to compete with other people. Because I can plan how I can react and I can digest how people are reacting to me, but I can't control how they're going to do it. And if I try to do that, it just never seemed to go down the right path. So I know I can respond to someone who's difficult or who's not receiving a message. I can't control how they will. So that made me feel a lot more comfortable with myself.

And it really helped me because I was saying, okay, I'm very introspective, but if I only receive out of it what I think that's not good enough. So I have to read the room, I have to read people's reactions so that I can understand that I could always do something different. And if I really want to get my point across, I can't keep saying the same thing that they're not receiving. So it really turned out to actually help me in preparing for this, because I first thought, oh, I don't know if I can talk about that. But it turns out they helped me see that I was so I appreciate that.

Lisa Moore: I love the way you frame things Diane when you talk about how important it is to understand how others digest information. That's critical for a good leader because no one learns the same, we don't think the same and we don't process the same. And I also love the way you talk about being in competition with yourself because you are so sure of where you want to be. And that's what we talked about yesterday. It's like I knew where I wanted to go, I knew where I wanted to be, not specifically, but I had that direction, and that is so positive. That's what I think about that.

Diane Wasser: Yes. There were times when you mentioned, that's what I said. The first thing I thought of is my husband because I'll be like, "I just said that." But what my ... my revelations, serving on our board from a EisnerAmper, I think it was the first or second meeting I remember ... And I didn't plan for this, but I remember saying, vividly, "You're going to have to let me finish my sentences." Because they were assuming what I was going to say, and I was not going to say that. So I thought, okay, I can nip this in the bud, or I can ... they can't think that they're finishing my sentences. And that was so well received. It wasn't like a discussion topic, but it was like, wow. They must've thought, "Well, she's right." I wasn't getting my point across because they were finishing my sentences.

It really only happened maybe once or twice. The first time I didn't say anything the second time I did. And that's part of the reason you need to open up in a polite way and just state the facts instead of, I could have gone home that night and thought, oh my God, they didn't like anything I said, I'm not contributing. But I totally didn't because I realized I'm not used to this environment. My father never cut me off or actually wasn't cutting off, tried to finish my sentences. And I think just little things like that make a real difference. So I would encourage everybody to again, look at your surroundings and how can you respond to move the direction you want to move.

Lisa Moore: I love that too because it sounds like you coached a team to be more curious going forward because you said it stopped happening or it happened very little after that. So instead of assuming what you were saying, asking more questions and allowing you to have your voice. Your voice is so important and so powerful. So it looks like we have another polling question, and I appreciate the emojis because we can actually see how many of you are responding and engaging, and it's exciting as we move forward. This question is how important to you is curiosity and better understanding diverse perspectives and building relationships? So I'll just give a few moments and then we'll look at the responses. A, not very important. B, somewhat important or C, very important.

Okay. Let's check it out. It looks like the majority says very important. And so as we go forward, think about how you can continue to become more and more curious. All right. As we segue from curiosity, we talk about how we can leverage diversity. And so when I think about diversity, as we talk about intersectionality, I think about all the aspects of an individual. And a lot of it we learn at work. We don't learn a lot of who we are and what makes us up necessarily in school, but we learn a lot. I learned that I'm actually a practiced extrovert, that I'm more introverted. And that explains why sometimes when I'm on calls all day long, my head is ringing because I've had to be on stage all day and it's painful for me. So when I think about embracing my uniqueness and embracing that of others, I created a wheel that said, "Hey, what are some of the aspects of me and of others that are important for me to sustain or to transform or to improve? And then what do I need? What's missing in my circle?" So I created this to better understand those layers of difference and to value those differences.

So you'll again have a handout and it will be blank. So you can have the freedom to map your entire network without any preconceptions. I would encourage you to think about the knowledge, the perspectives, the insights, the strengths you need in your community. As Diane was just talking about having her voice heard. Who do you need to hear? What perspective do you need to invite in? But not limited to some of the aspects that are on this wheel. Our learning style and culture and experiences. Think about who are your true fans? And for me, those are the people that support you, but they also tell you when you're about to fall over a cliff because of your own thought process. I was going to say ego, but just in case your head grows larger than your shoulders, you have those fans that say, "Wait, wait, wait. Bring it back in."

Don't think about just demographics when you create your wheel, think about the character, the confidence, the confidence in how the people you're inviting in, build their own communities and then make your map. We wanted to talk about the diversity wheel because the next concept is leveraging diversity to intentionally build. There you go. To build your alliances. So you have to understand and appreciate differences. And the first step is creating this diversity wheel to help understand that.

I worked in a plant environment as a consultant, and I was shocked. It was manufacturing, it was three or four countries, it was multiple cultures, languages, things got done differently and everybody was thrown into the same pot, if you will, and challenged to bring something positive as a result of that. And in doing that, we had to listen to each other, learn from each other, understand each other's experiences and what it meant. One thing that was funny, the part of the U.S. Plant was zero profanity. No cussing at all. And then another country came in to meet and that's all they did. It was hilarious. It was like being in two different worlds. So that's just an example. But again, listening, sharing, bringing those communities together, thinking about who you need to invite in and bringing that extra perspective. Diane, do you have any thoughts about leveraging diversity?

Diane Wasser: Yes. As you're talking actually an original thought came into my head in this context. I had the pleasure of traveling to India to see our colleagues in India two times in 2015 and 2019. And I'm by any means, not a world traveler, but it was life-changing experience for so many reasons. One being just the nature of the culture of the welcoming concepts that our colleagues in India have. But I was on the plane and what I'm getting to is how I had a revelation about how people feel. Because I was on the plane and they were giving out this form and probably customs, whatever it was, and I said, "Excuse me, I didn't get one." And she goes, "They're not for foreigners." And I was like, "First of all, I've never been a foreigner. I grew up in South Jersey. I went to school in Ohio." And they thought I taught I was foreign because of the way I said water. But at that moment I thought, wow, I don't want to make people feel like this. Not that I've ever said that, but it's just one of how things are received and how they really can have a lasting impact, especially if somebody feels like that more than that one interaction.

So I definitely appreciate diverse backgrounds. And again, I think I grew up with that from all different income levels, access of life, and we had a diverse high school. But it was moments like that when I realized, okay, this is what I need to make sure people don't feel like this from any interaction that they have with me.

Lisa Moore: I love that because it speaks to the fact that every single one of us has been excluded at one time or another. And you bring up high school. I went to ... It wasn't high school, it was middle school. I went to a segregated middle school because we moved into the neighborhood and they were just about to integrate the school. And so they said, "Well, you shouldn't go to a different school for this year. Just go to the other school." So can you imagine my sister and I, that's it, in an entire middle school. And so that feeling of you don't belong or you're not welcome or you're different, you're a foreigner. I love the words. Every one of us has experienced that. And so it's incumbent on all of the rest of us that when we see someone who's not being heard, who's not being valued for how they're different, who's not being included, that we reach out and do that because as you talked about earlier, there's value in what you had to say to the board. There's value in everybody's voice being heard. There's a lot of value because we miss out, we fall behind, we don't learn when we don't listen, and we don't give others the opportunity and invite them in.

And if you've been excluded a lot, you don't necessarily jump in and say, "Hey, here's my thought." But I think because I went to that school, it made it easier for me going forward as an adult to say, "Hey, I'm here. The party can start. What do you want to hear from me?" And just to worm my way in and say I want to be a part of. But especially as leaders and especially as we're thinking about our own career, it's so important and it doesn't take anything to invite others in.

Diane Wasser: Absolutely. And you just said something that reminded me of something somebody said a long time ago. It's not really about diversity, so to speak, but it's about leadership and it was around focusing on a leadership position, or are you going to focus on being a leader? Because the qualities to be a leader can lead you to the leadership position, but if you are focused on the position and not your surroundings or what you're doing to prepare for that, that'll hold you back almost as an obstacle to what you're envisioning, you're creating.

Lisa Moore: Yeah. Absolutely. Because your life is not a position and your leadership is something that you take with you no matter where you go. That's profound. Yeah. I love that. Okay, this says use your emojis, but I don't have to ask you that because you're doing it and I appreciate it. I can see them coming through, so we appreciate that. So we're going to move on to talk about something that I really like to talk about, and that is the power of words and the importance of communication and the importance of connection. And because we are all so unique and so different and we think differently and we learn differently, we have to take the clutter out of our messages. We must. And we must seek to understand and then to be understood. And so intentionality in your language, in your actions, in your behaviors, especially as people are looking at you for leadership, is paramount.

I think the only time I'm frustrated is when there's a communication breakdown. Because if I don't know what you're asking me or what you want me to do or where you want me to go or what you're expecting, I can't possibly meet your expectation, which I'm going to be looking to exceed it, but I can't meet it. So the frustration that I have ... And that goes with my family as well. Sometimes I go, is anybody communicating? And there's a joke because I have the company, no one listens to me because I'm constantly just ... I just start doing this. Are you saying something? No, because you're not listening to me. So the power of words. The power of language. The importance of connection.

This is my favorite story to tell you because it's a huge mistake that I made. I can't even tell you how bad this is, but I'm going to try. So I had a brand new team. I was so excited. I got promoted. I'm in a meeting, I'm six hours away, and the whole time that I'm gone, everyone's complaining. They're complaining about the new equipment, they're complaining about their positions. It was constant. I couldn't focus. So I got on a plane to come home. I'm coming now west coast to east coast. It's a six-hour ride. And the entire time I'm just getting more and more angry. I'm so angry that by the time I get off the plane, I can't see straight. I decide I'm going to go to work.

So I go to work, I catch the first shift leaving. I say, "Go back, go back. I need to talk to you." I grabbed the second shift. And you guys are not going to believe this. We went to the cafeteria and I stood on the table. Yes, I was younger and more nimble then. But I stood on the table. And I told everyone at that point, look, you are going to be a team. I can't put up with it. This is ridiculous. You see that pole in the parking lot, until you get to that parking lot, that pole when you leave, we are going to be a team. And guess what? If you don't like it, you can leave. And guess what? Two people left. So I lost talent in that. And even though my message was pretty clear ... Was it though, that's not what I was really saying, right? And I was disrespectful and I wasn't intentional. I was so angry. The security guard told me two days later, he said, "I've never seen you look like that." I just wanted everything to fit in a box and everybody to sit down and act right and I wasn't being respectful at all. And I didn't ask for anybody else's opinion. I just reacted and then I acted.

And it left me with, I'm telling you a lot of work to do. Especially with my direct reports, who said, "Why are we here? What are you doing? What's going on?" And all I can say is that I learned that my words have to match my actions. It was a huge mistake. It probably took me two years to fix that. And all I can say as a result of it is ouch. But it helped define who I am as a person and who I ended up being as a leader because I made a lot of mistakes. I would've been so offended if my leader had done that. Terribly offended. So while you can be direct and plain-spoken, you have to be intentional and share the information. And as Diane talked about, meeting people where they are. Understanding how they process information. What do you think about that, Diane?

Diane Wasser: It's textbook. One of the back years, we had some sessions on positivity and how you use your words and words that are bristly and negative like don't and not instead of ... Maybe you should avoid doing that. I loved that because I could use it both at home with my kids who were younger at the time and at work and in other interactions or helping some friends that may have been going through a rough time about how their words could matter when they're going to talk about it. And the other aspect of that was pulling versus pushing. And you pushed from the top of the table and you really knew in your heart, 95% of the time, you know, need to pull, but something triggered that push. And curious, have you really got to the root of what it was but you certainly seemed to have, I don't want to say recovered because it wasn't that bad. But realized at that moment from an introspective nature that, well, that was just totally not ... That was wrong. There's a means to an end and that was not it.

Lisa Moore: It was not it. I love how you talked about ... That is exactly the lesson I learned. From then on. It's always a pull. And I've had people say, "Are you leading the opinion?" Those are my real fans. Or are you pulling and working, seeking to understand and listening? But you're right, I did push. And I did get to the root of first by understanding what humility is because I had to beg a lot. And I worked with my team and through my team to better understand some of the root causes of why they were unhappy. I didn't even care. I just kept thinking, Hey, you know how it is. I fought to get you all of this stuff, and that's what you said you wanted, and you're still complaining. I just don't want to hear it. Just straighten up. And that is a huge mistake in leadership.

Diane Wasser: Of course. And what you did is ... I always told the kids, you got to own it and move on. If you wallow in it, you're just creating another distraction for yourself. And you did that. You owned it and you moved on as opposed to wallowing or saying, well, a week later could have been the victim but you didn't. You said, "All right, this is how it's going to go."

Lisa Moore: Yeah. I actually thought, am I fired? Honestly, by the time I got out of the ... I thought I'm probably fired. You can't just walk in and stand on tables and act crazy. It's just not-

Diane Wasser: I can't go out to the pole that I told them to go to.

Lisa Moore: So anyway. Oh, gosh. Okay. So we've talked about how important it's to be curious, to leverage diversity, the power of your words, because words travel like lightning, and when they strike, you want it to be intentional and you want to have different perspectives when those words reach the people that will receive the message. And that's really important with all of the social media that we have and all the ways of connecting so quickly, And so we have to stop and think, which I did not do. Let's see. I'm just reading some of the comments. Thank you for putting comments in as well.

Diane Wasser: Oh, I didn't even see that.

Lisa Moore:I know. I'm just like, "Okay. This is so cool. We have a little master dashboard here." But then I'm getting distracted. Gail's like, "Get focused." Okay. I'm back on focus. So let's talk about the last tip or tool, and it's about uncovering your hidden strengths. Strengths that you don't necessarily know that you have. We all know where we're really good, but because we haven't tried everything in the world, there might be other things that we're good at doing and good at knowing or we're very successful, or it's something that's innate and that is also the case in others. And so seeing that and promoting that in others is so valuable in terms of opening up your aperture, opening up your mind, and thinking about what else is possible. So I know that going forward in this series, we talk more about mentors, and I have a story about uncovering a capability.

And part of it is that I told you that I'm an introvert, but every role I've ever had, I've always had to present, always had to present. And so this is funny. I used to carry a presentation around in my briefcase. Yes, I actually had a briefcase. But I carried the presentation in it. I kept it relevant, but it was just something I could pull out if someone asked me to speak and I had practiced it. So I was flying on a plane with four senior executives. It was a private plane. They were really ignoring me to be honest. And they were talking about this presentation that we had to give to a board. It was like a Fortune a hundred board. And we were going in as their provider. They were our customer. And they were all clinking glasses and talking. And someone said, "We don't have a presentation." And then someone else said, "Lisa always has a presentation." I'm not even in the conversation. And they looked at me and they said, "You can give this presentation to the board." And of course, it was focused on the consumers, it was focused on our customers. It was very relevant but I wasn't prepared to do that. And I stuttered and I choke when I get nervous because I'm introverted. I need water, I need mints. I mean, it was bad.

And so the entire rest of the plane ride, I'm looking through the presentation. This is something I know. And I was coached in the moment to say, "Look, you know your stuff. Just do what you know. Just say it." And so as a result of that, I was able to share my thoughts. I was creative because I was completely taken off guard. And it was very successful. I still have the gift that the board gave us as a result of coming there, and we kept their business and I was really proud of myself.

But I think back on it and I think, how much better could I have been if my leader had mentored me upfront and had prepared me and said, "This might happen," or, "Let's practice your presentation in case on one of these trips ..." Or intentionally put me up as the person that would give the presentation? And then I thought about, should I have been more intentional? Should I have asked for ... Why am I on this plane? Am I just riding to learn? What's happening here? Does anybody care what I think or am I just supposed to be sitting here because this is the role I have? And so it helped me uncover a hidden strength of mine. It helped me go forward to think about that as a leader, as I move forward in terms of who on my team might know this. And just to ask the team, does anybody know this as you go forward? So understanding what you're capable of doing and what might be hidden and what others might be could really bull you. It's like a rocket ship because we all have this map of this is my role, this is my place, this is what I do, this is what I'm good at doing. When you expand that, it opens up so much that's possible. And for me, that's what life's about. What's possible. Diane.

Diane Wasser: That was good.

Lisa Moore:Thank you.

Diane Wasser: One of the things you said that resonated with me is when you get to a certain point, actually it can be any point really, you're never just along for the ride. Even if you think you are, you're not because you're either learning, you're observing. And I think one of the things that I wish I appreciated sooner was being prepared for more than I thought the ride would be, so to speak. And I learned that the hard way. I saw somebody wrote, what mistake did you make? And I think that was it. It was interesting. I was thinking as exactly when you said that about the airplane was like, well, wow, I reached a certain level and it was in certain company and I always wanted to contribute, but what if that contribution was a surprise? And I needed to not necessarily be prepared for what the surprise was. I needed to be prepared mentally to handle it, to maintain my composure, to not let my nerves diminish myself.

Instead of making fun of myself, I got to own it and just say, well, nobody else knows that this is totally off the cuff and really focus on a delivery of something I know I can deliver, but I didn't expect to deliver it. So it's not about what I'm going to say or being ready for a specific thing. It's being ready for how I'm going to handle myself and compose myself when I have that oh my God, really? That's what I'm going to do right now. But it keeps you nimble. And I think it's just acknowledging you're there for a reason and you may not specifically know what it is at that time, and it's more about how you handle that and digest it.

Lisa Moore: I am going to keep what you said. I just met Diane yesterday or two days ago, and I was so curious. I think I could have talked to her forever and she's like, "Lisa, I have meetings. You have to move on." But I'm keeping this one-

Diane Wasser: Nice touch.

Lisa Moore: She didn't really say that I'm keeping this. That you have to be prepared for more than what you think the ride will be. I think that is something I'm just going to keep it. I love what you said, and that is the essence of success is knowing you can do more, knowing you have a voice, knowing that what's possible and being prepared for that. And on that ride, I was prepared to give that presentation that I had practiced a hundred times, but nothing else. And I had to grow wings because it was important to the company. And then ...

Diane Wasser: I think she froze up.

Gail Kelman: I think you're right, Diane.

Diane Wasser: Yes. I moved my head to see if I froze up too.

Gail Kelman: So to that point about being prepared for more than the ride will be, we will continue while Lisa refreshes her internet connection. What a fabulous set of stories. I've taken so many notes. And so what we wanted to do is we wanted to come back to the Orca model and just explain to people that they'll be getting that. It's a great way to start where you are.

Lisa Moore: Can you hear me?

Gail Kelman: There you are Lisa. You're back.

Diane Wasser: Yes. You're back. Can't see you, but you're back.

Lisa Moore: I'm sorry, I could hear and see you. So I was like, hello, I'm here.

Gail Kelman: Welcome back. I think poll question just came up. Diane and I were just living that whole conversation about be prepared for them more than what the ride will be. And we jumped in and kept going.

Lisa Moore: Perfect. I could hear you so it was perfect.

Gail Kelman: Okay. Great.

Lisa Moore: So this brings us to the end of the presentation. There were a couple of additional slides where I'd like to cover the handouts that you have that make some of this actionable. But the polling question is, did you learn something today in our short session that will help you in your connections in your professional communities? So if you can see it says, yes, I learned several things, B, yes, I learned one or two useful things, and C, you're not sure you need more time to think about it. So I'll leave that up for a minute or less than a minute, a few seconds, and then we'll look. And then we'll have some time for questions and answers. I'll have to look at that. Okay. Oh, this is really good. Thank you all. Because I'm just grateful if you take away one thing that might help you, so that's great. 71% learned a couple of things. Yeah, Gail and Diane.

Diane Wasser: I knew.

Lisa Moore: You knew.

Diane Wasser: Come on, Lisa.

Lisa Moore: So if you go back and look at the Orca model and think about what's happening today on your journey, it's a continuum. Where are you? What's going on in your career? What's going on in your life and leadership? And then think about what are you waiting for? And then that's a handout and then you have an action plan handout. And it just really speaks to what are you going to do? How will you know you'll be successful? When are you going to do it? What are the specific actions? Why are you doing it? That might be a stopper. What's your intention? How will you do it? So what's the impact? Don't do things that don't make an impact. Who will you influence and what's the benefit? And when are you going to do it? What's your timeline?

And with that, I want to say thank you so much. I really appreciate you joining us, and we'll look at the questions and answers. I will say, get out of your comfort zone. Be intentionally inclusive in who you are and who you invite to your circle. Try something new. My mom would say, "Have the same high expectations of your circle as you do for yourself. Expect a lot from the people that surround you and from yourself. Surround yourself with the people that are going to become the community that will support you in your career." And thank you, thank you, thank you. And let's see. Diane, I don't see ... How do you suggest, oh, being better about opening up in a polite way.

Gail Kelman: Hey, Lisa, while you and Diane review the questions, which we're going to answer in just one moment, I want to talk to some people about a great partnership that we're launching with this series.

Lisa Moore: Awesome.

Gail Kelman: Are you ready?

Lisa Moore: I went off script. I'm sorry.

Gail Kelman: That's okay. That's all right. Because we are going to have time to answer questions. Thank you all so much for joining part two of our EmpowHERHER Women in Leadership series. Lisa and Diane are reviewing all your questions and we're going to get to them in just a moment. But before we do, I want to give you a reminder to register for part three of the series, which is scheduled for January 8th. And in that part, we're going to explore the role of men in the female alliance. So join us for that. It's going to be a great conversation. And I also want to introduce an exciting new component. We all know how easy it is to learn something new during a program like this. And you just answered a polling question and most of you said that you learned at least one new thing, which is great. But then you log out and you jump back into your very busy lives and you don't take any action.

And so we have two ways this time for you to activate what you've learned so far. The first is through the handouts, the worksheets that Lisa has been mentioning throughout this conversation. They will be posted on the eisneramper.com page along with a recording of this session. So when you go to register for part three, scroll down and you will see all of the handouts. They will be in a PDF format, so you can download them and use them. The second thing ... And we're so excited to announce this. Is that EisnerAmper is partnering with LumiQ, which is a podcast app that is dedicated to making continual professional education enjoyable. And we're doing this to create a framework for you to expand your network with intention, which was everything we've been talking about for the last almost an hour. Together, we've identified two relevant podcasts and we've created discussion guides for you. And so now you can identify people that you'd like to add to your network or to build a stronger connection with and invite them to join a discussion group on one or both of these topics.

We have two featured podcasts with discussion guides. The discussion guides will be posted with the handouts on eisneramper.com. What we want you to do really easy, we're going to post a link. And when you use that link, you will be gifted 10 free credits on the LumiQ platform. That will give you enough credits to listen to these podcasts. Invite your discussion group to do the same. You listen to the podcast, download the discussion guide and get started. So the two featured podcasts are the barriers women face in the workplace and how to overcome the imposter syndrome, which is great because I think there's a question about imposter syndrome in our chat. So now thank you all for coming. Let's get to those questions. Lisa and Diane have you picked out one or two to respond to?

Lisa Moore: I like ... Yes. Go ahead Diane.

Diane Wasser: No. No. You go first.

Lisa Moore: It might be the same one. How do you handle the imposter syndrome? That's the one I was looking at. That comes with not feeling like you're prepared enough and when do you take a leap? Is that one okay, Diane?

Diane Wasser: Yeah. I read imposter syndrome as somebody imposturing on me as opposed to imposturing on myself. So that was my first instinct. And the answer could be the same because you're not going to allow someone else to do it so you have to diligently not allow yourself to do it. And I'm trying to say my words without knots, but I'm sorry. Avoid that. And you're not going to know unless you try and preparation and planning helps. You may not know specifically what it is you want to add, but you have to believe in yourself and what got you there and why you got a promotion or why you got a good review. That all isn't a surprise or it's not just an accident.

There's another question about politeness. So I think they're very similar because how do you just take the leap? And a lot of a way to do it politely is you thank them for the conversation or you thank them for that point, or you ... I try to avoid starting with a question. So I am very curious about what you said and would like to ask this. Or interject something. And I think it is taking a leap. My biggest problem wasn't taking the leap, it was I stopped thankfully with help from discounting myself before I asked the question. Probably some of the best information somebody gave me was, you don't have to start with I think Diane because that discounts you. Or when somebody said that to me ... May he rest in peace. I thought to myself, oh, I do more than that because I'll say, I know I haven't been around a long time but, or I know this, and I would discount myself. And that really is one of that ... I was taking the leap, but I could have left a lot cleaner. And when I think fully had that and appreciated it and realized I did that, it was so easy to stop because I want to make fun of myself in the car at night when I'm laughing. I don't need to make fun of myself in front of other people.

Lisa Moore: I love that.

Diane Wasser: I still do, but not at those critical moments when I'm trying to take a leap.

Lisa Moore: I love that. And I think just to build on what you said, and some of the reason I created some of these models is for me, because I am very, very shy and I used to have to call people and say, "We have a meeting on this. Can you give me a good question?" But the more that you can embrace how different you are and what unique perspective you might bring in, the easier it will be to raise your hand and say something. I like what you said about imposter syndrome, somebody else inferring that. The more you see the value in yourself and believe in yourself, do it. Take that leap. As long as you're in intentional, your intentions are good, it's not going to fail. Think about what's happening, what's important, what are some of the things, like Diane said, she had the information. So it's a matter of saying, "Hey, here's what's happening, and this might be a way that we could move forward." And just introduce your idea. But try it. It's a lot better to take baby steps than to have to present in front of a board when you've never had that opportunity before.

Lisa Moore: Exactly. Have good intentions and believe in yourself. And like Diane said, don't make fun of your own self. Your know your stuff.

Gail Kelman: That's it.

Lisa Moore: It's time for going.

Gail Kelman: I think it's the perfect way to end this session. Diane, Lisa, thank you so very much. We're going to bring Astrid back to say goodbye to everybody. Thank you all for joining us.

Lisa Moore: Thank you.

Diane Wasser: Thank you.

Transcribed by Rev.com