AMAZING ROLE MODELS
 March 8 is International Women’s Day (IWD) and the theme for 2010 is: Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all. The timing is perfect. In conjunction with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the City of Vancouver is recognizing the achievements of local women athletes through a unique poster project. The women selected span the decades, from the Vancouver Amazons (a women’s hockey team from the 1920s) to Poonam Sandhu, a current member of the National Field Hockey team. Many of them are unsung heros. The 12 posters will be displayed in Vancouver community centres, libraries, schools, and other public buildings but you can also see them online here.
If you have a story of a mother, or grandmother, or great-grandmother who was an athlete, email it to us and we will share it in the next newsletter. If you don’t know if they were an athlete, put the question to them. You might be surprised at their answers!
See updated list of IWD events in Canada
 REAL PROGRESS WORTH CHEERING
If you are looking forward to watching some incredible Olympic athletes in action, you are not alone. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center this January shows that 63 percent of the women surveyed are especially anticipating the Winter Olympics when compared with other major sporting events like the World Cup (18 per cent), World Series (33 per cent) or Super Bowl (50 per cent). Who gets the snacks during the commercials? Need we say more?
Perhaps it is because the Olympics is one of the few, highly televised sporting events that features both men and women athletes equally. Compare that to a 2005 study on ESPN programming conducted by the University of Southern California which showed that just two per cent of airtime over a three-week period was devoted to women’s athletics.
For Canadians, the 2010 Winter Olympics is a great time to cheer on our female athletes. Of the 206 Canadian athletes competing, almost 47 per cent are women (116 men to 90 women). That’s up from the 28 per cent who were on the team in 1988 at the Calgary games and 43 per cent at Turin four years ago. And, as a recent Globe and Mail article stated: “that’s a good sign because Canada’s female athletes typically out-perform the males. The only all-male domain in Olympic winter events is ski jumping ‘and that will be open to women at the next Games,’ said Canadian Olympic Committee spokesman Steve Keogh.” Yes!
YOUR MAGIC MOMENT
 Tell us your magic moment at the Olympics or Paralympics. It could be a sports moment, a people moment, a pavilion moment, a food moment, a culture moment or whatever made this month a time you will not forget. We will publish your stories (short and sweet please). Send to judy@workthepond.com
If you are looking for inspiration, go to www.citycaucus.com. This website has a downloadable PDF with all the FREE events happening during the Olympics and Paralympics. And, the site is updated daily so it always has current info.
Also check out Vectorial Elevation to see how you can create your own Vancouver light show over English Bay. The website itself is worth a visit just to see the live webcam views of the light shows people from around the world are creating in our own backyard.
MCKINSEY’S STRATEGIES FOR LEADERSHIP AND LIFE
- “Often I go to these things thinking that not much new will come off it – boy, was I wrong today."
- “A fabulous experience.”
- “Great content, valuable information, and the access to some impressive women leaders via film. Thank you for putting on such a high-quality event.”
These are just a few of the comments we received from the over 300 people who attended the sold-out, wait-listed, How Remarkable Women Lead workshop on February 3. If you attended, we would love to know what you thought. Email your comments to judy@workthepond.com
McKinsey’s Johanne Lavoie and Susie Cranston packed a lot of learning into their Centered Leadership workshop. This was a session that addressed the reality of modern life and provided tools. They gave us an exercise in Homeplay (not work) and asked us to practice Feedforward (not back), a way to receive suggestions on a behaviour we would like to change. The concept of finding a sponsor, rather than just a mentor as you work your way up the corporate ladder, was a good one. The difference is that mentors guide you with sage counsel but sponsors get involved with your career. That could mean opening a door to opportunity or protecting you when the chips are down or when you’ve made a mistake. You still have to deliver the results but, with a sponsor, you are not alone.
For more information:
How Remarkable Women Lead by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston through Boardstore. Take the Centered Leadership Survey
OPTIMIST OR PESSIMIST?
 During the How Remarkable Women Lead workshop, Johanne Lavoie and Susie Cranston talked about Framing—the way in which you see the world. “Are you an optimist or pessimist?”, they asked. To find out, they suggested we picture ourselves in this scenario:
“You have worked six months on a top priority project for the CEO. Today you are presenting your recommendations to him, along with his top team. Sitting at the other end of the table, he is not smiling. Halfway through the meeting, the CEO picks up his papers and leaves the room without saying a word.”
When Johanne asked the audience, “How did you feel in that situation?” one woman said she felt physically sick… that she must have done something terribly wrong. Another reacted completely opposite – “My ideas are brilliant,” she said. “He must have had a family emergency or another meeting to attend.”
Framing is one of the key elements of their Centered Leadership Model. According to Johanne and Susie, “leaders who frame positively, see the facts in the clearest light. They don’t let negative feelings distort their view of reality—exaggerating the dangers. The benefits are enormous—success, happiness, even greater resilience – so consider optimism as an extraordinary life skill and get going.” The exciting part is that we can all teach ourselves the skills of reframing.
 SIX EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN
On April 14, six business women, who have helped influence and shape policy at some of Canada’s largest organizations, will be honoured at the Business in Vancouver’s 11th annual Influential Women in Business Awards luncheon. Each will offer up her lessons learned from their varied and vast experience in business. They include:
- Julia Levy, co-founder of QLT Inc. recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner
- Janet Austin, CEO of the Vancouver YWCA; WLC Advisory Council
- Ida Goodreau, Corporate Director and former CEO of LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services; WLC Advisory Council
- Sarah Morgan-Silvestor, Chancellor Elect of the University of British Columbia
- Janine North, CEO of Northern Development Investment Trust
- Cybele Negris, Co-Founder and COO of Webnames.ca.
For tickets for the April 14 luncheon celebrating the accomplishment of our WLC Advisory Council Members, Janet Austin and Ida Goodreau, as well as the other successful women, go to www.biv.com/iwib Take the time to show your support of our women leaders. It’s one of WLC’s mantras.
 RETHINKING THE CARROT
A 20-minute video on TED.com, featuring bestselling author Daniel Pink, examines the puzzle of motivation. In his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Dan explains, “there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.” It seems that the motivation techniques we think should work, fail for good reasons. If a task involves only mechanical skills (think Industrial Age), bonuses work the way they should—the higher the bonus, the better the performance. But when the task involves even rudimentary cognitive skills, the results are counterintuitive—the larger the reward, the poorer the performance. See the whole video.
We love the TED website, great speakers, compelling topics. It’s time well spent on the web.
 NETWORK WHEN YOU TRAVEL
Did you know that as a member of The Vancouver Board of Trade you have access to certain services of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, the Montreal Board of Trade and the Toronto Board of Trade? This could come in handy the next time you are doing business in one of these cities. To learn more check out pages 12 and 13 of the Members’ Benefits booklet (PDF).
YOUR FEEDBACK
We would love to hear from you. Send your comments, ideas for this newsletter, for speakers, for content to: info@wlcircle.com
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