Women making history

March is Women’s History month, but instead of looking back, we’ve got some lively discussions between two dynamic women to share with you. Listen in as Michelle Duguid, associate professor of organizational behavior, and Maxine Clark, founder and former CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop, discuss the course they are co-teaching, Women & Leadership. This is the first of four conversations.

Clark: Michelle, why did you create this course, Women in Leadership?

Duguid: We’ve definitely come further than say where our mothers and grandmothers were, but there still needs to be work done in this area.  Women are still falling off and not reaching the top levels of organizations. So, I think it’s still important to show our students some of the strategies that they can put in place and what their organizations can do to help women reach the path they want for their careers.

Clark: I think it’s allowed us to really have a conversation, a semester long conversation about what leadership is in general. Not just women in leadership, but leadership in general, and what part do we as women can bring to the table in a business environment. I’m really looking forward to enhancing the class this year from what we learned from our first group of students.

Duguid: Were there any surprises for you in what the speakers shared?

Clark:  I think one of my favorite classes was Kathy Kramer talking about personal branding and creating your presentation; your own personal pitch. And I thought that sometimes we don’t think about ourselves as an individual brand and standup tall for our own selves.

Duguid: We had about five or six men in our class who were all amazing. After our class I asked, “What drew you to a class like this?”  And each of them gave me a similar answer. ‘You know, these issues are important. One day I plan to be a leader, a manager. I want to know about what makes things work for women, and this is going to be a big part of my workforce and how can I retain them. How can I make things better for them, how can I motivate them?’

Clark: We had young women and older, more middle aged women, and we had women who are in their second or third careers, which I think was really interesting. They added a different level of sensibility to the class.

Watch the entire conversation here.

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