Bringing Women Together TedTalk Event Recap
A lone woman can build a path; collectively we can build a highway. In the Fortune 500 list published July 1, a record number of 33 female CEOs are now leading the companies ranked by highest-grossing firms. While this number indeed represents less than 10% of all Fortune 500 CEOs, it also shows a leap from last year’s number of 24. Moving forward, we can continue adding to the momentum of having more female leaders in senior positions by supporting each other along the way. Together we can commit to helping advance other women in the workplace. In last week’s BWT TedTalk: Women Supporting Each Other at Work, attendees explored the ways in which they can support women in the workplace, as well as the skills they’ll gain by doing so! Co-hosts Noor Elramley, Ruhi Naaz, and Ceylin Ozdemir lead this event via a radio-show style panel. Together, the three co-hosts held a fun, collaborative, and engaging discussion together with event attendees after collectively watching a thought-provoking TedTalk presentation.
The TedTalk presentation watched during this event was by Crystal Martin, titled “Small Ways Women Can Support Each Other at Work”. Crystal is a well-known TedTalk speaker and feels passionately about diversity in the tech industry. In her TedTalk, Crystal listed several hurdles commonly faced by women in the workplace. In order to overcome such hurdles, Crystal calls on all women to help support one another in the workplace. She demonstrated how this can be done by passing off helpful phrases, actions, and skills you can use when supporting women in the workplace.
Here’s one of the situations Crystal gave:
Situation: A woman you work with states her idea during a meeting. She gets ignored. A few minutes later, another person in the room restates her idea as their own.
Supportive Action: You can say “Actually, (colleague) just mentioned that. You know, (colleague) could you say that again? I think it’s really important that we get your input on this.”
Afterwards, attendees participated in a collaborative discussion via an online interactive sticky board. The interactive sticky board was a great place for attendees to share their ideas, learn from one another, and answer self-reflective questions based off of what they can do to help support women in the workplace. The discussion board posed 5 questions for attendees to answer, centered around the topic of women supporting each other in the workplace.
Key takeaways found during the collaborative discussion:
– Recognize effort in front of senior leadership
– Give credit, and then ask for more ideas
– As each of us progress in our careers, continue lifting those around us
– Help build each other’s confidence
– Grow and share your network to connect colleagues
You can find the event’s collaborative Mural discussion board here.