In this episode of the Transform Your Workplace podcast, Brandon Laws interviews Jane Finette, author of Unlocked: How Empowered Women Empower Women. The two discuss Jane’s latest book and provide a fresh take on the unique role of women leaders in the workplace today.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Jane Finette is the President and Founder of The Coaching Fellowship, a non-profit that works with young women — social change leaders — all over the world and gives them access to leadership development and coaching. She is also the author of Unlocked: How Empowered Women Empower Women.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
THE GAME-CHANGER
The 90s changed the conversation for women’s empowerment. More and more women were coming into leadership positions, and with the advancement of technology, the “world” seemed to get a lot smaller. And all of the sudden, according to Jane, “women could come together and share experiences and strategies, and they could begin to support each other in a distributed and decentralized way.”
When we look at the catalyst for women’s economic empowerment in the developing world, much of that centered — and still centers — on their access to technology. That’s the interesting thing about the internet. It allows us access to opportunities that we otherwise couldn’t in a regional space, and that’s a game-changer for women.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Making Strategic Connections
“As you are more than aware, women are amazing at creating relationships and connections. We’re brilliant at it. We are just born connectors, but we actually make different kinds of relationships than our gentlemen colleagues. We will build strong relationships within the organizations that we work in and we will shy away from building more of what you might call ‘strategic relationships,’ or transactional relationships.”
Knowledge is Power
“When it comes to education, can you believe that 32 million girls did not go to school today? And that wasn’t because they didn’t want to. The Malala Fund also put out a report earlier this year saying that they expect that up to 20 million more girls will not go to school because of the global pandemic. […] And yet we know that when girls go to school and they are literate, infant mortality will drop and the rate of mothers dying during childbirth decreases massively because they can read and they can understand.”
Investing in Women
“Women give back to their communities again and again. In fact, in the developing world, women will give more than 90% of what they receive back to their families and communities. So whether that was the food they grew, whether that was knowledge, whether that was the money that they earned — they pour that back into their communities and their families. […] When you empower one woman you empower another and another because she will continue to give back.”
A Mother’s Sacrifice
“There was a saying going around a few months ago, which was — and I’m sorry to be controversial — but it was like other countries have social systems when there are bad times, but America has women because we are the ones that have to pick up the pieces. If you are a mom and you’re working part-time and struggling to get into a leadership position, or if you’re a mom and not earning as much as your husband, the economics just don’t work. You’re the one who ends up having to put other priorities first.”
Making a Difference
“I think what we really want is diversity. I mean, women do run very different organizations. They tend to build very different businesses as well. I think women are definitely more purpose-aligned. […] Of course, I’m massively generalizing here, but they tend to be much more people-focused, so there’s more retention, there’s more engagement. And women will tend to build smaller but highly profitable organizations with incredible impact.”
Unlocking Potential
“People who’ve heard a lot about women’s empowerment have probably heard the phrase, ‘Send the elevator down.’ It means that when you have reached a position of influence — it could be your manager, your project manager, and so on — that you use your influence to help someone else get an opportunity.”
LEARN MORE
To learn more, become a coach volunteer, or make a donation that will help empower women leaders, check out the Coaching Fellowship at tcfs.org.