NICOLE TAYLOR REMARKS
HOW ECONOMICALLY EMPOWERED WOMEN MAKE THE EAST BAY A BETTER PLACE
EAST BAY WOMEN IN BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE
OAKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
WATERFRONT HOTEL, OAKLAND
FEBRUARY 3, 2012
Thank you for that kind introduction.
I am pleased to be here with you today, for two reasons.
First, I am pleased and grateful to have the opportunity to speak to all of you who have chosen to be involved in the business sector – which is such an important driver of economic self-sufficiency and overall economic growth for the East Bay.
Second, I am pleased and proud to have the opportunity to talk with you about the important topic of economically empowered women…. Women just like many of us here today….Women who are making significant marks in making the East Bay a better place through their examples and their careers.
When I think of “economically empowered ” women, our topic today, I think in very broad terms. And, so today, I am going to speak to you on two levels.
First, is the backdrop in which we all work here in the East Bay – an overview of what is happening in the East Bay and what my organization is doing to boost economic vitality in this region.
And, then, I want to get more personal.
I want to provide you with examples of women who are getting the job done, and also speak about how the behavior we engage in is critical to our empowerment.
First, the economic context and some facts about what many women are achieving — in our region.
It’s important to understand that the Great Recession has taken a substantial toll on the economy of the East Bay.
When the housing bubble burst and the financial crisis followed it, those two phenomena combined to contribute to the East Bay’s loss of one out of every 10 jobs between 2007 and 2011.
Both employers and families have suffered.
Doors have closed.
But other doors of economic opportunity have opened in the East Bay, according to a report issued four months ago by the East Bay Economic Development Alliance, or EDA.
EDA is a consortium of private and public institutions advancing economic development in Alameda and Contra Costa counties – and its chief executive happens to be a woman, Karen Engel.
The 79-page report identifies the East Bay’s economic drivers. The key premise if we build on the strengths of these drivers , we rebuild our economic health and prosperity.
So, what’s driving the East Bay’s economy?
Professional, scientific and technical service industries, for one.
The East Bay’s employment growth in this sector – which includes engineering, life-science, biotechnology, renewable energy and clean technology – has outpaced employment growth in this sector occurring in the rest of the Bay Area, state and nation over the past 15 years.
This sector provides the East Bay 80,000 jobs and the East Bay is 53 percent more concentrated in this sector than the typical region in the U.S.
Our manufacturing sector – especially advanced manufacturing – remains an important driver of our economy.
Despite overall declines in manufacturing employment, it remains a source of high-wage jobs in the East Bay. We need to grow our share of these manufacturing firms in the East Bay, especially firms that support the high-tech sector.
To get a bit more specific, there are 12 individual industries of crucial importance to the East Bay.
We have more than the average region’s share of businesses in these industries, which are highly productive and which pay wages higher than average.
What are they?
Computer systems design and services….scientific research and development services….architectural and engineering services……management, scientific and technical consulting……petroleum and coal products manufacturing……electronic component manufacturing…..making navigational, measurement, electro-medical and control instruments…bakeries and tortilla making…..making drugs and medicines…making computers and computer-related equipment.
Innovation by itself is also an important driver of the East Bay economy.
A 2010 national ranking of US counties revealed Alameda County to be in the top 10 for receiving venture capitalist funds in nine of 14 industries tracked. It ranked second in three of these industries behind Santa Clara County. (clean tech/industrial energy)
Silicon Valley may be the most famous target for venture capitalist investment, but I guess it’s a secret than the East Bay isn’t far behind.
Another important driver of the East Bay’s economy is the construction industry.
We have a high concentration of construction firms that have lost more than 25,000 jobs during the past four years, but which will inevitably rebound as the economy improves.
But still 25% more than US average, 22% more than Bay Area average.
Finally, we should build on the four, regional-serving industries that employ half of the East Bay’s workers.
Health care…..retail…..education…..and food services. Half of East Bay jobs.
Health care and educational services are especially poised for future growth in the East Bay.
Small & mid-sized companies, 3-100 employees, have about 55% of jobs. Those with 1-2 employees have 15% of the jobs yet are 2/3 of all businesses. And 30% of jobs are with firms with 100+ employees.
Now…while it’s important to understand what drives the East Bay’s economy through a discussion at this fairly high level of influential “sectors,” and “industries”….
It’s equally important to understand where the rubber meets the road.
Where “economic development” translates into jobs with wages that can sustain families.
Helping people get good jobs and the education that leads to those jobs..
Working with adults who come out of the education pipeline with inadequate skills…
Helping them acquire job skills and get good jobs…
Helping them start and grow their own small businesses…
And helping them acquire important economic assets, such as their first home.
It’s equally important to help young children going into the economic pipeline to ensure they acquire the fundamental reading and math skills so they’re successful in the education system and so they have economic opportunity as adults.
Well, this is what my organization, the East Bay Community Foundation, has chosen to focus on.
And, for these two inter-related causes during the past three years, the East Bay Community Foundation made grants of $1.5 million of our own money.
And we convinced others – businesses, individuals, private foundations and other sources to grant an additional $4.7 million.
Total: $6.2 million donated to 65 different nonprofit organizations.
During the past three years, the programs of these 65 organizations have helped more than 7,000 individuals with barriers to employment to complete a job training program…
And these programs we’ve invested in have helped almost 50,000 children and their families along the pathway to literacy by the crucial third-grade level. Not literate by 3rd grade, 60% chance of not graduating from high school.
We do this work through partnerships with others….through the power of many.
Going forward, we’re focusing our work on 21 organizations in the East Bay that know how to make change by helping people get good jobs and the education leading to those jobs.
I wish I had the time to talk about the work of all 21 of these partners that you see on the screen right now, but I only have time to mention a few.
One of them is the East Bay Economic Development Alliance, whose report I mentioned earlier.
Here are a few other examples.
And, I want to point out that while US unemployment is down, the unemployment rates in our largest cities here in the East Bay – Oakland and Richmond – are still well over 10%. We need the good work of the following organizations:
Inner City Advisors serves low and moderate-income inner-city neighborhoods with pro-bono services related to starting and growing small businesses in order to create quality jobs for local residents. Portfolios & companies they educate: 1900 jobs created & retained in 2010. They apparently did more in 2011.
The Bread Project empowers individuals with limited resources on their path toward self-sufficiency through skills instructions, on-the-job training in its social enterprises and assistance with establishing a career in the food industry.
Phenomenal bakery & catering divisions. High placement rate.
Cypress Mandela Training Center offers pre-apprenticeship construction trades training and certification programs that promote change and prepare students for skilled trades jobs relevant to today’s construction industry.
Graduates are on every infrastructure project in the region – Bay Bridge, Caldecott Tunnel, Hwy 880, Under San Mateo Bridge. High placement rate.
Opportunity Junction helps low-income adults gain skills and confidence to support themselves and their families through job training and placement in administrative careers.
High placement rate and graduates get higher wages because of the work they do with employers during placement and with the graduates to make sure it works.
We also work with financial institutions and private foundations to address the number one need of small and mid-size businesses: access to capital for growth.
If businesses can grow, that means jobs are created and our communities grow and become more economically thriving places.
Business is one of many paths on which women come to economic empowerment. Women deploy their economic empowerment in many different fields and sectors.
55 of the Bay Area’s 100 largest women-owned companies are headquartered in the East Bay, including seven of the 10 largest companies on that list.
Check out the breadth of this list.
Number One is ASI Corporation of Fremont, a distributor of computer software, hardware and accessories.
Number Two is TeleCare Corporation of Alameda which provides care systems for the mentally ill.
Number Four is CornerStone Staffing Solutions of Pleasanton, which provides staffing services.
Number Five is S&S Supplies and Solutions of Martinez, a provider of technical services.
Number Six is Engineering Remediation Resources Group of Martinez, a provider of environmental engineering and construction services.
Number Seven is Siebert Brandford & Shank, an investment banking firm in Oakland.
And Number Nine on the list is Shames Construction Company of Livermore.
The 25 largest women-owned businesses in the East Bay together employed more than 2,700 people here in 2010 and generated $1.93 billion in revenue, a portion of which finds its way back to the East Bay economy in addition to jobs provided.
We also see many economically empowered women beyond the business sector. We see them in government. We see them in education.
We see them in the non-profit sector, where 11 of the largest 25 non-profit organizations in the East Bay are headed by women.
Public Health Institute headquartered in Oakland…
American Cancer Society’s California Division headquartered in Oakland….
La Clinica de La Raza headquartered in Oakland…..
California Transplant Donor Network headquartered in Oakland…
Alameda County Food Bank headquartered in Oakland…..
Contra Costa Child Care Council headquartered in Concord….
Fred Finch Youth Center headquartered in Oakland….
National Writing Project headquartered in Berkeley….
Asian Health Services headquartered in Oakland….
Community Child Care Coordinating Council headquartered in Hayward….
And Child Care Links headquartered in Pleasanton.
All of these organizations are headed by women.
The primary mission of each and every one of these organizations is to make the East Bay a better place, whether it is through health, the well being of children, or providing food to those who are hungry.
As a result of their leadership in so many sectors, women are having an extraordinarily BROAD influence in the East Bay.
Put another way, their voices are resonating throughout the East Bay’s very diverse cities and communities spread across a sprawling geographic territory in which 2.6 million people currently reside.
Now I want to get personal.
I want to introduce to you today a rich and diverse tapestry of economically empowered women and their accomplishments. Many of them are not household names. They are not celebrities. Many of them toil in vineyards that are less than famous.
I want to emphasize that my list is illustrative rather than all-inclusive.
In other words, the women I’m going to hold up to the light are only a few of the many, many women throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties who are making the East Bay a better place.
Part of my reason for being here today is to encourage all of you to use your economic empowerment to help the East Bay become a better place.
I hope you will see similarities between these women and you….
….Between what these women are doing and with what you are doing.
A number of characteristics are striking about economically empowered women leaders in the East Bay.
They all have their unusual stories and they all walked very distinctive paths to get where they are today, but I want you to think about the similarities of their road to your road.
These women’s accomplishments are the result of…
Determination…..Guts…..A bit of brilliance….Hard work …. Passion……Patience and perseverance….Self-discipline……Business and financial sophistication….A stiff backbone…..And a willingness to make personal sacrifice when necessary.
These common characteristics should not be surprising because there are common skills necessary to be a leader….or to be a top manager….or to make change in the face of inertia or resistance.
SHIRLEY NELSON is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Bank, headquartered in Oakland, with offices in Walnut Creek and Emeryville.
She created that bank in 1982 and continues to lead it. She started the bank because she was tired of men being promoted over her, and of men telling her what she was not capable of accomplishing. She’s also Chair of the Summit Bank Foundation, which brings recognition to individuals and businesses making outstanding contributions to civic and philanthropic efforts of the community.
Under her leadership, Summit Bank has had 24 consecutive years of profitability. Under her leadership, Summit Bank has been voted by its peers as Northern California’s Best Managed Independent Bank.
Shirley Nelson’s list of honors is as long as your arm: Lifetime Achievement award from U.S. Banker, the Anti-Defamation League’s Civic Commitment Award, San Francisco Business Times Women in Leadership Award.
She’s been named one of the 50 Most Influential Businesswomen in the Bay Area. Named Financial Woman of the Year by the Financial Women’s Leadership Association. The Community Service Award from the American Jewish Congress.
The list of Shirley Nelson’s accomplishments and honors goes on and on.
SUSAN MURANISHI is the Administrator of Alameda County and is responsible for managing the County’s $2.5 Billion budget and its more than 9,000 employees.
In that role, Susan provides leadership to the County Board of Supervisors, and Agency and Department Heads – as well as serving the public through clear direction and management to implement public policy and to deliver county services effectively and efficiently.
She’s been recognized countless times for her public service.
Named on many occasions by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Public Service. Recipient of a Women of Distinction Award. Recipient of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives Achievement Award. Named by the Asian Academy to its Hall of Distinction.
Can you imagine a more important and more difficult job in California than prioritizing limited government resources for the benefit of the common good?
JANE GARCIA is the CEO of La Clinica de la Raza, the largest community-based primary health care center in the Bay Area with an annual operating budget of over $82 million.
La Clinica employs nearly 800 people and serves 68,000 individuals, the majority of whom are low-income, working and uninsured. Under her leadership, La Clinica has expanded to provide services from 27 sites in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties.
It’s one of the largest non-profit organization in the Bay Area, and the fifth largest nonprofit in the U.S. serving Latinos.
Jane Garcia has a passion for preserving community health care for all residents without regard to income or immigrant status.
ELNYORA WEBB is the president of Laney College in Oakland.
A single quote from Elnyora tells it all: “High-quality education is the most efficient means to assure transformation of lives, families, communities and the society in sustainable and healthy ways,” she says. “I am committed to providing the highest academic opportunity to all students, especially those who have historically been locked out of sound educational resources.”
Elnyora Webb is more than just words, though.
During her tenure as acting president before she was appointed President in June of 2010, she personally led the development of Laney’s Educational Master Plan and played a crucial role in the reaffirmation of the college’s accreditation.
It’s comforting to know that the future of one of the region’s most important community colleges is in the hands of Elnyora Webb.
HELEN ZIA is a journalist and scholar who has written about Asian-American communities and about social and political movements for decades.
Helen’s path toward using her economic empowerment has been to shine a bright light on issues important not only to the East Bay’s social fabric, but to the social fabric of our nation.
She is the author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, a work President Bill Clinton quoted in two separate Rose Garden Speeches. She is the co-author of My Country Versus Me, which tells the story of Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, falsely accused of being a spy for China.
Considered to be one of the most influential Asian-Americans of our times, Helen has also shined the spotlight on date rape. Her writings on women who join white supremacist organizations have led to new thinking on the connection between race and gender violence in hate crimes.
An acquaintance with Helen’s work on race and gender issues is to the benefit of each and every community in the East Bay.
I have the privilege of knowing all of these women except the next one. But I had to include her. Now whether or not you are a Raiders fan like I am, you have to admire …
AMY TRASK, Chief Executive of the Oakland Raiders, is one of the National Football League’s most powerful women and is among the most influential sports and business people in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She is currently the only female CEO in the man’s world of the NFL and she has been with the Oakland Raiders for 21 years. If those two facts by themselves don’t speak to determination and taking advantage of opportunity, then I don’t know what does!
Attorney Amy Trask made her mark in the Raiders legal department, fighting the late Al Davis’ many legal battles with the NFL. There’s a reason why Al Davis chalked up victories in court: Amy Trask.
Over and over, people describe the five-foot-three-inch, 100-pound Amy Trask as “tough.” Well, You’d have to be tough in order to succeed in the football macro- world of testosterone and a micro-world of Al Davis looking over your shoulder every day.
Now here’s the part about how Amy Trask makes the East Bay a better place: All she has to do is get the Raiders to the playoffs!
LOIS DE DOMENICO has been a well-known force in East Bay philanthropy for decades. Her work is so familiar that she has achieved broad recognition , including being awarded an honorary degree, “Doctor of Human Letters,” by Mills College for giving “heart, mind, leadership and sustaining hope to that most vital of human endeavors – helping others to build community.”
Over the years, she has given generously to many organizations at critical junctures in their histories. She has served on many governing boards of philanthropic and non-profit organizations. And she has served as mentor to many community-service professionals. Like me!
She taught me how to plan an event, how to properly greet someone in a social/fundraising situation, how to engage with high net worth individuals, and how to ask them for money – not just $1,000 but 1 million dollars! I cannot express the importance of mentors.
Especially for the young women here who are just getting their careers started. Or, for women who are switching careers. It is absolutely critical.
The scope of her giving and board service includes both the School of Public Health and International House at University of California Berkeley; Holy Names University; the World Affairs Council; Chabot Space and Science Center; Girls Incorporated of Alameda County; KQED; the Oakland Ballet and Northern Lights School – just to name a few.
The special virtue of Lois De Domenico is she does her good works quietly with no need to be in the spotlight, no desire to be the center of attention, and no passion for public recognition. The East Bay has absolutely benefited from Lois’s amazing work.
LORI FOGARTY is the CEO of the Oakland Museum of California, overseeing all programmatic and administrative operations of the institution, which is not a tourist destination, but is an important cultural institution for the local population.
She led the Museum’s $63 million capital campaign that financed renovations in buildings and installations in galleries. But, much more than raising money, Lori Fogarty used the money to re-invent the Museum by reaching out to the local community, getting input on what people wanted, and then re-designing the museum’s exhibits in order to keep people coming back.
How did she do it?
She put together teams of curators, educators and designers to hammer out concepts and then showed the concepts to community advisory councils, scholars and others in a process of collaborating, polling, canvassing, revising, and re-collaborating.
There is a mantra in the museum business about “engaging the public.” Lori Fogarty has succeeded admirably with that mantra, recreating an institution dedicated to the natural sciences, history, and arts of California. And, we must remember the importance of arts and culture to our communities. It is an absolutely important part of moving a community and our region forward. It is not just about the business sector, education or social services. It takes all of these pieces moving together.
Last, we have ANGELA GLOVER BLACKWELL is the founder and president of Policy Link, a national research and action institute with offices in Oakland and New York City. Angela was another mentor of mine when I first entered philanthropy in the early 90s. Policy Link works to develop and implement local, state and federal policies to achieve economic and social equity.
Founded in 1999, PolicyLink connects the work of people on the ground to the creation of sustainable communities of opportunity that allow everyone to participate and prosper. Such communities offer access to quality jobs, affordable housing, good schools, transportation, and the benefits of healthy food and physical activity.
Guided by the belief that those closest to the nation’s challenges are central to finding solutions, PolicyLink focuses attention on how people are working successfully to use local, state, and federal policy to create conditions that benefit everyone, especially people in low-income communities and communities of color.
As an expert commentator appearing on public radio and television as well as on the pages of The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, Angela is a powerful voice for local solutions.
Angela Glover Blackwell is a bona fide East Bay treasure because of her work focusing on successful ways local communities implement public policy in order to achieve economic and social equity.
As I noted earlier, this list of women I have just highlighted is by no means all-inclusive and is only illustrative of the kind of work being done by economically empowered women on many levels, in many professions to make the East Bay a better place.
An intriguing question that arises about the work and the accomplishments of these women and the thousands of other economically empowered women working to make the East Bay a better place is this…
What motivates these women to do what they do?
What motivates you to do what you do? … And, why?
This is where I am compelled to go to an even more personal level. We – our communities – need every woman in here to use her economic empowerment to the fullest extent.
So, what is that going to take?
I believe all of us do what we do in order to fulfill our internal needs or values.
I suggest there is a way to look at your motivation as grounded in a desire to fulfill one or more of six defined needs or values that we all grapple with on a daily basis.
I say “defined” because “Human Needs Pyschology” defines these as common human traits.
This is the “Why” of motivation …
In fact, there is a way to look at all of our behavior as a response to these six basic needs, which I will get to in a minute.
But first, I want to say that all too often the conversation about the motivation of economically empowered women gets stuck in a discussion of seeking balance between home life and work life based on the notion that work and life are two separate spheres, both needing more time than you can possibly give.
This search for the perfect balance between work life and home life is a fruitless one. Human lives are built on dynamic tension among competing needs and values.
Instead of looking at ourselves through that prism, I suggest we ask ourselves, “What are our core needs, commitments, and values?”
These core needs, commitments and values are what we live out at home and at work. We should be seeking those out rather than the false sense of balance.
It is when we are honest about our core values, we can live them throughout our lives.
I have found that understanding these 6 Human Needs is what stands between someone feeling empowered or disempowered. So, it is not just, “Tell me how to make a lot of money!”
My question to you is: Why do you really want that?
For Certainty….or
For Uncertainty and Variety…..or
For Significance….or
For Connection….or
For Growth….or
For Contribution.
I want to spend a few minutes with each one of these needs. I believe it is critical for you to understand yourselves and for you to understand what drives your behavior….
…For you to understand your motivation.
That is key to your empowerment. The East Bay needs everyone here to understand and step into her empowerment.
So, allow me, if you will to walk this path .. and then we are going to have some fun.
We ALL have ALL six of these needs. The differences in our behavior depend on how we prioritize those needs. Really, it is a question of which ones drive you more than others?
Some of us are motivated more by the need for CERTAINTY.
We want to feel safe. We want to avoid pain. We want to feel comfortable in our own environment.
We all want to have some sense of security.
We adopt a principle that provides us with intellectual and emotional certainty and we organize our work experience around that principle.
When people use words like “consistency,” “predictability,” “stability,” “routine,” they are seeking CERTAINTY.
Sound familiar? Is having CERTAINTY more important to you realized? How do you meet this need in your business? If you don’t, where and how do you meet that need?
Some of us are more motivated by the need for UNCERTAINTY OR VARIETY.
The need for variety and CHALLENGES exercises our emotional and physical range. People want and need variety in their lives. Our bodies, our minds, our emotional well being all require uncertainty, exercise, suspense, surprise.
Just as the sense of SECURITY is reassuring, the sense of VARIETY makes you feel alive.
When people use words like “entertainment,” “challenge,” “change,” “new,” they are seeking VARIETY.
Any of you relate especially to this particular need? How do you meet this need in your business? If you don’t, where and how do you?
Some of us are more motivated by the need for SIGNIFICANCE.
Every person needs to feel needed, wanted….IMPORTANT.
Significance comes from comparing ourselves to others – in our quest for significance, we become involved in hierarchical pecking orders and questions of superiority or inferiority.
But we can also feel significant because we have achieved something, built something, succeeded at something, or we can seek significance, unfortunately, by tearing down something or somebody.
For some, significance comes from providing for the family; for others, from doing meaningful work.
Fulfilling our need for significance leads us to make a major contribution to humanity or to acquire immense wealth.
When people use words like “pride,” “importance,” “standards,” “achievement,” “performance,” “perfection,” “evaluation,” “discipline,” and “competition,” they are seeking SIGNIFICANCE.
Is filling the need for SIGNIFICANCE your primary motivation? How do you meet this need in your business? If you don’t, where and how do you fill that need?
Some of us are more motivated mainly to fill their need for CONNECTION.
We need to feel connected with someone or something – a person, an ideal, a value, a habit. We seek connection in order to overcome the fear of isolation, of feeling alone, of being cut off from others. And so we reach out.
Connection manifests itself as the need for intense engagement. Some seek connection in the workplace. Others seek connection in an existing community or in a community they create.
And, of course there is that search for LOVE. That search definitely relates to the need for connection.
When people use words like “together,” “passion,” “unity,” “warmth,” “desire,” and “community” they are seeking CONNECTION.
Any of you out there see yourself driven by the need for CONNECTION? How do you meet this need in your business? If you don’t, where and how do you?
Some of us are motivated mainly by the need for GROWTH.
When we stop growing we die. That’s a fact. We need to constantly develop intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. We grow and change physically as we develop from infancy to adulthood and old age.
We grow and change emotionally with every experience, and we grow intellectually as we respond to events and to the world around us.
Anything that you want to remain in your life – your money, your health, your relationship, your business, your happiness, love – must be cultivated, developed and expanded. Otherwise, it will degenerate.
I don’t want to get too philosophical on you here, but there is a way in which everything in the universe is either growing or dying – there is no third alternative.
When people use words like “advance,” “augment,” “branch out,” “cultivate,” “develop,” and ”produce,” they are seeking GROWTH.
Is GROWTH the primary need you are seeking to fill? How do you meet this need in your business? If you don’t, where and how do you?
Finally, some of us are primarily motivated by the need for CONTRIBUTION.
Contribution is what propels us to go beyond our wants and to give to others. It has been said that a life is incomplete without the sense that one is making a contribution to others or to a cause.
We want to give back, to leave a mark on the world. Giving to others may mean giving time to community service, making a charitable donation, planting trees, writing a book, or giving to one’s children.
Most people CAN contribute in some way and, by doing so, achieve a sense of fulfillment and happiness.
When people use words like “add,” “bestow,” “commit,” “devote,” and “share,” they are seeking to fill their need for CONTRIBUTION.
How do you meet this need in your business? If you don’t, where and how do you?
The need for CONTRIBUTION has a huge impact on the other needs I’ve discussed.
For example, if you are contributing to others, you fill your need for CERTAINTY because there is always a way to contribute and you can always contribute over and over in the same way.
If you are contributing to others, you fill your need for VARIETY because contribution is highly interactive.
If you are contributing to others, you feel your need for SIGNIFICANCE because you know you are helping others and improving their lives.
If you are contributing to others, you fill your need for CONNECTION because you are reaching out to touch a person or a problem or a cause.
If you are contributing to others, you also fill your need for GROWTH because you have produced something new that didn’t exist before.
By emphasizing the importance of the need to CONTRIBUTE, I am not here merely to share with you these stories of economically empowered women who CONTRIBUTE to making the East Bay a better place.
I am also here to encourage all of YOU – you economically empowered women in the audience here today – to think about YOUR need for contribution by doing what YOU can to make the East Bay a better place.
I am hoping that in learning about the 6 Human Needs, you realize that your behavior is driven by meeting those needs – what you value most and what you do to fill them…or better yet, what you MUST to do to fill them!
THAT IS WHERE YOUR MOTIVATION COMES FROM – THAT IS WHERE YOU FIND YOUR POWER, AND WHERE YOU CAN STEP INTO YOUR POWER NOW THAT YOU KNOW THIS.
I hope this sparks some thoughts – perhaps, you realize where you may need some help to meet your needs in more positive ways, perhaps you may be asking yourself right now whether you are in the right business.
Maybe you know you’re in the right business and you are asking yourself what adjustments to make to get your needs met.
I am going to close with a challenge for you to think more about these six human needs in terms of the role they play in what you do and why you do it.
Go through each one of these needs. Identify how you meet those needs.
This has implications for you, of course.
But it also has implications for our communities. The more you step into your power, the more you will be a contributing member of our community and the more you give what you were meant to give and what you can give to move this region forward.
You see, the more you understand what’s important to you, the more focused you become.
The more focused you become, the more your priorities get adjusted.
And then you…finding yourself and shifting things that apparently “never” could be shifted before…meet your priorities and your needs more fully.
When your needs are met, or when you at least have a plan for how you will get them met, you actually see your and feel your power – what you are truly capable of.
We need more women stepping into their own power. When you understand your motivation, you will be more able and willing to step into your power.
Our communities need us. We have it in us. As you saw today, many of us are already getting the job done.
But we can only address the issues in our communities by the power of many.
The force of many empowered women can and will make a huge impact on this region.
Will you join me?
It will take some work – primarily on ourselves. This can be scary and intimidating. I hope I have inspired at least a few of you today to take the leap.
Will you join me and step into your power? Think about what would happen if we all did!
Thank you.