Women at Work (Podcast): Ever Considered Joining a Board?
In the recent podcast that I listened to created by Harvard Business Review, the discussion with women in leadership positions about how they got there, gender discrimination, and their difficulties. Eight women who work in the board service share their experiences, challenges, and how they secured their seats.
One prominent figure contributing to the discussion is Lindsey Shorts, who has been on the board of directors at the Center for Excellence in Assisted Living for 10 years and was its chair for 7. She was honest about how it is sometimes difficult to deal with a lot of people, especially if the field is male-dominated, and how sometimes she had to make people listen to her and her ideas in order to be taken seriously. Lindsey shared that it was difficult for her to have a word in because of that. Because of this, she was feeling confused for a long period of time about her tone of voice (if she sounded not nice), if she said the right word, etc. What helped her was finding a mentor and having a person she could always go to If she wasn’t sure about something. What I liked is that she said that being in a board position is about understanding what people need, and what needs to be done, whereas many people see this only as an opportunity to do what they want.
