The Next Step for Women Leaders: Redefining Power

Last week I was reminded of how far we, as women, have come and how far we, as a world, must to go. I attended the Women in the World Daily Beast Conference, an event that captured the voices and celebrated the accomplishments of the most incredible women in the world. As I stood in the lobby surrounded by flashing cameras, shining jewelry, and brightly colored, impeccably tailored clothing, I felt like I was at high end gala in New York City. But then, before I had a chance to question if I was in the right place, I was pulled into a conversation with friend and mentor, Jill Iscol and Ngozi Okonjo Iweala. It was at that moment I realized I was surrounded by my heroes, the freedom fighters of my lifetime.

I could go on and on about what I learned at the conference, but the piece that really hit home for me was the panel discussions on women leaders and power. Just to give you a taste of the conversation:

· Sherly Sandberg, COO of Facebook, talked about how women must keep their foot on the gas until the very moment when it is truly time to slow down. She claims we are losing talented women leaders in the world because they “lean back” to early.

· Susan Sobbott, President, American Express OPEN, said we have to stop saying women are opting out of the traditional corporate world. Instead, if you look at the growing number of privately held women owned businesses it is clear we are opting in to create our own paths.

· Kirsten Gillibrand, United States Senator, New York, stressed the need for more women to get into politics because if we do not have a seat at the table on issues related to our lives we will not be happy with the outcome.

· Mika Brzezinski, Co-host, MSNBC's Morning Joe, talked about how women are great at negotiation, but not good at negotiating for themselves, they are too concerned about being likeable.

So as sat in the back of the small auditorium nodding my head in agreement, I found myself, at the same time, realizing there was a voice missing from the table. In the only topic (Power) that the conference organizers saw worthy of two panels (including 10 panelists), not one of the panelists was from the nonprofit sector, let alone the field of social enterprise.

This moment made me realize that, while we have come so far, perhaps we are still allowing a critical word “power” to be defined for us rather than creating our own definition. In the professional world, should power only be defined by having a seat on the board of a FTSE Company (which by the way only one sixth of the top 100 FTSE companies have a woman on the board), making as much money as our male counter parts, or rising to the highest positions of politics?

I am not saying we should give up the fight to achieve equality in the above mentioned areas. In fact, I think it is critical. What I am saying is that we are at a moment in time when traditional power is being democratized though technology (take the example of cell phones across Africa and Asia creating access to information and education for the poorest), social media (look at the uprising in the Arab world), and the merger between the for-profit and non-profit worlds (Michael Porter wrote a recent piece on HBR about the creation of shared value).

So in this unique moment in time, when women leaders are taking traditional and non-traditional positions of power, we should not only fight to achieve equality but perhaps we could completely redefine what power means.