I was invited to the wf360 Summit at the NYSE Tuesday evening because I'm a blogger, so, naturally, I was asked to blog about the event. So here goes, ready or not.
The pluses of the 390 Summit event were: 1) That I was able to see the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It was a fascinating. As I wrote in a Tweet, it looked like what I imagined the inside of a Star Cruiser would look. 2) That I got to meet several interesting people, especially a world-class female sailor who gave me some cool insights into what was going on in the current America's Cup competition. 3) That the food was good. 3) That the 360 Leadership Award winner, Maggie Wilderotter's, speech was good -- she had some well-turned phrases in it about encouraging women to go for the brass ring -- encouragement she got around the dinner table from her father who had several daughters. .
The minuses were: 1) That the discussion about the big ideas, the "What if..." questions, didn't occur, at least not at my table. 2) Even if the discussion had occurred, there was no way to communicate them, distribute them, or create action items or next steps. As we know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The criteria for the "What if..." discussions were as squishy as the criteria for the 360 Leadership Award that was given to Maggie Wilderotter and printed in the program:
"The 360 Leadership Award is based on extraordinary achievement and a particular leader's personification of '360 leadership' which demonstrates the ability to:
- Perform with excellence in several arenas, each requiring different skills.
- Draw on different aspects of their [sic] personality as the situation requires (whether calling for traits traditionally seen as masculine, i.e. decisiveness, toughness, force of will, or feminine, i.e collaborative, inclusive, sympathetic) is appropriate to the venue, people involved, and nature of the issue at hand.
- Think globally, recognizing that today's opportunities -- and challenges -- can come from anywhere in the world.
- See life and its challenges in an historic context, employing lessons from an understanding of the past to lead effectively into the future."
Soft, squishy, vague, unmeasurable,and full of generalizations and stereotypes -- it's like an apron; one size fits all.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
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