Go Lead Idaho

Motivating women to lead and demonstrating why it matters

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Women & Leadership: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

An event attendee tweeted: Justice O’Connor leaving the stage. Quick, cue rocking guitar riff!

Source: The Arbiter

She couldn’t have been more on point. In her second time on the stage at the Women & Leadership event Justice Sandra Day O’Connor captivated the audience like a rockstar sharing her feisty, pointed commentary and passion.

And giving interviewer Dr David Adler of the Andrus Center a run for his money.

During her speech, Justice O’Connor briefly touched on her time both witnessing history and being a part of it on the bench.

But the bulk of her address focused on her current passion – a commitment to improving the access to and awareness of civic education in our country.

Calling it the most challenging work and most rewarding of her lifetime in public service – Justice O’Connor helped launch http://www.icivics.org in 2009, to prepare young Americans to become knowledgeable, engaged 21st century citizens by creating free and innovative educational materials

(Profiles of Next Generation Learning: iCivics from NextGenLC (NGLC) on Vimeo.)

As she so aptly noted, the skills and knowledge of citizenship are not handed down through the gene pool – civid education must be perpetual. And if we believe what Eleanor Roosevelt said, that ‘the true purpose of education is good citizenship,’ then civics can no longer be an afterthought in our public schools.

Justice O’Connor eloquently stated,

Not everyone is going to grow up to be Bill Gates or Sheryl Sandberg or Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, but everyone is going to grow up to be a citizen.

For our democracy to endure, we have to ensure are citizens are well informed.

Democracy is a sustained and perpetual conversation about how best to govern.

It is not a spectator sport. We don’t have a government by the majority, we have a government by those who get involved and participate.

We have an moral imperative to lead. To continue our history of trailblazing. And to help secure the vibrancy of our democracy by ensuring strong civic education and an informed engaged citizenry.

Because as she so aptly noted, there is no charge or cost to be a leader, just hard work.

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Women & Leadership: Bonnie McElveen-Hunter

Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chairman of the American Red Cross

The kickoff speaker to the conference is Bonnie McElveen-Hunter – a former U.S. Ambassador to Finland, business owner and appointed Chairman of the American Red Cross, the first woman selected in the organization’s 126-year history.  (More on Bonnie)

While McElveen-Hunter began by reflecting on the pearls of wisdom from her mother that still ground her today…

  • Mediocrity is the greatest sin
  • Work is the greatest privilege
  • Failure is a comma, not a period
  • Can’t is a word that doesn’t exist

…she quickly transitioned into a core belief that drives her daily, the belief that business and commerce are the most important forces in the world today.

1.2 billion jobs in the world. 3 billion are looking. That’s a 1.8 billion gap

McElveen-Hunter emphasized, “I believe that the most important philanthropy – the most critical philanthropists – are those who create dignity and purpose, those who create innovation and opportunities.” In other words… JOBS

She reiterated why the audience should care, stating that poverty rests on the shoulders of women and children. And if we aren’t going to help each other – who is?

“All of our success only matters when we share – and when we lift while we climb.”  

McElveen-Hunter did eloquently tackle what she called the elephant in the room:
The connections between and among women are the most feared, problematic and most potentially transformative force on the planet. But women are not always sisters. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. If women will ever totally take hands and stop holding each other to a higher standard than we hold men, we can transform this world and make it an incredibly better place.
She left the audience with this thought:
“Most of us in this room will not be called to do great things, but all of us will be called to do small things with great love.”

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Transforming America: Women & Leadership Conference

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Go Lead Idaho is proud to be a community sponsor of the Andrus Center’s Transforming America: Women and Leadership in the 21st Century event.

The conference is focused on the accomplishments of women leaders from business, government, science, the media and other fields and seeks to showcase their unique perspectives on women in leadership positions.

The conference will investigate the work that remains to create what Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has called the opportunity for all women “to earn respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration based on ability.”

Justice O’Connor spoke at a kickoff reception on Wednesday night, and we couldn’t help but think back on several of her amazing words of wisdom during her time on the bench…

We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone… and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something.

I think the important thing about my appointment is not that I will decide cases as a woman, but that I am a woman who will get to decide cases.

Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom

And if you need to get chills to kickoff your conference experience, take a moment to listen to President Reagan making history by the appointment of Justice O’Connor

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