Anne Stevens is no stranger to taking the helm at very large, successful companies and has been featured on Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women” list four times.

She went from being the first female executive VP of Ford Motor Company to COO before retiring as one of the highest-ranking women in the automotive field. Next, she made a career switch to technology, as CEO of Carpenter Technology to her current role as CEO of SA IT Services, a leading national technology company. She currently serves on Lockheed Martin’s Board of Directors.

Anne is married and is also a mother and grandmother. Want to learn how she made it all work? Register for our call on February 20th as Anne shares her leadership journey!

Also, thanks to so many of you that responded to me about our “Highly Sensitive Person” BLOG. We will revisit that topic in the next week.

Martha Forlines and Thad Green

I ask you this question because I had lunch before the holidays with a colleague of mine that told me about a series of books about “highly sensitive” people, as she thought she might fit that description. (In DISC terms she’s a high “S” and is steady, patient and service oriented.) I immediately looked up this body of work about “HSP’s” and ordered one of the books entitled Making Work Work for the Highly Sensitive Person, by Barrie Jaeger.

Now I’m not talking about feeling like you are highly sensitive in a toxic work environment…I think a lot of people would feel like something was wrong with them in an environment like that. The author talks about those that feel overly sensitive in more normal work environments.

Here’s a few questions to consider about the HSP persona:
1. I often accommodate the needs of others at the expense of my own needs.
2. I am often tempted to withdraw or actually do withdraw, rather than deal with conflict.
3. At times I take on more that I can realistically do because everything sounds so interesting.
4. I cry when I’m angry/overwhelmed/stressed more easily than others.
5. I am excessively aware of others’ feelings.

If you think you “might” fall some of these descriptions, let me know. I’m interested in the workplace challenges you face on a day to day basis. If the information above does not describe you, pay close attention to those you work with and see if you recognize these tendencies with some of your co-workers.

Martha Forlines

P.S. If you missed my interview with Patrice Dickey last week, the audio is posted at www.inspiringwomenbook.com/audio !

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL YOU INSPIRING WOMEN!

Join Martha as she interviews Patrice Dickey to kick off our Inspiring Women teleconferences this year. Patrice owned her own successful public relations firm before becoming a Certified Wellness & Life Success Coach, Registered Yoga Teacher, and multi-award winning inspirational author and speaker. She helps people recognize the best in themselves and generate authentic positive forward movement in their lives. Her energy is contagious and her knowledge is deep.

Register today to save you a good “seat”. We welcome your feedback on this call!

Martha Forlines and Thad Green

I joined a number of women and men on December 1st to watch the TEDxWOMEN live streaming at Bauder College in downtown Atlanta. I want to share a few of the powerful nuggets from this event…

1. “Women can make a huge difference to turn the global economy around“. Pat Mitchell, President & CEO, The Paley Center for Media

2. “It takes a lot of courage to be resilient.” Pat Mitchell, President & CEO, The Paley Center for Media

3. “When we change the way we see ourselves…the rest of the world will follow.” Gayle Lemmon, author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

4. “If you are feeling helpless…help someone.” Morley, singer songwriter

5. Regarding enslaved young girls into prostitution rings globally – “…all of us have to do something – engagement does make a difference. Education is the number one priority for these young girls to lead productive lives.” Nicholas Kristof, author of Half the Sky

6. “Girls suffer from loss of self-esteem as adolescence. They then leave college taking lower paying jobs than the boys. Girls impose a psychological glass ceiling on themselves…they need help with their “inner resume”.” Rachel Simmons – author of Odd Girl Out

7. “Emotional connection drives everything we do. Technology enables us to connect more easily.” Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker, artist, founder of The Webby Awards and co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

To watch video of more of these powerful messages and get inspired click here.

We will not have an Inspiring Women Teleconference this month, and will continue them in January, 2012!

Enjoy your holiday festivities throughout December.

Martha and Thad

Greetings Inspiring Women! If you were not able to join our Inspiring Women teleconference last week with Lillian Kloock, Principle of MSR Staffing, please visit our website to listen to our audio. We also want to go over the highlights from our interview with Lil:

1. Lil learned so much about herself as a young leader from her DISC assessment. When her confidence was low, she often wondered why she took things SO personally and asked herself, “What’s wrong with me?” Her DISC results detailed her strengths, but also her weaknesses. Learning her limitations (like taking things personally, trying to be all things to all people, talking more than listening) helped her to overcome her self confidence issues. Having a coach helped Lil early in her leadership journey to overcome her confidence issues and fears.

2. Finding the right balance between her work and family has always been a priority for her and she leads with that in mind. No matter what…work can affect you at home and family can affect you at work. She believes all leaders need to accept and honor this.

3. Leading through the Great Recession has taken the most leadership courage of her whole career. She and her business partner had to make tough decisions and had to not let fear overwhelm them. She gives credit to her faith and her own perseverance to have the courage she needed.

4. Lil also shared the importance of being very selective about who is your circle of influence in “your sandbox”. Choose wisely. She selects those with similar values – integrity, humility, that share similar life views and enjoy having fun. It’s important to nurture these networking groups for your business.

5. In her experience, employees like leaders that are “elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder” with them. She had a wonderful mentor early in her career that demonstrated the positive outcomes of fully supporting your employees.

Thanks to Lil for spending time with us and sharing her leadership lessons!

We are excited that Flora Maria Garcia, President and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition (one of the 22 women we interviewed for our book) will be joining us on November 15th at 11:30 a.m. for our next Inspiring Women Teleconference. Ms. Garcia is a veteran community arts leader, strategic planner and administrator whose credentials also include executing winning arts leadership and development strategies in Missouri and Houston. She has brought fresh ideas, high energy and new vision to Metro Atlanta to lift the arts and culture here to a deeper and broader level of support. Find out how a pro leads and succeeds in the non-profit sector for the arts! Register today and mark your calendars so you can join the conversation live with Flora Maria!

Martha and Thad