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Meet #WingsOfCourage Artist Colette Miller

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Behind the Red Shoe Movement’s #WingsOfCourage initiative is a partnership with renowned artist Colette Miller, a visual artist with multiple talents. Find out who she is and the amazing world she created!

Ten years ago Colette began The Global Angel Wings Project – those impressive colorful wings you have probably spotted all over Instagram and other social media, or around your town. Through her murals, Colette hopes to remind humanity that “we are the angels of this Earth.” A message with which she has already traveled far and wide and which she continues to share through new installations around the world.

Colette Miller and Mariela Dabbah pose with #WingsOfCourage

Colette Miller and Mariela Dabbah pose with #WingsOfCourage

This year, for the Red Shoe Movement’s 10th anniversary we partnered with Colette to create the #WingsOfCourage initiative. We unveiled our first set of wings at Spotify’s offices for Women’s History Month. The installation showcases Colette’s trademark wings specifically designed in the Red Shoe Movement palette. They fly on the 72nd floor of an iconic skyscraper on 4 World Trade Center in New York City, facing the Freedom Tower. They welcome a hybrid workforce back to their workplace with a vibrant message of hope.

#WingsOfCourage

ALINE CERDAN VERASTEGUI – You are best known for the Global Angel Wings Project. Can you tell us a little about what inspired this viral collection of colorful angel wings? How did it become a global project? 

COLETTE MILLER – I would describe it as a type of vision. I was in Los Angeles, City of Angels, around the beginning of 2012 or the end of 2011. I had been meditating a lot about humanity, our collective experience and the “divine” in all of us – our higher natures. Wings came into my mind as I drove. Big angelic type wings.  I would imagine them on the walls of the buildings. I decided to act on the idea and make them human sized for people to wear them. To remind humanity that We Are the Angels of this Earth. I didn’t expect anything, I was surprised when people suddenly started to take photos. I was just giving something to the world pro bono on the street that I thought would be good for people to see.  A glimmer of hope. A reminder of our Higher Nature.

ACV – You collaborated with Red Shoe Movement to create their #WingsOfCourage initiative, can you tell us about it? How is this initiative different from what you usually do?

CM – It’s special because it’s on the top floor of 4 World Trade Center, overlooking the Freedom Tower in one of the most enigmatic cities in the world –and one of my favorites. The red palette matches the Red Shoe Movement’s colors. Mariela Dabbah and Gustavo Carvajal contacted me and secured the location. We are using their tag #WingsOfCourage, to promote just that: Giving women’s dreams flight through courage. I don’t normally hashtag directly on murals, but I had to embrace this specific cause for Red Shoe Movement and their initiative.

Colette Miller's wings- Photo Credit @alainaballerina

Colette Miller’s wings- Photo Credit @alainaballerina

Women of Courage and Other Angels

ACV – Who are some of the Women of Courage who have inspired you along the way? 

CM – Amelia Earnhardt hits immediately, maybe because she flew. But so many others, like animal lover /environmentalist Jane Goodall, Marie Curie, Mother Theresa, Joan of Arc, artist Mary Cassatt. I’m inspired by traits like bravery, kindness, faith, creativity, intelligence and independence.

ACV– Tell us about your journey as an artist and what it has been like to experiment with different mediums, such as music, poetry, and street art. What struggles have you encountered as a woman in these environments? 

CM – When you collaborate in projects like a band, you learn to deal with different personalities, some of which are more complex than others. Sometimes, you feel like you need a degree in psychotherapy. As for more independent forms of creativity, such as painting, one must have the courage to listen to our own voice. Sometimes it takes a lifetime, if ever. If I really sit with myself quietly, I may get to the divine comedy of humanity and hopefully the kind part of humankind. But we are all complex stories with a past and none of us is perfect. We all have baggage, me included.

ACV – What is it about street art that you love? Do you think it conveys something that can’t be conveyed in other mediums?  

CM – Street art is available and immediate to the public. It’s often self-authorized by the inspired artist and their urgency to put it out there. I’m curious about the intent behind it, but I also wonder and am concerned about desecration and disregard for public property. Street art can also easily be ruined because of its vulnerability on the street, but that impermanence itself might be part of its great value. The ephemeral. The temporary. I want my murals to last as long as possible, especially those that have been commissioned. I take great care with varnishes and other protective measures. I’ve done a lot of research over the years.

Global Angel Wings Project in Cuba- Photo Credit @ColetteMillerWings

Global Angel Wings Project in Cuba- Photo Credit @ColetteMillerWings

Empowering People Around the World

ACV – You have taken the Global Angel Wings Project around the world, are there any locations that hold a special place in your heart? 

CM – Well, that’s a difficult question because each location I have painted the wings has been a unique experience. I remember doing a pair at an orphanage outside Jiaxing, in China, and the children embraced me without prejudice or second thought. It was chilly inside and some of the children had disabilities, but their innocence and welcoming nature was a beautiful thing. It was an amazing day. Outside Nairobi, in Kenya, in an old courtyard where some kids camped out on the ground. They started a boxing sports club named after the wings, the Koyalre Wings Miller Boxing Club. There’s one in Juarez, in Mexico, motivated by the drug cartel violence the city faces. I installed it in 2015 to inspire some healing through a group called Juarez es Resiliente. I slept with my scissors under my pillow while I was there because I was a bit tense.

ACV – How has seeing the project grow and evolve into other endeavors like #WingsOfCourage changed you or the way you see your own project?

CM – I appreciate the right collaboration with people and projects I align with. I immediately felt that way with Mariela when I met her, she was a natural friend. Global Angel Wings Project has an uplifting universal appeal and so does #WingsOfCourage initiative and the Red Shoe Movement, which is empowering women and anyone else who chooses to embrace gender equity worldwide.

Global Angel Wings in LA-Photo Credit- @ColetteMillerWings-

Global Angel Wings in LA-Photo Credit- @ColetteMillerWings-

ACV – What do you think it is about your work that resonates with so many regardless of geography? Have people reached out to you with special stories involving the Global Angel Wings Project?  

CM – I think it touches on the Universal.  It’s simple, but striking and strong. That’s what my father says about ideas: Simple, striking, strong.  The way I paint wings too, they are big and free. From the heart.

I have had people who have lost someone, often tragically, contact me with their photos and it catches my breath because these people are going through such grief. And suddenly I’m connected with them through the art and a moment in time with their loved one. It’s humbling, and I can understand sudden grief myself, so I can empathize. Others have reached out to tell me about the lift they felt when they found them in a remote area or even a high-profile area like the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (for now).  I’m often amazed at the creativity of the photos, like the NYC ballerinas under a bridge in East Harlem with the wings. I put those wings up (which the city now helps protect) in the early days, during the winter. The paint froze as I was installing them, as did my fingers. But I have seen some beautiful photos and have felt like bowing my head in gratitude.

8 Lessons Working Women Learned from the Pandemic

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Wisdom often comes with adversity. And while we’re all still figuring out what work and business will look like a few years from now, there are certain key lessons working women learned from the pandemic.

Lessons working women learned- Photo Credit- Fauxels--Pexels

Lessons working women learned- Photo Credit- Fauxels–Pexels

It’s true that Covid-19 changed things for women in business everywhere. For many, it represented an opportunity for a new beginning or to rethink strategies. For team leaders, it was a year full of adjustments, changes, and unprecedented challenges.

It’s been no walk in the park, but it’s also probably fair to say that the things learned will stick with us for a long time. Maybe even leave some working women, their teams and colleagues slightly better prepared for the kind of crises that can make or break a business.

8 key lessons working women learned

1Know Your Priorities

During the pandemic, working women learned to prioritize at work and home. With so many taking on housekeeping and teaching duties on top of their work responsibilities, choosing the non-negotiable aspects of each area helped make things a little more manageable throughout the day. Knowing the aspects that are non-negotiable can make it easier to distinguish the ones that can wait or maybe even be handled by someone else. The pandemic made it impossible for many working women to keep up the same pace and hours they had in a world without interruptions. Many adjusted – which in turn made them realize nothing will crumble if they, say, take a personal day or sign off for a few hours for a little family time while working from home.

4 Simple Actions to Improve Your Self-Confidence

2The Magic of Saying ‘No’

Being a “yes person” is generally regarded as a quality, but while there are aspects in which a constant willingness to go the extra mile is a definite asset, sometimes knowing when to say ‘no’ can be equally important. In fact, one of the key lessons working women have learned from the pandemic is that agreeing to a workload or responsibilities they’re not sure they can keep up with can ultimately harm their career and mental health. Feeling overwhelmed can harm your work quality. Avoiding that can be as simple as knowing when you’re taking on too much. So again, know your priorities and don’t be afraid to set healthy boundaries at work – and to encourage others to do the same if you’re in a leading position. Allowing yourself to say ‘no’ when necessary, will also let your team know it’s okay to be human, and it’ll also make it easier for them to acknowledge when they’re taking on too much. 

3Delegating Responsibility Isn’t a Disaster

You can’t control it all, that’s (hopefully) while you’ve got a team to ensure deadlines are met and the quality of your work is sustained. Just like many realized nothing would happen if they said ‘no’ when feeling overwhelmed by work during the pandemic, working women learned that being able to delegate responsibility is not a disaster. Furthermore, delegating is quite helpful and often the best way to move things along. This is just another way in which knowing your team and their individual strengths will make you a better leader and team member, helping you identify who’ll handle what best.

4Listen to Your Team and Their Needs

In many ways, Zoom and Team meetings allowed even the quietest to be heard and seen on a screen. This made many realize that people who were perhaps  too shy to speak in formal meetings had a lot to say when given a smaller and more intimate space. The importance of diversifying the workplace and making sure that all voices are heard was one of the key lessons working women learned from the pandemic. Everyone has specific situations and needs and it’s important to understand that these things affect their work, so make time for them. Speak up for those who aren’t being heard and reach out to those who seem isolated. It helps to feel heard and supported at work, and the pandemic has made it easier for some leaders to see that loving your workplace is a great motivator to keep up the good work. That an empathetic “velvet hammer” often works far better than an unforgiving “iron fist”.

5Creating Community is Invaluable

Building community in the workplace can positively affect a team’s performance in different ways. And while this might not be specifically a lesson that came with the pandemic, it was reinforced by the very strange situation we suddenly found ourselves in worldwide. One that often made us aware of aspects of our coworker’s lives that we might not have been privy to before. A sense of community at work can foster productivity making employees more likely to speak up, ask questions, help promote transparency within the company, build meaningful connections, and create a sense of belonging that will ultimately benefit the whole team. Diverse and inclusive workplaces nurture camaraderie and create a work culture where people are valued as individuals and become far more proficient as a community.

6Seek Advice When Needed

A mentor can be an invaluable asset in times of crisis.  Another key lesson working women learned from the pandemic is that no woman (no person) is an island, and it’s okay to ask for help. That just as you’ll have to listen and will, ideally, be an uplifting voice for coworkers and employees, you’ll sometimes need to be heard. You can’t be expected to have all the answers. So, people you trust can help you sort out through the white noise in your head. Whether in need of a little reassurance or some help making a complicated choice, working women have found the value of having someone to go to when they need guidance.

Overcoming Impostor Syndrome and Building Confidence

7Make Time for Yourself

The importance of mental health and carving out time in the day for self-care is one of the greatest lessons working women have learned from the pandemic. Watching a show, taking up a new weekend class, going out with friends, a long uninterrupted bath, gym time, talking to a therapist, are all good ways to pamper and reward yourself for all your hard work. And the thing is, taking breaks, staying healthy and feeling good about ourselves makes us likelier to take joy in our everyday tasks. Burnout is real and after a year in which something as simple as lunch with friends seemed impossible, taking a moment to pause and enjoy these things should probably be listed among our priorities.

Lessons working women learned during the pandemic- Photo Credit- Mikhail Nilov--Pexels

Lessons working women learned during the pandemic- Photo Credit- Mikhail Nilov–Pexels

The greatest lesson working women learned from the pandemic

8You are stronger thank you think

But perhaps the greatest lesson that many working women seem to have learned from the pandemic is one about strength and resilience. The mental and physical challenges of this historical time made many realize that they are stronger and far more capable than some of them believed. It’s not weird for career women to become their own worst enemies, but the fact that there are more top female leaders than ever before says something about our abilities to inspire, communicate, collaborate  and create in times of crisis. And beyond.

The Art of Inclusion: Scherezade Garcia, visual artist

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Scherezade Garcia was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, into an artistic, socially and politically aware family. It’s easy to see that they inspired the art of inclusion she practices.

Her family nurtured her natural talents and encouraged her to experience a world full of diversity in race, languages, ideologies, and beliefs – all of which are connected by a rich and sometimes ignored history that becomes an integral part of her multi-layered art and the stories she tells.

The interdisciplinary artist is based in New York City. She sits on the Advisory Board of No Longer Empty, an organization dedicated to curating site-responsive pieces that encourage conversations within communities and create unique and inclusive platforms for upcoming New York artists. García also co-founded the Dominican York Proyecto Gráfica, a printmaking collective involving 12 artists of Dominican descent. In New York she’s represented by Praxis Art Gallery.

Scherezade Garcia has consistently strived to defy the norms and address the contradictions of a world that is full of them, as well as the many experiences we share. She approaches them through a lens that brings focus to history, religion, migration in search of “a new land” and a better life. Her pieces are intricate stories that layer medium, that aim to encourage dialogue and, more importantly, inspire action and resistance.

This year, the Red Shoe Movement commissioned her the limited-edition collection of 20/20 Bells that the company features in its Ring the Bell on the 7 Seas initiative.

Scherezade Garcia and the collection of bells commissioned for the Ring the Bell on the 7 Seas. A great example of the art of inclusion.

Scherezade Garcia and the collection of bells commissioned for the Ring the Bell on the 7 Seas. A great example of the art of inclusion.

Aline Cerdán – Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started as an artist? What was your family’s role in your journey to finding a multi-cultural voice?

Scherezade Garcia – I like to say that I come from my childhood, and indeed I do! I was born into a family where storytelling, music, visual art and political awareness were important. Many early memories are connected to our visits to exhibitions, to the theater, and to explore our country. We used to go on road trips to see the country and visit famous historical sites. The conversations about the natives (Tainos,) the Spaniards (Criollos,) the Africans, the French, and the English, our relationship to our sister nation Haiti, and the USA occupations were part of our conversations. It helped me shape my sense of the Caribbean. It unveiled to me the complexity of being from this side of the “Atlantico.”  I was always drawing, and my mother registered me in art classes, then my sister joined me. Many of my Dominican artists’ friends attended those classes as well.

I also had the opportunity of traveling to the USA and Europe at a young age, and those experiences fascinated me! Without realizing at the time, I was curious, outraged, and intrigued (all at once) by our world. It is that collective experience that we all share, the richness of different points of view, the fantastic possibility to experience new flavors, to understand that we are somehow all connected, helped to established in me the importance of family, and then a broader community.

For Scherezade Garcia de Atlantic has a special meaning

For Scherezade Garcia de Atlantic has a special meaning

Scherezade Garcia, book author

AC – Tell us a little about ’Scherezade García: From This Side of the Atlantic’ and what it was like to exhibit your work with your sister iliana emilia.

SG – The books “Scherezade Garcia: From This Side of the Atlantic” and “iliana emilia: The Reason, The Object, The Word,” both edited by Olga U. Herrera, accompany our mid-career survey exhibition “Visual Memory: Home + Place.” The books are about our artistic trajectory, and the chronologies, interviews, and essays portrait our creative lives from a young age to now. The title of my book conveys my fascination with the history of Las Americas. I am fascinated with the experience of Las Americas and the crossing of the Atlantic. My work intends to unveil the many ongoing cultural encounters that continually shape, reshape how we view, perceive, and color Las Americas.

 

My sister and I shared our family, our upbringing, and our values. We usually don’t collaborate, but since we were young, we were always a team. My mother always celebrated our differences, and that was very effective for the success of our sisterhood team!! We overlap in many interests, but the way we interpret, represent, and relate to our world is different. That’s our forte! It is a smooth sail to work with my sister because we complement each other, and we don’t even have to discuss it, it is an organic process. I usually note that she approaches her work from the inside, the personal, intimate; while I approach it through a collective lens.

AC –You’ve talked about a balance between old times and new, how often do you find history repeating itself while working on something new? Are we learning from our past?

SG –As an artist, I aspire to beauty and truth. Such search takes me to a territory “in-between”, searching for balance, and far away from “absolute truth.” I wish I could say with confidence that we learn from the past; the events of our current state of affairs scream about our lack of respect for the history that we all share.

AC – Your work is inclusive, multi-layered and often interdisciplinary, can you tell us how that’s a reflection of your personal history and why layers are important in your pieces?  

SG – As a Caribbean woman, I intrigued and enamored by the many colors residing in my skin, and the presence of many communities coming afloat in my language. It is a landscape of extremes, nothing speaks of balance in the multifarious outcome of this “new land,” the consequences of so many encounters. I see it as totally minimalist or baroque. I approach it in a neo-baroque voice. My neo-baroque view is that more is more, and everything goes. I can be super optimistic and super pessimistic at once. Faith and divinity are also part of the recipe.

Scherezade Garcia inspirational quote

Scherezade Garcia is a key contributor to the action inspired by the RSM 20/20 collection of bells she painted

The art of inclusion

AC – You’ve described the cinnamon shade as an “action of inclusion”, can you tell us about the use of this mix of colors and the importance of the art of inclusion?

SG –The cinnamon figure is a constant in my work since 1996. Mixing all the colors in a palette is an inclusive action, the outcome of such activity is cinnamon color. The new race represented by my ever-present cinnamon figure states the creation of a new aesthetic where “our/everybody’s” history is told. It is all about collective memory, a narrative of union!

AC –Pink has also been used in past pieces to defy color-gender norms and the concepts it has been associated with, what are some other ways in which gender inclusion is showcased in you work?

SG – I like to defy norms by creating visual narratives imbedded in contradiction, for example, I created my oversized pink life vests, challenging the given fragility/sweetness/ of no consequence/girlie of the color pink, to engage in a conversation of survival, migration, of people crossing the sea in search of a better life. What it seems, it is not what it is.

AC –Can you tell us a little about the work you’ve done with Red Shoe Movement for Ring the Bell on the 7 Seas? We know you were commissioned to turn this musical instrument into a work of art and you created a painting called Chromatic Current as part of your Liquid Highway Series.

SG – The sea is the liquid highway and the keeper of our ancestral memory. It carries our stories, our DNA, our memories, and our history. The sea is always in motion carrying every community’s roots. With this project, through painting the bells and dressing them up of sea, I aim to imply the universal connection, the community called by the sound of the bell, and the fluidity of our identities and lives.

AC –You seem determined to tear down barriers; blend lines between countries, race, ideologies, gender, religion, language, aesthetic planes and artistic styles. Do you think art has a responsibility to create conversations?

SG – If artists are the voices of our times, we have the responsibility to provoke thought, engage in conversation and inspire action. It is the most powerful and effective way of resistance.

AC –What was the inspiration behind your installation ‘Liquid Highway’? What it is about water that’s as vital as the land it surrounds?

SG – The Atlantic, this blue liquid road and profound obstacle provokes my imagination. The blue sea represents the way out and the frontier. It maps stories about freedom, slavery and survival; it carries our DNA and it’s an endless source of stories, evolving continuously, reminding us of the fluidity of our identity, our collective memory. Resistance through beauty and joy.

Scherezade Garcia created Chromatic Current as part of her Liquid Highway series

Scherezade Garcia created Chromatic Current as part of her Liquid Highway series

2020 Perfect Vision on Gender Equality

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The year is 2020. The time is now to make gender equality a reality. Here’s how you can engage with likeminded individuals around the world.

Just as the World Economic Forum set Closing the Gender Gap Accelerators “to create global and national public-private collaboration platforms (…) to address current gender gaps and reshape gender parity for the future,” many organizations have set their own gender equality goals for 2020.  For our company it’s a big year as well. With the motto: 2020 Perfect Vision on Gender Equality, we are rolling out the 3rd annual “Ring the Bell on the 7 Seas,” a Red Shoe Movement Gender Equality global initiative.

We've been Ringing the Bell on the 7 Seas, a Red Shoe Movement Gender Equality Global Initiative since 2018

We’ve been Ringing the Bell on the 7 Seas, a Red Shoe Movement Gender Equality Global Initiative since 2018

Why do we ring the bell for gender equality?

A few years ago, UN Women, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges, IFC, Women in ETFs and the World Federation of Exchanges created the “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality” to “raise awareness of the pivotal role that the private sector plays in advancing gender equality to achieve SDG 5.” (United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.) With this mission in mind, every year for International Women’s Day, March 8, (or close to that date) women ring the bell at stock exchanges worldwide.

Considering that the Red Shoe Movement’s mission is to accelerate the representation of women at the highest levels of leadership, it was only natural for us to support and echo the UN’s initiative with one of our own.

Ringing the bell in Tel Aviv

Ringing the bell in Tel Aviv

Ringing the Bell on the 7 Seas

I’m sure you’ve heard that water represents 71% of our beloved planet Earth. This invaluable fluid substance never sits still. It’s constantly moving dynamically connecting us, nurturing us and making life possible. It’s the world’s connective tissue bar none, a true example of a global force with the power to erase distances and differences, and to bridge all gaps.

And since water has long been associated with emotion and intuition (starting with the Greek philosophers Empedocles and Plato,) it has also been associated with the feminine. No wonder then, that we call our initiative “Ring the Bell on the 7 Seas,” the best way we know to communicate that gender equality is an issue that affects us all, and only by having men and women working side by side will we achieve success.

On International Women’s Day we echo the UN’s Ring the Bell for Gender Equality. We extend an immersive, hands-on invitation for everyone to grab their bell and join the worldwide conversation. We will be ringing the bell once again on the 7 seas and the 7 continents with a large number of partner organizations and millions of individuals. 

RSM Gender Bell 2020 commissioned to visual artist Scherezade Garcia

RSM Gender Bell 2020 commissioned to visual artist Scherezade Garcia

Debuting our 20/20 RSM Bell

From the beginning of our initiative the bell has played a key role. From the CEO of the company to guests, executives, associates all ceremony participants are invited to take turns ringing it.

We felt it was time to elevate the bell to an art piece and in doing so, conveying the message that this is no ordinary object but the symbol of a collective call to action. To achieve that, we commissioned Scherezade García, a unique visual artist with the kind of synergy you can only dream about. Born in the Caribbean, in the Dominican Republic, Scherezade moved to the island of Manhattan where she resided until years ago she moved to Brooklyn. Both the sea and the issue of inclusion have been a constant thread in her artistic exploration, culminating recently in her Liquid Highway series. For our project Scherezade created Chromatic Current, a painting that now graces our limited-edition bell collection.

Scherezade Garcia with RSM 20/20 Bell

Scherezade Garcia with RSM 20/20 Bell

“The sea is the liquid highway and the keeper of our ancestral memory. It carries our stories, our DNA, our memories, and our history. With this project I aim to imply the universal connection and the fluidity of our identities and our lives,” said Sherezade about her work. “The RSM 20/20 Bell is like a brush that I dipped inside my paint and it came out dressed up by the sea. When people ring it, they are calling upon all the stories that we weave together when we sail through the planet’s oceans. The sound has the remarkable power to unify us, men and women pulling together towards gender equality.”

Grab the Bell for a Perfect Vision on Gender Equality

Grab the Bell for a Perfect Vision on Gender Equality

Ringing the Bell on the 7 Seas with You!

Our Smart Lead & Celebrating Partners

For this year’s exciting celebration, we are joined by Honeywell, our Smart Lead, ranked 77 in the Fortune 500 list, a company that produces commercial and consumer products, engineering services and aerospace systems. And by our amazing Celebrating Partners: Microsoft, Ultimate Software, Lexus, the Panama Canal Authority and the California Maritime Academy.

Gender equality for our time

You can already see how for the new generation, the one Greta Thurnberg leads (more so now that she’s Time Magazine’s 2019 Person of the Year,) gender equality is a given. Young people today don’t even understand why we need to have this conversation. Inclusion is part of their make-up and gender fluidity one of the tenets that support their understanding of inclusivity. Yet, until there’s a full generational replacement in the workplace, several different generations will continue to work side by side for many years to come. So, the challenge of reaching gender equality in pay and in leadership positions will remain one we all need to address.

“Ringing the Bell on the 7 Seas” is a fun, yet truly effective way to raise global awareness while encouraging everyone to actively engage with one of the key issues of our century. Join us, our Smart Lead and Celebrating Partners by grabbing your bell and wearing your red shoes and ties. Let’s make some noise together. Sound carries strong and clear across the oceans.

Shantaa Foster rings the bell for gender equality

Shantaa Foster rings the bell for gender equality

Our Founding Sponsor 

Joining forces with Celebrity Cruises was a no-brainer. A company led by Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, a CEO set on changing the industry by making gender equality a priority, its ships started ringing the bell in every corner of the globe with the Red Shoe Movement on March 8, 2018. That first year, my team and I joined Lisa onboard Celebrity Summit at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale while the rest of the fleet as well as Royal Caribbean Offices joined from their own locations.

In 2019, we boarded the Celebrity Reflection anchored in front of Cayman Islands in the Caribbean Sea and then took a small tender to reach the Celebrity Edge, which was strategically positioned only a couple of miles away. After leading the morning bell-ringing ceremonies on each ship, we sailed on the Edge to Fort Lauderdale and took part of one of the Red Parties that Celebrity hosted on each vessel. We were joined by Ultimate Software, our Tech lead, a company that offers Human Resources software solutions, who carried out bell-ringing ceremonies in 18 locations from Singapore to Toronto.

In 2020, we recognize Celebrity’s leadership with the first RSM Hall of Fame Women Ensemble Award honoring four of their leaders: Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President & CEO, Captain Kate McCue, First North American female captain of a cruise ship, Captain Nathaly Alban, First Ecuadorian Captain of a cruise ship and Nicholine Tifuh Azirh, First West African Bridge Officer.

 

Women Leaders: Leadership Styles that Play Against Us

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With an ever increasing focus on promoting more women leaders, it’s worth recognizing that certain styles are less effective in building the leadership brand for women in general.  Part of effecting change is having courageous conversations. Read on!

From the beginning of the Red Shoe Movement, we made sure our motto focused on “women supporting women for career success” so that we would take some of the narrative regarding women not supporting each other off the table. By keeping our eyes on mutual mentoring and mutual support, we hope to encourage many more women leaders in our organizations. This helps avoid any distractions caused by the ongoing social discourse that women don’t support each other as the reason for the dearth of women leaders.

Powerful leaders inspire with their vision

Powerful leaders inspire with their vision

For a long time, I thought my colleagues exaggerated when they talked about some of the women leaders they had the misfortune of working under. They described abrasive leadership styles that,  instead of  eliciting cooperation and loyalty, turned employees off. Then I ran into a person who fit every stereotype of the woman leader that I  fight so hard against and I decided we had to talk about this issue openly. Because, whether we like it or not, women leaders are still a minority, and, as such, the missteps of one tend to affect the brand of the entire group. And what I mean by brand is the brand “women leaders” or “female leaders” as a whole. Just ask African Americans, Latinos or Jews about the ripple effect that a bad apple has on the reputation of the group as a whole.

Women leaders with ineffective leadership styles

Although the styles I discuss on this post apply both to men and women, today I focus on the impact they have on my female colleagues.

Here’s what happened to convince me to talk about this issue. After weeks of volunteering my time to help a friend (let’s call her Mary) organize a fundraiser to benefit an organization she supports, we were getting nowhere. Every time we got a leading professional to donate his or her services  for an auction, the CEO of the organization (let’s call her Jen) would change things around without notifying anyone involved.  As the date of the event approached, my friend Mary and I started to receive daily calls and emails from our professional colleagues who so generously had accepted our plea for their free services. They didn’t understand why their services were not listed on the event’s website, why the amount of consulting hours being auctioned was different from what they had committed to, or why they had been taken out of the event altogether despite having confirmed their participation.

After one too many unilateral changes, I emailed Jen expressing how unprofessional this back and forth made us all look in the eyes of our contacts, only to receive in return a scolding letter on which she copied six other people from her organization. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted. I admit I should have called her to begin with, but my note to her was private. Her email to me was not.

The incident left me wondering, why some women leaders exhibit leadership styles that are obviously unproductive? Leadership styles that, rather than project power, play to the stereotype of “the woman who undermines the power of other women.”

Together we build the brand "women leaders"

Together we build the brand “women leaders”

But the better question might be: Should we confront these women leaders with their misbehavior, or should we avoid them and move on?

It’s no easy task to approach any powerful leader for a conversation about their leadership style shortcomings, but, in cases like the one in my example, not doing so carries an even greater risk –  The perpetuation of the undeserved stereotype that women are not suited to lead. That all women leaders miss the mark.

Just as Jen’s style was ineffective and was eventually responsible for her losing her job and her organization closing down, here are a few other leadership styles that leave everyone wanting:

  • Micromanagers. Women leaders who can’t step out of their manager role and are constantly micromanaging their team rather than providing a vision and allowing their teams to carry it out.
  • Queen Bee. These are the women leaders who feel there ‘s only room for one woman to shine in the organization and they systematically undermine other women, refuse to help them succeed, or are over critical of other women in the company.
  • Emulators of male leaders. Women who rather than leverage their female traits alongside their experience, knowledge and skills, lose all femininity on the way to their powerful position in order to fit in. By emulating a masculine style, they play well in the boys club but tend to leave the culture of their organizations  unchanged for women coming behind them.
Women leaders stand on the shoulders of previous leaders

Women leaders stand on the shoulders of previous leaders

How to approach women leaders for an honest conversation

This is certainly one of those million dollar questions. It’s never easy to approach someone to provide this type of feedback. So here are a two suggestions on how to set up a productive conversation.

1If you have a good relationship with the leader, you could send a note saying you have a few insights that may help her get more support for her vision/project/etc. Then ask if she’d like to hear your insights. Giving the person a chance to accept or refuse your suggestions is key to avoid overstepping and creating a bad situation for yourself. If she accepts a meeting, prepare your feedback carefully. Focus on objective performance and results rather than personality.

2If you’re not too close to the leader, identify who has her ear. (Who does she provide air cover to? Who does she agree with at important meetings? Etc.) It may be best to speak to that person first and get a sense of the most productive approach to take. That person may even suggest that he/she is the one to bring up the issue with the leader. For this to happen effectively, you have to trust the person who will carry your observations to the leader and make sure they won’t backfire.

Women leaders are joined together to protect brand

Women leaders are joined together to protect brand

Standing up for more great women leaders

The truth is that we are joined together in the guardianship of the brand “woman leader.” The success of one is the hope for all. By the same token, the failure of one impacts us all. So, as painful and difficult as it is, we must have these courageous conversations with our gender-mates when they are called for.

Needless to say these  feedback conversations should be held in private and conducted diplomatically in order to avoid eliciting a negative reaction.  Unfortunately,  avoiding the discomfort of having these conversations will only hold us back on our quest to see more great women leaders at the helms of our organizations.

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