Monday, November 30, 2009

Powerful women

I'm pretty strongly focussed on my career: doing well at it and achieving.

But I wouldn't necessarily call myself "powerful". Interesting when I work in a company that is so wonderfully rich with female role models. Certainly it's all led by my CEO, Ilse Treurnicht.

She's the first person that I've worked for that I've truly admired. And she's built an environment filled with exceptionally intelligent, talented women who make the organization sing.

Tonight, she was honoured as one of Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100 Awards, in the category of "Trail blazer". It did what it was likely supposed to do: inspired me.



I sat around a table with other amazing women, all at different stages of their careers. Even in the midst of one of the biggest projects of my career (which Ilse mentioned during dinner -- we're all excited about it) I still managed to squeeze in some thoughts about "what next?"

All of these women are so amazing and have done such amazing things. There's no reason I can't be just like them. I'm just not sure what I need to do or be to get there. I know that I want to continue to work in organizations that have meaning. I absolutely want to do good. And I need to use my brain. And learn from people who are smarter than I am. I want to be surrounded by these really amazing people, no matter where I go. I want to learn from them how to be better. Being appreciated is a must, of course, but I know I must earn it.

Congrats to Ilse. Congrats to all the women out there who have chosen powerful paths and have inspired all of us who follow to aspire to more.

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