Chaos to Catalyst: How To Make Disruption Your Leadership Superpower

How are you feeling today?

If you responded “anxious,” “unsure of the future,” or “immobilized,” you aren’t alone.

We live in an era of permanent disruption — economic shocks, political upheaval, technological leaps, and personal curveballs that throw even the best plans into disarray. It seems like every day, there is a new threat to job security or the cost of necessities. There’s constant talk about the price of eggs and the looming price increases on almost everything as a result of tariffs, or maybe the threat of tariffs is just that, a threat, and everything will be fine.

The Sum, EventGloria FeldtMay 5, 2025womens leadership, leadership, power, gender parity, lilly ledbetterComment

Create a Movement from Chaos: How To Change the Present and the Future

Everyone in this country is trying to get clarity on the overwhelming confusion caused by daily changes to politics, the economy, business, healthcare, education, culture, and “the pillars of American society.”

And it is women—specifically older women—who are organizing, enlisting male allies, and taking action.

“We are beyond ‘let’s talk about it’ and into a movement,” says Heather Cox Richardson, Boston College History Professor, and author of the 2023 bestseller, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America.

Speaking recently at the Chicago Humanities Festival, in conversation with William Howell, author, political scientist, and dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Government and Policy, Richardson says, “I see American people standing up. I am doing my part. We are 100% in this together. We are beyond ‘let’s talk about it’ and into a movement.”

Early Signs: Seeing Successful Role Models Plus Mentorship Helps Young Girls, Women

When they see it, they can not only be it, they can succeed.

A new global study of nearly one million people from adolescence to adulthood shows that teenage girls 13-16 more often become successful entrepreneurs by the time they are 35-40 than boys do. They also are more successful than girls that same age who are not seeing successful entrepreneurs in these formative years.

Gender Parity, Mentors and SponsorsMichele WeldonApril 25, 2025womens leadership, equity, gender parity, leadership, mentorshipComment

Women, Wealth, and Power: What We Can Learn from Lilly Ledbetter’s Courage

Sometimes, what you want to say is better said by others.

And sometimes articles write themselves as a result. That’s the case with my “Sum of the Week” blogpost today. My heart is so full of joy and appreciation for the powerful film “Lilly,” about the long fight for equal pay, written and directed by Rachel Feldman and produced by many investors, including Jyoti Sarda, who graced the panel with her experience bringing forth the independent film.

The Sum, EventGloria FeldtApril 21, 2025womens leadership, leadership, power, gender parity, lilly ledbetterComment

Survival to Success: Stay Solvent, Financially Secure Leading In Scary Times

This is real life.

So there is no cause to get panicked that because of recent economic shakeups, tariffs, threats of a recession, and wild market fluctuations, you will end up in financial ruin.

Your life will not mimic that of the fictional Victory Ratliff (so perfectly played by Parker Posey) in the recent finale episode of “The White Lotus,” when her husband, Timothy, says their lives are about to change because they have lost all semblance of wealth and prosperity.

“Nooooo.”

That Time I Didn’t Negotiate My Pay — and What Happened Then

True confession. Like many women, early in my career, I felt so lucky to get work that was meaningful to me that I typically said, “Thank you,” got right to work, and never even thought about negotiating based on what the marketplace would bear.

The first time I remember being conscious that the pay level could actually be a factor impacting my future—as well as my present ability to pay the bills—I knew the position I had interviewed for paid 20% more than the teaching job I had intended to seek.

So I thought I was being pretty smart to take it. Didn’t do my research. Never even considered negotiating. Gave no thought to how all my future pay levels would build off of that one.

Event, The SumGloria FeldtApril 14, 2025womens equality, gender parity, leadership, equal pay, lilly ledbetterComment

Lilly Ledbetter: Her Equal Pay Victory Resonates as Struggle Continues

Unequal pay for women is still a thing.

Even as a new film salutes the tireless advocacy of the late Lilly Ledbetter, the force behind the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, women in this country are still behind men in earning the same money for the same work.

The national Equal Pay Day held recently in March marks the day that women earn as much in 15 months as men do in the 12-month calendar year that ends in December.

All in This Together: Feminists Need to Support, Speak Up and Act Now

Roxane Gay is not a bad feminist. And is there really such a thing?

The acclaimed author, editor, columnist, and editor of the new anthology The Portable Feminist Reader says good or bad, there is no one kind of feminism throughout history, including today.

What is true about feminism today is that those pushing the current political agenda “know what feminism is because they are trying to undo its power. Feminism is everything they do not represent.” She added, “That is why they want to erase words like feminism.”

Event, Inspirational Role ModelsMichele WeldonApril 4, 2025feminism, roxane gay, leadership, gender parity, gender equalityComment

Not an April Fools’ Joke: 😇 Smell the Pivotal Blessing

The delicately sweet aroma of citrus blossoms brought back a powerful sensation as I stepped outside of my Arizona home this April Fools’ Day.

It was the scent I’d first experienced on this exact date: April 1, 1978.

I had taken a late evening flight from my Odessa, Texas home to Phoenix the night before, following a quick trip to a department store to buy a proper suit for an interview that had come a year sooner than my intentions.

On the morning of April 1, I stepped out into the bright Arizona sun.

The unfamiliar scent permeated the air. It wasn’t harsh or cloying, more like a softly perfumed pillow around me. I thought I had landed in some sort of paradise.

Little did I know my life would take a pivotal turn, which I have ever since associated with the aroma of citrus blossoms.

Super Stress in Chaos: How to Manage Your Team and Yourself With Care

This is not an April Fool’s joke: Women are more stressed than men at work now. Maybe that is not even a surprise.

Yes, the stress you feel is real and most everybody in America right now is feeling it at work and home—it is just apparently affecting women more. Denying the stress is counterproductive; how you handle it is key to reducing its impact on you and the entire workplace culture.

Courage to Lead: 3 Moves to Unlock Big Impact

Anxiety is in the air. You can feel it everywhere — layoffs, political uncertainty, the gnawing fear that the earth is shifting beneath our feet.

In times like these, leadership can feel impossible. How can you lead when you don’t even know what the next week will bring?

The truth is courage to lead isn’t knowing all the answers. It’s stepping forward even when you don’t.

Read, Listen, Learn: 13 Great Books by Women Authors for Women’s History Month

With days to go on Women’s History Month, the theme, “Moving Forward Together,” celebrating "Women Educating and Inspiring Generations" fits perfectly with Take The Lead’s suggested list of books by women authors writing about history.

Even with the trend of banned books and the threat to reduce funding to public libraries, the habit of reading (and listening) to books is high in this country, with more women consuming books in all forms—ink on paper, ebooks and audiobooks—than men. There is also a trend of more women publishing books than men—a gender gap worth applauding.

MediaMichele WeldonMarch 21, 2025womens history month, reading, literature, leadership, gender gapComment

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