“Fear is my friend,” says Shirin Behzadi, author and C-suite entrepreneur who left her native Iran alone as a teenager and worked to become CEO of a billion-dollar home improvement franchise company. She also raised a family and survived a brain tumor.
In her new memoir, “The Unexpected CEO: My Journey from Gas Station Cashier to Billion-Dollar CEO,” Behzadi shares her inspiring story of how she refuses to be erased and uses her power for good.
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Issue 2860— September 30, 2025
Every kid fears they’re not normal. I had proof.
Last week I wrote about the power of telling the unvarnished truth of one’s story to enable leaders to build trust and credibility. I shared one layer of my story of growing up in small Texas towns and the chronology of my early formative years.
Yet life is a many layered thing. It tends to stack masks on us.
Read MoreWith YouTube’s recent announcement offering a banquet of creative tools for creators, it is impossible to deny the AI revolution is deepening influence for leaders, users, institutions and cultures around the world across generations, identities and genders.
Everyone needs to pay attention.
Read MoreIssue 2859— September 23, 2025
Life is layered. Some layers are easier to unearth than others.
Last week, I spoke at my friend Sharon Jackson’s “We Mean Business” conference. She scheduled 15 minutes in the packed agenda for me to talk about my 9 Leadership Power Tools.
So, not one to follow impossible rules, I used my 15 minutes on the stage to impart just one of the Leadership Power Tools. I chose #9, “Tell Your Story.”
Read MoreIt’s not easy being a woman leading at a high profile, legacy media outlet. But it never has been, even as the numbers of women journalists running top outlets globally is still recent and pretty rare.
Speaking at the 40th anniversary of the Journalism & Women Symposium annual CAMP in Washington, D.C., recently, JAWS President Angela Greiling Keane, Bloomberg Government News Director, said the theme of the conference, “Persevere and Persist,” is especially relevant today in a harrowing time for journalists covering politics.
Read MoreThe latest innovations, updates and insights from and for leaders in artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, community building, early career efforts and organization founding shaped the recent close to the Take The Lead Power Up Conference 2025 in Washington, D.C. on Women’s Equality Day.
Read more in Take The Lead on Power Up 2025
Developing a positive relationship with AI is on most every leader’s mind—and needs to be.
Read MoreIssue 2858— September 8, 2025
Just when you think something is over, it starts again. Women’s quest for equality is no exception.
While I was busy with Take The Lead’s annual Power Up Concert and Conference in Washington D.C., I lost track that September 5, 2025 marked the 30th anniversary of the United Nations’ 4th World Conference on Women. A few rather subdued social media posts reminded me.
So I updated the text of a podcast I recorded when I was reflecting on the 25th anniversary five years ago, to share with you today.
Read MoreThe goal of gender parity needs the efforts and energy of everyone across gender identities. Equity is not just a women’s issue. Nor is it just an issue in one business arena.
“We’re here to talk about how men are an important part of this journey moving things along to gender parity,” said Vada Manager, founder and Ceo of Manager Global Holdings, as he introduced the winners of the Alex Barbanell Leading Man Award at Take The Lead’s recent Power Up Conference 2025 in Washington, D.C..
Read MoreIssue 2857— September 2, 2025
For the last few days, I’ve been in enforced time off mode.
I returned from the Power Up Concert and Conference in Washington, D.C. exhilarated and exhausted. Read Michele Weldon’s rundown for highlights.
If you were there, please drop a comment to share the best moment for you. If you weren’t there. Put August 26, 2026 on your calendar now because you will definitely want to be in that room next year. It’s always on Women’s Equality Day because of the date’s alignment with Take The Lead’s mission of gender parity in leadership.
Read MorePower appears in many forms--including startling musical compositions that transcend all time and space.
Read more in Take The Lead on Power Up 2024
Dame Marina Arsenijevic, internationally acclaimed pianist and composer, overwhelmed the more than 100 guests with her talent in an original concert at the National Museum of Women in The Arts for the kickoff of Take The Lead’s Power Up Concert and Conference 2025 in Washington, D.C..
It was the perfect launch for the two-day event.
Read MoreYes, you can get what you want and also what you need at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference 2025 on Women’s Equality Day in Washington, D.C. on August 26.
Register here for the Power Up Conference 2025.
Your attendance and participation on the highly interactive day of panels, networking, award-winning speakers, a SHEposium of products and services, book signing by best-selling authors and exercises built into the curriculum to solidify your position as a leader, entrepreneur and expert is both necessary and rewarding.
Read MoreIssue 2856— August 19, 2025
I once read that "You Are Not Alone" is the all-time most opened newsletter headline. At first I thought that was kind of pathetic. Then I realized it is exactly how I want to feel right now.
Unlike the famous Greta Garbo plea for solitude, I don't want to be alone.
I'd especially love to see your shining face at the Power Up Concert and Conference on August 26 in Washington DC.
The conference theme is “Courage to Lead,” and the first essential element of courage is simply showing up.
Sticking with your mission.
Not being deterred by chaos or disruption. In fact, taking the energy of chaos and disruption and using it to create a new way forward is the best way we can use this moment.
But it won’t work nearly as well if we do it alone.
That’s why you’re invited to come together with like minded women and men who support gender equality.
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