The Female Insight Zone

Being competitive is a healthy trait.

As CEO and Owner of Bedel Financial Consulting, Elaine shares her insights on how to build a successful career in the financial services – especially for women. She gives her list of things someone must possess before they go out and build their own business. Among other things, she’ll talk about the ways on how to earn your team’s loyalty and respect.

Next, Elaine explains why you should be courageous enough to speak your mind — whether you’re with a client or in a board meeting. Plus, she gives a few tips on how to handle a discussion using simple phrases. And as a media personality, she’ll also walk us through the process of preparing for a TV guesting and keynotes on how to bring out the best of each production.

Lastly, as chair of Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, Elaine talks about her group’s efforts to provide financial security to the women in her community through a fellowship called “The NEXTInitative”.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to manage your time between your family, your career and your community.

• The reasons why there’s not a lot of women in the financial services industry.

• The traits you’ve got to have in order to build your own business.

• Tips on how to speak your mind, stand out and be heard.

• How to earn the respect and loyalty of your employees.

Tweetables:

• If women in your community are doing well, families do better, communities do better.

Big Takeaways:

• Always give your team an opportunity to excel. Position them to showcase their skills and talents. By doing so, you earn their respect, loyalty and commitment.

• When building your business, put an emphasis to build a strong team around you. Surround yourself with people skilled enough to perform well even at your absence. This will ensure continuity of your services and automation of your system.

Related Links & References:

• Bedel Financial Consulting official website: www.bedelfinancial.com

• Elaine’s LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/elaine-bedel

• Your Money with Elaine Bedel: www.wthr.com/your-money-with-elaine-bedel

• Women’s Fund of Central Indiana official website: www.womensfund.org

• WomensFund NEXTInitiative YouTube channel: youtube.com/WomensFundCentralIN

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As the creator of MillionaireSeries.com and PMA360.com, Annette shares the ideas behind her programs. Along the way, she realized that everything has a set of formula – getting rich, becoming healthier or getting successful. And in this episode, she’ll talk about the 3 components which make up the success formula.

She then talks about the belief system and the inner game that’s happening in all of us. Then, she explains the importance of reaching the Alpha stage – a certain mental level high-performers can easily tap into.

Lastly, she will lay out the necessary steps to fulfill any gameplan – all of which comes from understanding your worth barometer.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The idea behind your worth barometer.

• The 3 components of a success formula.

• The 5 different states of consciousness and how they relate to productivity and peak performance.

• The 3 levels of WHY.

• How to create your gameplan.

Tweetables:

• Lack of action is really an inner game issue.

• When you go into something – even if you don’t have experience – and you’re giving a 110%, the outcome is always better.

Big Takeaways:

• Even though you need to give people a process and help them with their formula, there also has to be some sort of accountability to keep them engaged.

• Your beliefs will dictate what you can or cannot do. You have to focus on those that will support and serve you. Because that’s the key in getting what you’re aiming for.

• We’ve got so many beliefs that aren’t serving us well – we have to let them go.

• Getting want you want starts with identifying it; followed by figuring out the reason why you need it; and finally, it’s being clear at your goal.

• The key for an effective execution is consistent, massive and right action.

Related Links & References:

• Millionaire Series official website: millionaireseries.com

• PMA 360 official website: pma360.com

• Annette’s Facebook account: www.facebook.com/AnnetteBau.MillionaireSeries

• Annette Bau’s blog: www.annettebau.com

• The 7 Principles of Becoming a Millionaire for Life: millionaireseries.com/7pebook

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In this episode, President and CEO of the Chicago Network, Kate Bensen talks about the 4 main purposes of her organization and what needs to be done to increase diversity amongst corporate organizations.

Then, she gives her views on the flexibility issues associated with being a female executive. How does a woman leader handle this challenge and what needs to be done to fulfill the balance between work and life?

MBA programs have been a catalyst for growth both professionally and economically. However, as male executives grow their income over time, the opposite is true among their female counterpart. Kate explains this trend and gives her insight on why this disparity is happening.

Finally, Kate shares the organizations women should be involved with if they’re planning to move up the corporate ladder.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What is The Chicago Network all about?

• The current status of women in Chicago in terms of advancing their careers.

• The 2 drivers for change that will give a huge boost to the number of women CEOs in corporate organizations.

• The initiatives companies have to do to promote diversity and inclusion among their ranks.

• How to get involved in cultivating the next generation of women leaders.

Tweetables:

• If these firms are going to thrive, they have to win the war on talent.

Big Takeaways:

• Several studies suggest that profits go up amongst businesses that appoint women to the board and executive positions.

• True leadership means getting out of your comfort zone and discovering the unknown.

Related Links & References:

• The Chicago Network official website: www.thechicagonetwork.org

• Kate’s LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/katebensen

• Professional Women Lose Confidence, Ambition As they Reach mid-career, new Bain & Company study finds: www.bain.com/about/press/press-releases/professional-women-lose-confidence-ambition-as-they-reach-mid-career

• The Crisis of Confidence Infographic: www.bain.com/infographics/parity

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In this episode, Nancy Wright, CEO for Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, invites us to remember and re-learn the real-world skills that the Girl Scouts offer. Things like leadership, confidence and love for the community. Plus, she’ll discuss different programs available for Girl Scouts –from STEM to business communication.

She’ll also share a story about her father, and how their conversation inspired Nancy to find a way to serve the community.

As someone who has led several organizations, Nancy talks about understanding the culture of the workplace as well as making sure that everyone has a voice that is heard. Then she’ll discuss diversity issues in an organization; especially around career advancement and compensation.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The best thing about being a Girl Scout.

• New, extensive programs available within the Girl Scouts.

• The issue of “camouflaging” among young women and how to address this matter.

• How you can’t be what you can’t see.

• The 3 things you can do to help young women.

Tweetables:

• We are not your grandmother’s girl scouts.

• It’s not about success at the end of the day; it’s about significance.

• You can’t be what you can’t see.

Big Takeaways:

• The best things in our life happen when we strive for significance; when we decide to give back and make the world a better place.

• There are so many ways that we can do together – both men and women – to elevate our lives and thrive in the same environment; especially in the workplace.

Related Links & References:

• Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana: www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org

• Leaning Out: Teen Girls & Leadership Biases: mcc.gse.harvard.edu/leaningout

• Nancy’s LinkedIn account: www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-wright

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Debra explains how accommodating to specific needs of employees can increase the productivity and culture of an organization – just like what happened to Cisco and Cannon.

As a global disability inclusion strategist, Debra discusses how global corporations and governments are taking measures to integrate people with disability into the workforce.

Being a longtime entrepreneur, Debra shares her adventures and misadventures in creating her businesses. Things like building a for-profit organization, learning business principles on the fly and dealing with cash flow problems.

And learn about her daughter, Sara, and how amazing she is and her story of inclusion as a 28-year-old with Down’s syndrome.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The contributions people with disabilities bring to our society.

• What must a company do to effectively include people with disabilities in the business?

• A successful case study about the French government imposing quotas, training and programs to help companies infuse their workforce with people with disabilities.

• When we’re proud, we’re more productive.

Tweetables:

• We can’t have diversity in the workforce if we don’t figure out the inclusion issue.

• Employers should hire people that are qualified to do their job.

• We accommodate employees every day because we want those employees to be productive.

Big Takeaways:

• Just because a person has a disability it doesn’t mean he or she cannot add value to the society.

• It’s proven throughout history that people with disability have contributed greatly to our society. A great example would be English physicist and author Stephen Hawking.

• The government holds the key to making sure companies adhere to the policy of giving employment opportunities to people with disabilities. Some measures are imposing quotas, providing training and offering support to employers.

• Instead of giving labels to employees’ disabilities, gender or race, businesses have got to focus more on the potential of these groups and accommodate their needs.

Related Links & References:

• Ruh Global Communications official website: www.ruhglobal.com

• Debra’s LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/debraruh

• Debra’s Twitter handle: twitter.com/debraruh

• Debra’s Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/debraruh

• AXSChat official website: www.axschat.com

• Huffington Blogpost: Uncovering Human Capital: How Leading Corporations Leverage Multiple Abilities in Their Workforce

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How can you fast track your career and perceived as a valuable asset in your organization?

Let Emilia Dimenco answer those questions for you.

As the President and CEO of Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC), Emilia talks about the various support they offer to several types of businesses.

Having a successful 30-year career in the financial services, Emilia shares her experience in investment banking and the value of sponsorship in accelerating her career – from being an intern into becoming a leader in various financial organizations.

She explains why having a sponsor is key if someone is aiming for the executive level and how working with clients accelerated her career growth. Plus, she shares 2 key factors that jumpstarted her career and led her to become a senior vice-president, and later, an executive vice-president.

Lastly, Emilia explains the importance of being respectful towards the knowledge and experiences of those around you. And, how working with leaders could potentially increase your chances of getting ahead in your career.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The various types of support business owners can expect from Women’s Business Development Center.

• The difference between mentorship and sponsorship.

Tweetables:

• If I could teach a business owner only one thing, I would teach them what creates value in a company and what destorys value in a company.

• The people that are closest to their clients are the people that will get the greatest attention.

Big Takeaways:

• Having a good personal relationship with a sponsor isn’t enough. You have to turn sponsors into advocates by showcasing your abilities to them.

• It’s not enough that you have a great idea. You have to let others jump in and let them become involved in bringing your idea into life.

• Working with leaders starts with understanding their decision-making process and discovering their agendas.

Related Links & References:

• Women’s Business Development Center official website: www.wbdc.org

• Mindy’s LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/emilia-dimenco

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In this episode, speaker, author and international business leader, Margaret Heffernan, talks about her book, “Woman on Top”. She gives a few reasons why some women were able to start a business and achieve more with less.

Then, she gives her opinion about gender equality in the corporate world. She explains why past diversity campaigns failed and what can be done to change the mindset of leaders about this issue. She shares her experience meeting Ted Childs, a diversity champion who is working with IBM and a few other companies.

Next, Margaret gives us a quick glimpse of her TEDx book, “Beyond Measure” – where she teaches how companies can make little steps to create big changes in their culture.

Lastly, she explains how her mindset was changed when networking with different kinds of people. She shares how treating others well eventually led to many of her successes. Plus, Margaret talks about her book, “Willful Blindness” and explains why we turn our heads away from the facts that may hurt ourselves or the ones we love.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why do women start their own businesses.

• The things corporations can do to change their culture and make it more gender neutral.

• The value of building alliances when you have very little to begin with.

Tweetables:

• I’m not sure anybody can be gender neutral. I think we are all biased in favor of people like ourselves.

• The less you have, the more you do for others.

• If you don’t have access to institutional power, then you become very good at having access to social power.

• Many of the changes in the workplace that women want and had worked for hugely benefit men.

Big Takeaways:

• Diversity programs will continue to fail unless we realize that this is a business case; it’s not about social justice, fairness or discrimination.

• Building allegiance with other minorities will help diversity initiatives move forward and reach their respective objectives.

• For people to collaborate, organization need to encourage a high level of trust, generosity and reciprocity – behaviors which sociologists describe as having high levels of social capital.

Margaret’s TED Talks:

•http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_the_dangers_of_willful_blindness

•http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_why_it_s_time_to_forget_the_pecking_order_at_work

•http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree

Related Links & References:

• Margaret Heffernan official website: www.mheffernan.com

• Women on the Top official link: Women on the Top: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Rewriting the Rules of Business Success

• Margaret’s Twitter handle: twitter.com/m_heffernan

• Ted Childs official website: www.tedchilds.com

• Beyond Measure official link: Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes

• Willful Blindness official link: Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril

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In today’s podcast, Lisa Lamarche, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and co-founder of Milestone Wealth Advisors, talks about the importance of being financially and physically fit in order to enjoy health and wealth in the long-term.

She touches on her own personal struggles and triumphs that propelled her from being an accountant at a large firm to becoming the co-owner of a company that offers clients superior, comprehensive wealth management.

Lisa then talks about how she believes that physical fitness meshes well with her own principles in financial fitness. She also gives some resources that she herself subscribes to in order to be continually inspired, and explains how she helped her clients emerge from the 2008 financial crisis.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The importance of hard work and dedication amidst constant challenges.

• That physical fitness is a key aspect in any financial plan for the future.

• How to get through a financial collapse and adversity.

Tweetables:

• I had a lot of challenges, but I never once looked back and said it wasn’t worth it.

• It hit me: How do we keep our bodies healthy enough that we enjoy the money that we’re making all these sacrifices to accumulate?

• It’s about all of us being the best version of ourselves and helping each other get there.

• It’s about keeping a level of calm among your clients and really just reaching out when everyone else is putting their head in the sand.

Big Takeaways:

• It can be challenging to start something new, like a new company, but you just have to keep your head down and keep going. People will be there to give you guidance and opportunities, and it will be worth it.

• Health and wealth are very important to achieve life balance. You also don’t want to outlive your money, so capital preservation and retirement planning are very important.

• Most successful people can be too busy to focus on their financial plans for the future, so it is helpful to have financial advisors who can give assistance in that direction.

• When your clients are facing adversity, the best way to help your clients is to walk them through those times in a calm, mannerly way.

Related Links & References:

• Milestone Wealth Advisors official website: http://milestonewealthadv.com/

• Lisa’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisalamarche

• The Tim Ferriss Show podcast: http://fourhourworkweek.com/podcast/

• Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast: http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcasts/

• Bulletproof Radio podcast: https://www.bulletproofexec.com/category/podcasts/

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With 30 years experience as a human resources executive for top Fortune 500 companies, Ruth Ross has used her knowledge to finetune her theory on engagement in the workplace. In this podcast, she will talk about how engagement is key in raising productivity, and some tips for both manager and employee to improve engagement.

Ruth relates here the disengagement she herself experienced while working as a top executive, and how she used this realization as the foundation to build her now successful consulting firm.

She shares her proven “Alive” program, which is a 5-step program that has been proven to increase employee and manager engagement with little to no cost.

To top it off, she talks about her acclaimed book “Coming Alive: The Journey To Reengage Your Life And Career”, where she talks in-depth of good engagement practices that can be used in the workplace and everyday life.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How the engagement crisis is costing businesses in the United States billions of dollars a year.

• How to recognize the signs of disengagement.

• No-cost steps to reengage employees and managers.

Tweetables:

• Each of us individually needs to be our own CEO. We need to be our own Chief Engagement Officer.

• I wanted people to understand that you cannot compartmentalize your life. That what happens at work affects you at home, and vice versa.

Big Takeaways:

• Disengagement in the workplace is becoming a widespread problem in the United States and around the world. Unless managers and corporations take active steps to solve it, it will continue to affect productivity and profits every year.

• Disengagement is something most people experience in their life. The first step to solving this crisis is by owning that feeling. After that, realizing your passions and dealbreakers will help you move forward in your career.

• The major solution to disengagement is by getting back to the basics of connecting, especially between manager and employee. Managers have a really important role in improving their employees’ engagement, but they cannot actively engage others without helping themselves first.

Related Links & References:

• Ruth Ross’s official website: http://www.ruthkross.com/

• Coming Alive: The Journey to Reengage Your Life and Career: http://www.ruthkross.com/the-book/

• Ruth’s Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/ruthkross

• Ruth’s Facebook page: https://web.facebook.com/RuthKRossEngagementThoughtLeader

• Gallup’s Q12 survey results on employee engagement: http://www.gallup.com/services/169328/q12-employee-engagement.aspx

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In today’s podcast, Maribeth interviews Cynthia Hardy Young, former C-Suite executive, and now founder and CEO of Pivot Global Partners, a global consulting firm that has helped to raise company performance in many organizations. After her start growing up in a public housing project to global business success, Cynthia truly inspires.

Learn about the importance of customer connection in making tailor-fit solutions for companies in different fields, and the value of diversity in innovation and success in business.

Hear her speak about the struggles and triumphs as she established her own company after years of experience in the corporate sector. She also discusses her own opinions on diversity, and how she believes that creating opportunities for all kinds of people helps ensure that a company get its fair share from an existing market. Listen as she discusses her thoughts on why diversity is a compelling and necessary factor for any organization today.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to establish a successful international business catering to a niche market.

• Why setting a culture and environment with high standards and professionalism is important for any organization.

• The importance of having a fundamental understanding of clients in order to find the right kinds of solutions to the challenges they face.

• What diversity can offer in terms of getting a company’s fair share of a certain market.

Tweetables:

• We work to understand the wants and needs of the customers, then unleash the creativity of their employees, tapping them to come up with solutions.

• We have a very high standard that we have to attain and maintain in the marketplace, and that means we’re doing business for today and for the long-term.

• You have to hold the people in your organization accountable for ensuring that it’s not just activity around diversity, it’s about the outcome.

• It goes back to people and talent. In the diversity space, it’s a platform in which you build to get to even larger excellence within your business.

Big Takeaways:

• It can be challenging to start a new venture, so it is good to first give it a lot of thought and look at the markets carefully to see if there’s a niche opportunity available. It is also important to begin with a foundation of excellence and professionalism that will help the organization thrive in the long-term.

• Helping clients does not always mean pursuing the paths, products, and services that they believe will help their company. It is about really understanding your customer’s organization and having a fundamental understanding of things like what your customers want in the market and what trends are happening at that particular time.

• Understanding and applying diversity in organizations is not necessarily about social good. It is also about bringing in the best people to your organization and making sure that innovation is happening with all these people.

Related Links & References:

• Cynthia’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthiahardyyoung

• Pivot Global’s official website: http://www.pivotglobal.com/leader

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