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builders - women with the skills and competence - and architects - visionaries
who have the idea for construction in the first place.
If you're thinking to yourself,
I'm not sure where to lead
, ask yourself this
question: Is there anything that you feel passionately about? What are you doing
about it? Many women are either confused about the answer or altogether avoid
the question for a multitude of reasons. We normally suppress our “inconvenient”
passions, lest they disrupt our everyday lives. By doing this, we are denying our-
selves many avenues of fulfillment and achievement. When women succeed as
leaders, the realization that their leadership - driven by their passion - has con-
tributed to something tangible creates a rare but intense feeling of satisfaction.
Leadership is about creation: creating something better than what currently
exists, or creating something that did not exist before. As French novelist Victor
Hugo once said, “There is nothing like a dream to create the future”
[19]
.
Maybe there's a small project at work or in your community that you care
about; identify that opportunity, and ASK for it - don't wait for someone to
offer it to you. Once you have chosen a leadership role to pursue, take one step
further and find another woman who you can support in her leadership endeav-
ors. For example, if your roommate is the Editor in Chief of a campus magazine,
offer to submit an article in your field of expertise. If you know someone who is
putting on a fundraiser for cancer awareness, offer to help her with the event or
make a donation. The support you offer to another woman in her leadership role
is sure to come back your way. When women are discouraged from taking lead-
ership positions, the world is missing out on a giant demographic that it could
otherwise tap into and utilize the unique talents of. Inspiration is not always an
immediate event - inspiration can be generated. We must generate inspiration
by supporting each other's passions and setting an example when we pursue our
own. In case I haven't stressed this enough, professionals, in the area of STEM
careers in particular, are critically needed as leaders and innovators.
I welcome my sisters all over the world to join me in this cause that I feel
most passionate about: the call to female leadership in the fields where they are
most misrepresented and where I feel the world needs us the most. I have never
believed that I had all of the answers. It's not about
me
, and, with all due respect,
it's not about
you
. It's about
us
. It's about women using what we have; using
our collective gifts, education, experiences, wisdom, and talent in a way that has
never before been afforded to humankind. We now have the ability to innovate,
lead, reach out, and make a difference for each other, our communities, our coun-
try, and our world - to inspire those that we've never met and may never meet.
It is our time to change the world and “our responsibility” make it a better place.
THE CHALLENGES WE FACE
The challenges we face in the engineering, medicine, environmental, and infor-
mation management fields are many. We are on our way to making solar energy
affordable, providing energy from fusion, developing carbon sequestration
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