Top Advice for Women MBAs from the 2012 Forte Conference at Anderson

This summer I attended the Forte Foundation Conference, held at Anderson this year, and I would highly recommend it to all other women MBAs. I've shared some of my favorite advice below from the powerful women business leaders at the conference, as well as the insight into the true highlight of the conference for me: meeting a fantastic group of other women MBAs and Forte Fellows, not just my future classmates from Anderson but also women from other leading Forte schools. The event brought together amazing, intelligent women from a variety of background interested in a variety fields so it was an amazing opportunities to share ideas, hear about their experiences, make friends and compare goals and prospects.

I have had the opportunity to work with with amazing, successful women in primarily female-dominated industry in New York, but it was extremely exciting to talk to women from a wide range of industries with diverse perspectives. While many attendees were on different trajectories than mine, we all had similar goals: career success, life balance, mutual respect, leadership. There was a strong contingency of my future Anderson classmates, as well as women pursuing MBAs from places as varied as Canada at Queen's School of Business and Berkley's Haas to Emory's Goiezueta and UVA's Darden to Northwestern's Kellogg and NYU's Stern. I had insightful conversations with women from international backgrounds, women interested in fields similar to my background and interests like marketing, tech & digital media, entertainment & fashion, entrepreneurship as well as women with more technically trained backgrounds like engineering, computer programming, environmental sciences or from totally different industries like non-profit, education and public policy.

Plus, it was inspiring to hear from successful, powerful women who are already successful in industries I am interested in, powerfully leading fortune 100 companies or starting exciting new, successful businesses of their own. Plus we met representatives from a variety of institutions from Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Intel, AT&T to health-care and pharmaceutical companies (I had a great time at cocktail hour with two ladies from Lilly who were a delight) to energy and financial services (Chevron, Fidelity, Goldmans Sachs, Exxon, Deloitte are all big sponsors). Here is some of my favorite advice given at the conference.

TOP ADVICE FROM POWERFUL WOMEN BUSINESS LEADERS AT THE FORTE CONFERENCE:

 

Joyce Roche & Cathy Coughlin from AT&T, Luncheon Keynote

"Play the hand you are dealt with, and play to win"
    -Cathy Coughlin, SEVP & Global Marketing Officer AT&T 

 

"The difference between a manager & a leader is that leaders sign up up for outcomes"     -Cathy Coughlin, SEVP & Global Marketing Officer AT&T

"Be tough on issues & attack with everything you can, but don't be tough on & attack your people."
    -Joyce Roche, Board of Directors, AT&T & former CEO, Girls Inc.

"Visionary leadership is something that never goes out of style."
    -Joyce Roche, Board of Directors at AT&T & former CEO of Girls Inc.

"My most important advice is this: as a competent woman your voice can and SHOULD be heard. Assert it!"
-Patricia Yarrington, VP & CFO of Chevron

"Today is the most exciting time to work at intersection of small businesses and technology."
    -Cindy Bates, VP of Microsoft's US SMB Organization

"Have an informed viewpoint, and recognize your ability to lead and inspire"
    -Cindy Bates, VP of Microsoft's US SMB Organization

"To be a good leader you have to surround myself with people who bring something to the table that you don't and be comfortable with it. Different perspectives lead to different outcomes that are ultimately best for your company and your customer."
    -Cathy Coughlin, Senior Executive Vice President & Global Marketing Officer AT&T

 

Alison Pincus & Susan Feldman, co-founders of One King's Lane, with Anderson's Elaine Hagan

"Become an expert in something you care about, and then follow your dreams passionately but not recklessly"
     -Alison Pincus & Susan Feldman, co-founders of One King's Lane

"Our digital identity & brand can be more public & powerful than how we’re known & perceived in the physical world."
    -Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhD, Principal Renaissance Strategic Solutions

 

"'Technology' is the new horizontal. It is no longer a vertical industry, but is instead horizontal across all industries"
    -Seema Kumar, salesforce.com 

"The most successful technology products are the ones that are most seductive & win your discretionary time"
    -Elisa Schreiber, Hulu (she invented TEDEX)

"The sweet spot for successful tech companies right now is their ability to analyze and translate data into what  the end user does with it in their everyday lives. We need the analytical capability to go beyond number crunching and draw out deep insights that other people can't necessarily see"
    -Jennifer Larson, IBM

"Mobile is the greatest place to be right now for new businesses"
    -Seema Kumar, salesforce.com

Everything said by Anderson's Dean Judy Olian, who opened the conference and moderated several keynotes. I am a huge fan of Dean Olian's & she is a great advocate for women in business. I've heard her speak many times about where women should be vs. where we are, and she has the facts and figures to back up her message that more intelligent women should be in positions of power in business. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, do it!

Ladies, if you haven't joined Forte Foundation already, I highly recommend it. Whether you are pre-MBA or MBA, a women in business or just considering a career in business, check out more about the organization here, and enjoy!

XO from Anderson,
Ashley