Event wrap-up

Women Who Lead

May 1, 2019 | NEW YORK CITY

At the inaugural Women Who Lead event, peers joined together to actively participate, mentor, and embrace the challenges of being a female leader.

Joy Heath Rush, ILTA CEO, started the day by discussing the validity of Wonder Woman versus Black Widow and how we can all be leaders. If Black Widow could become a superhero through no birth right or radioactive contaminations, but through hard work and skill, we can all achieve anything with the right mindset. In addition to Joy, the day was led by Matt Homann, Founder & CEO at Filament, accompanied by Visual Facilitator Todd Bauman to illustrate the conversations and takeaways of the day.

Women Who Lead is a peer-focused workshop, with hands-on techniques for building your network and your confidence:

Share challenges with a like-minded group of "co-conspirators”
Gain insights from others who’ve solved the problems you’re facing
Engage one-on-one with experts from a "Leader Lending Library”
Learn to leverage the power of Unreasonable Requests to ask others for impossible things without facing the fear of rejection
Leave with a 90-day action plan to leverage your newfound network and to put your amazing ideas into practice

WWL featured five-minute snippets of inspiration from seven women at various points in their careers; there were concrete takeaways from every talk.

Here are some highlights (with our thanks!):

Karen Levy of Debevoise reminded us of the power of our emotional intelligence and encouraged us to be the swan and not to succumb to “you are not ____ enough” self talk - and she sets that standard of graciousness every day
Former ILTA President Cathy Reilly advised us to stop wondering how we got to the table and to instead focus on how we perform when at the table
Tanisha Little of Ropes & Gray - one of the many lawyers who attended the event - spoke passionately about the importance of mentoring and, especially, of finding a mentor who can help guide you in your next steps and not just point you to the mountain top
Victoria North of Kirkland reminded us to commit to current awareness and lifelong learning
Denton’s Jill Maganza-Ruiz challenged us to embrace generational differences rather than fear them
Brie Leung of GrowthPlay helped us recognize that each of us is an expert in our own right and can help and inform others
And ILTA VP of Conferences and Events Dawn Hudgins provided a brief chronicle of an extraordinary life of success that resulted from important failures

By the end of the day, the room was full of strong, empowered women (and some men) all speaking together, "I have some feedback for you..." They all agreed to give and receive feedback openly: feedback doesn't work unless you say you are giving it. People need to know where they stand. Feedback doesn't have to be intimidating. We need to empower each other.

BACK TO WRAP-UP PAGE

For mentoring to work, you have to be vulnerable. You have to talk about the hard things.
Tanisha Little, Ropes & Gray

Failure is so much more than about not reaching our goal; it is about learning. It is about extending our potential.
Dawn Hudgins, VP Events & Conferences, ILTA

You’re a woman and your emotion is your superpower. Use it to your advantage and not your disadvantage. Be mindful. Be the swan.
Karen Levy, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Women, you get to the table because someone decided you are smart. Don’t worry about that. Worry about how you succeed AT the table.
Cathy Reilly, Martin Clearwater & Bell LLP

When you listen, listen to understand. Not listen to respond.
Dawn Hudgins, VP Events & Conferences, ILTA

Listen to an on-site interview!

Click the link below to hear our interview with Michele Gossmeyer, ILTA Women Who Lead Advisory Council Member and Global Director, Information Governance, Risk and Compliance at Dentons. She shares why this event is important, event takeaways, and what else we can do to help women in legal technology.