Last Friday I was totally inspired at the Columbia Women in Business annual conference. What struck me most was the forward thinking tone. The logo for the conference was a phoenix. And it was called Redefining Business, Reinventing Yourself. Having transitioned in the last couple of years from a very traditional business school/corporate experience, I was thrilled to see a shift towards creating space for newness. The panel discussion I liked most was called Push: Remembering Power, Courage and Dreams in a Challenging Economy. The speakers were highly successful women in their fields. Each had a different story of pushing to the top. But what they all had in common was a love for what they do, incredible self-knowledge, and determination. What they also had was the meta-view, or view from above. These women are visionaries. They don’t sit around trying to figure out how to create the next IPod; that is in the past. These women create a void to let ideas and knowledge come. From that, new ideas are created. I am so looking forward to seeing the major new ideas and trends that come as a result of the recession we are in; I believe so much that learning comes from being in action and creating the space for ideas.
