Five Essential Leadership Lessons For Women

What leadership challenges do women face today? How have you forged a path to success? What advice would you give younger women who hope to become leaders in their fields?

I’ve been considering these questions and reflecting on my own career in the last few weeks, thanks to a group of women at Yale University who asked me to speak at their annual Women In Leadership Conference. About 200 young women gathered at the New Haven campus on Saturday to discuss women’s leadership, and I was tasked with sharing what I’ve learned as a woman in the media industry.

To get some context, I checked in with the Women’s Media Center to find out how women are faring today. The picture isn’t rosy. Men in media still earn 30% more than women in media. Women hold just one-third of full-time journalist positions and just a quarter of editor and top executive positions in the industry. In intellectual magazines, there are seven male bylines for every one female byline.

As in most fields, there are still fewer female voices at major publications and very few women at the top of media outlets. So how do we turn up the volume? I believe we start by individually taking ownership of our own success. These are my top leadership lessons, which I shared with the women of Yale last weekend, and share here to keep the conversation going. Read full article>>