My 3 Takeaways from a Conversation with Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
On March 9th, I was invited by Northeastern University’s Women Who Empower community to attend a conversation featuring Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Meghna Chakrabarti, Host and Editor of NPR’s On Point to celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.
During the conversation, we shared our visions on how women’s needs and leaderships continue to play major roles in the ever-changing politics, healthcare, and business environments. Feeling empowered by Pelosi, I would love to share my key takeaways and how the ways we choose to respond to unpredictable situations can help shape and set up our successes in the near future.
1. Your authenticity is your power.
It is always a good time to reflect on these questions as Pelosi asks the audience: What’s your package? What’s your why and your how? A few things to think about are your subject matter, your purpose, and your vision.
What? — What do you know about your subject? What is it that you can speak with some deep knowledge and judgment? It is important to know your power. You are the authentic YOU, no one can have the same contributions as you, such as your enthusiasm, education, and creative ideas.
Why? — Why are you doing what you do? Is it because you wake up feeling passionate about it? Or does it give you a sexy salary? Are these things going to matter for you 5-years or even decades from now on? Ultimately, it is essential that you continue to reflect on your choices & what you want to do with your life.
How? — What is your plan to achieve your goals? How do you show your plan and engage other people to be involved in your plan? Your authenticity is to care, to believe, and to get it done. It is vital that you are respectful of other people’s views as you build consensus to accomplish short & long-term goals.
Strengths Profile is a great online assessment that gives you a unique profile revealing your realized and unrealized strengths, learned behaviors, and weaknesses. (Free through the month of April 2020)
2. Don’t agonize, get organized!
Make a decision to win. Keep that momentum going by doing everything in favor of winning. Whether that be starting your day with journaling your thoughts, setting mini-deadlines to accomplish your action items, or reading a book/taking an online course in your passionate subject matter.
Some useful online and free learning platforms:
LinkedIn Learning (previously Lynda.com)
Learn to Code (General Assembly)
The Science of Well-Being (Yale University’s most popular course, other open Yale courses find here)
Other free & online classes offered by World’s Top Universities ranging from literature, psychology, business, design, computer science and more!
3. Diversity is our strength.
You need women representatives in all fields including but not limited to security, education, healthcare, politics, and economics which are also women’s issues. According to the World Health Organization, women make up 70 percent of workers in the health and social sector, and they do three times as much unpaid care work at home as men.
It is essential that gender-responsive policies are considered and implemented at both national and global levels. What we can do is start supporting the women around us. Young women are standing on our shoulders and we have the responsibility to make the path clear to them. Unity is our power.
I hope that during this time of uncertainty, we all take a step back and spend more time connecting with ourselves and others, reflecting on our values, passions, goals, strengths & weaknesses, as well as acquiring new habits and skills. As Pelosi explains to the audience, if you are in the arena, you need to be ready to take a punch, but also, PUNCH!
Sincerely,
Natasha H.
