Issue 281 — November 25, 2024

Our editorial director and newsletter writer Michele Weldon is taking Thanksgiving week off, so I’m taking this space to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you. Many thanks for your support — whether as a donor, a participant in one of our leadership development programs, an attendee at an event, even talking with us on social media, or reading this newsletter. Your support has enabled Take The Lead to celebrate 10 years of impact. See what we have accomplished below.

(Scroll to the bottom if you just want my Potato Roll Recipe.)

But first, a brief comment from the Thanksgiving turkey (Michele might never let me take over the newsletter again):

“Things look different from where I sit. History is written from the perspective of the victor, and those who hold power. (That’s why women in history are so often overlooked.) How do you tell the story of Thanksgiving if you are an indigenous American? Or a turkey? Now there’s a topic for your Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving dinner table. Talk amongst yourselves.”

Now, here is Take The Lead’s top 10 accomplishments in our first 10 years, thanks to you.

To solve the problem of women being stuck at only 18% of upper leadership, I cofounded Take The Lead in 2014 with the mission to prepare, develop, inspire, and propel women of all diversities and intersectionalities to take their fair and equal share of leadership positions across all sectors by 2025.

While there were thousands of women’s leadership programs and endless discussions about disparities, clearly a different kind of leadership development program was needed, one that started with introspection and mindset, not just skill set, and definitely not one that simply taught women to lead like men.

In fact, the data was clear that women were the solution, not the problem. Companies with more women in leadership were more profitable. Political bodies with more women had better decision processes and got more done. Yet women weren’t walking through doors that had been opened for them by previous trailblazers.

My research, documented in my book No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power concluded that we had to address internal barriers as well the external and systemic ones. In fact, we needed to deal with the “enemy in our heads” first: our ambivalent relationship with power.

That was the impetus for Take The Lead. In our first decade, thanks to you, we:

Blasted into prominence with the Take The Lead launch on February 19th, 2014. In partnership with Arizona State University, we filled a 3000-seat auditorium and live-streamed to 500,000 globally.
Created research-based curriculum rooted in changing the power paradigm from oppressive power over to generative power TO. This enables women to embrace their power with authenticity, higher intentionality for leadership, and joy.
Launched an online course in 2014, years before online learning was as pervasive as it is now. We can now license it to companies, and can deliver the content in person, online, or hybrid. We just launched a version for entrepreneurs and one for women on organization career tracks.
Created a comprehensive program of training, coaching and cohort building, role models for inspiration, and thought leadership. We focus on solutions rather than admiring the problems.
Launched our unique most immersive program: 50 Women Can Change the World in Entrepreneurship. To date, we have delivered it to 10 cohorts, including nonprofits, healthcare, journalism, entrepreneurship, law, and media and entertainment. External evaluation found 40% of graduates received significant promotions or raises within 6 months of completion. 90% feel more powerful, and 100% would recommend it to others.
Delivered statewide women’s initiatives for executive women in Utah and Iowa.
Delivered Intentioning Mastermind Series for women in senior leadership.
Trained over 5,000 individuals and corporations, and reached over 1,500,000 with all programs combined including webinars and events.
Started an annual Power Up concert and conference in 2020. Now held on Women’s Equality Day, August 26th, every year — so mark your calendar for 2025.
Other notable events include Play Hockey Like a Girl, Powertopia, three podcast series, 10th anniversary virtual kickoff featuring Gloria Steinem, Jamia Wilson, and myself, and many collaborations with aligned organizations.

Women now hold 28% of top leadership positions. That’s an inflection point. Together, we can move farther and faster toward parity.

The past is just prologue: Here’s our plan for 2025:

It’s time to scale!

— **Deliver at least two cohorts of our immersive and most powerful **50 Women Can Change the World** program.

— **Grow the Community** with the Power Up Concert and Conference again on Women’s Equality Day August 26th in Washington DC and an innovative way for the 5,000 women who have benefitted from our programs to seed more events in their own communities.

— **Launch New Initiatives** in 2025, like the “Women, Wealth, and Power” summit and a series for small business owners in partnership with JP Morgan Chase.

— **Provide Innovative Content Delivery** including my digital twin, designed to make my knowledge base more accessible on demand.

When we work together, *we are unstoppable.* Contact us at gloria.feldt@taketheleadwomen.com to join up or sponsor.

Thank you again for making this possible.

If you’d like to get a jump on giving Tuesday and make a donation now, we’d be most grateful.

Nothing is more important right now, given the many setbacks women have had in the past year. Especially if you are feeling sad or angry about that, there is no better place to invest than women’s parity in power and leadership positions.

GLORIA FELDT is the Cofounder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker, a global expert in women’s leadership development and DEI for individuals and companies that want to build gender balance. She is a bestselling author of five books, most recently Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good. Honored as Forbes 50 Over 50, and Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Find her @GloriaFeldt on all social media.

PS. watch this spot for some unique and impactful Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and CyberMonday specials for gifting and for yourself.

Meanwhile, as promised, here’s that potato roll recipe:

The family classic- I got the recipe from a magazine, when I was striving to be the perfect Suzy Homemaker. I never quite measured up to that ideal, but this recipe turned out to be a keeper. It’s a family favorite as dinner rolls or cinnamon rolls. It freezes well.

The original Betty Crocker potato buds aren’t made any longer, but any potato flakes work ok.

You can double the recipe without compromising the outcome.

Dissolve two packages of active dry yeast in ½ cup of lukewarm water.
Heat 1 ½ cup of milk to a little more than lukewarm, and let a stick of butter melt in it. The milk should be lukewarm when you add the yeast. Too hot or cold and the yeast won’t rise properly.
Add the yeast, ¾ cup potato flakes, ½ cup sugar ½ cup of flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 egg. Beat till smooth. Cover and let rise till spongy, 30 minutes.
Beat in 4 cups more flour a cup at a time till smooth. Might need to add a little more to make a very soft and still sticky but workable dough. Cover and let rise about an hour till doubled. Melt a stick of butter in a 9” x 13” pan. Punch the dough down. Shape dough into large walnut size rolls, roll in the butter in the pan, place close together and cover with cloth; let rise again, 20–30 minutes till doubled again. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven, about 15 minutes or until brown on top.
For cinnamon rolls, roll out whatever portion of the dough you want to ¼ inch thick in a rectangle. Spread with butter and sprinkle white or brown sugar. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Add raisins or nuts if desired. Roll up from the long side, slice into one-inch rounds and dip into the melted butter in the pan, turn the cinnamon roll over so that the buttered side is on top. You can drizzle with powdered sugar icing once the rolls are baked and cooled. Personally, I like the plain cinnamon rolls.

Warning, these are addictive. Don’t think about how much butter you are consuming — it’s worth the cholesterol.

Enjoy!