Power As Hammer: Gloria Feldt’s Book Launch On Intention, Power & Why Luck Is Not What You Need
L to R: Felicia Davis, Gloria Feldt and Alicia Ontiveros at Feldt’s book launch in Phoenix for Intentioning.
“As soon as we can talk about power as a hammer—you can break something with it or you can build something with it— we turn power into a generative, innovative, creative, positive idea as the power to,” says Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead at her live and virtual book launch for her latest book, Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone's) Good.
““As soon as we can talk about power as a hammer—you can build something with it— we turn power into a generative, innovative, creative, positive idea as the power to,” says @GloriaFeldt, co-founder and president of @Takeleadwomen at the launch for her latest book, #Intentioning.”
But that is only the beginning of a shift for women—and men—to move from “the old oppressive narrative” about fighting for “a piece of that pie,” to creating the life of leadership you intend.
“The next big question,” Feldt tells an in-person audience at Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix, Arizona and online, “is the power to do what? What is your purpose, what is your intention and how do you choose to use that power?”
““The next big question,” @GloriaFeldt tells an in-person audience at @Changinghands in Phoenix, Arizona and online, “is the power to do what? What is your purpose, what is your #intention and how do you choose to use that power?” #Intentioning”
With the book officially available September 28, Feldt says it comes at a time that is “a juxtaposition of two enormous issues; the COVID pandemic and one finally being recognized—the pandemic of racial injustice.” The timing, Feldt says, “made me rethink the context of intentioning. This is a time of rebirth and a time of disruption when people have to think differently.”
“@GloriaFeldt says her new book “Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good” comes at a time that is “a juxtaposition of two enormous issues; the COVID pandemic and one finally being recognized—the pandemic of racial injustice.” ”
Read more in Take The Lead on Intentioning
“Each of us is more than what we do,” Feldt says. “If we join together we can actually be able to achieve racial and gender parity in leadership in any of our lifetimes.”
““Each of us is more than what we do,” @GloriaFeldt says. “If we join together we can actually be able to achieve racial and #genderparity in leadership in any of our lifetimes.” #Intentioning #womenleaders”
Participating in a lively panel for the book launch are Alicia Ontiveros, filmmaker, 50 Women Can Change The World in Media & Entertainment alum, whose work, Feldt describes as at “the intersection of truth heritage and ritual;” Felicia Davis, founder, Black Women’s Collective and the creative force behind Take The Lead’s Academy for Advanced Leadership; Catherine Scrivano, founder of Casco Financial Group and member of Take The Lead’s Arizona Leadership Council; and Vada Manager, President and CEO of Manager Global Consulting Group, LLC, and former political advisor to an Arizona governor and Washington, D.C. mayor.
Davis, long-time facilitator of Take The Lead 50 Women Can Change The World cohorts, offers her insight into the possibility for achieving gender and racial parity by addressing the need for healing.
Watch the event live on Facebook
“We have to look individually how we have been harmed by the inequities and understand that until we go back to how we got our frame of reference on race and gender, it’s going to be impossible to heal,” Davis says.
In order to be a better leader, Davis says, each person has to “understand how I got my perspective on race and gender and how has that shaped me as a leader today, how I show up as a leader, how I support other people and who do I need to forgive.” Getting to that, she says, requires “big powerful, tough conversations, and expanding those conversation to people who don’t look like us.”
After the individual healing begins, then the work can begin collectively, Davis says. “Companies need to be more open to having tough conversations,” instead of the usual process of “deny, ignore, cover it up.”
“After the individual healing begins, then the work can begin collectively, Felicia Davis says. “Companies need to be more open to having tough conversations,” instead of the usual process of “deny, ignore, cover it up.” #corporateleadership #genderparity”
Read more in Take The Lead on Felicia Davis
Ontiveros, writer and director at Veros Productions, adds that she had an “aha” moment reading Feldt’s book, and one that centered on just two words. “How you know it’s a good book is there is a phrase that transports you into a trance,” says Ontiveros.
Those two words are, “Good luck.”
She adds, “At best they are useless and at worst they are diminishing and dismissive. I do not wish you good luck. You have everything you need. People at a bifurcation in life do not need to be reminded they are not in control.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Alicia Ontiveros
As tempting as it is to tell other women especially that you wish them good luck, Ontiveros says, “Tell them you believe in them, and they have what it takes to do what they want to do.”
“As tempting as it is to tell other women especially that you wish them good luck, Ontiveros says, writer and director at Veros Productions, “Tell them you believe in them, and they have what it takes to do what they want to do.” #womenleaders #careersuccess”
Manager, a former Nike exec and consultant to former Arizona Governor Rose Mofford and Sharon Pratt, the first Black woman mayor of Washington, D.C., says he has spent a lifetime learning from women mentors. “It’s about reciprocity and learning things,” Manager says.
Read more in Take The Lead on male partners in gender equity
“I watched how women elected officials were treated so differently,” Manager says. As a leader who describes himself as a “young woman dad,” he says, “It is important to take that energy back in a reciprocal sense. I advise the boards I sit on to try to have more women board members,” for instance.
Scrivano, founder of Casco Financial Group, says the impact of the gender pay gap is not just on women, but on the larger world. ”Money is a tool like a hammer,” she says.
“Making 80 cents for every white male’s dollar means we are spending less, saving less. We live longer, we tend to take a break in our career to care for family, so there’s a whole lot of numbers that affect women individually and the community,” she says.
Read more in Take The Lead on women in finance
After her father died when she was 8 years old, Scrivano says her mother struggled to raise her and her sister as a single parent. “That was the foundation for me, a spark for my life’s work.”
Her advice to younger women in their careers is, “in the beginning expect to be paid equally and be prepared to negotiate.” She adds, that for mid-career women as well, “This is critical. Expect to be compensated equally. We make our own damn luck.”
Davis adds that a lesson during COVID that she has learned is for everyone to “look for what’s missing in the organizational white space. Look for the opportunity no one else is addressing. Titles mean nothing, creativity is much more important than certainty.”
Ontiveros cautions that it is critical with those we mentor to “cultivate an abundance mindset.” COVID has resulted in a “scarcity mindset for a year and a half and we are slowly starting to come back,” she says.
“It is important to have that mindset and also to make sure boardrooms are less pale, male and stale,” Manager says.
Feldt adds, “I would like to inculcate in every person a sense of responsibility to the whole and the community, then we would become a richer society.”
““I would like to inculcate in every person a sense of responsibility to the whole and the community, then we would become a richer society,” said @GloriaFeldt at the launch of her new book, “Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good.””
Davis suggests, “We definitely need younger people to be open to innovation and to know their ideas and voice matter.”
At the close of the event, Feldt offers this call to action: ”The future is in your capable hands. Keep intentioning.”
“At the close of the launch event for her new book “Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good,” @GloriaFeldt offers this call to action: ”The future is in your capable hands. Keep intentioning.””
