This morning right after an important conference call with a client I was honored to get an email from DiversityPlus Magazine: CONGRATULATIONS!!! After careful consideration you were selected as one of the 2012 Top 25 Women in Power Impacting Diversity and a profile of your accomplishments will be featured in the May/June Issue of DiversityPlus Magazine and distributed at the Women Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) conference in June in Orlando, FL.
Now that’s WordFood of the highest order. I do work in this world and count myself fortunate to try to make a difference for folks who want to sell to big companies. I also train employees who are members of network groups in huge corporations. But as an entrepreneur you don’t expect to get noticed. The people who usually do are the Chief Diversity Officers of these huge corporations who have the budgets to do big things for a lot of people.
But here’s the real hero. It’s people like Paul Lachhu at Diversity Plus who work so hard to make sure others get noticed too- that there are people in the field doing good work in addition to these powerful corporations. Thanks to Paul for helping get my name in the mix but especially for all the very hard work he does all year to uplift the diverse companies and suppliers that he meets and admires and believes in. He’s the one that should be getting an award. My thanks to his magazine and to this wonderful man for all that he does in the diversity industry that has done so much for so many. Kudos to you for your dedication.
This week I was in New York City at a huge formal bash. It was a big black tie event put on by the National Minority Supplier Development Council and everyone was dressed to the nines. I had flown in from Denver, where we are pretty casual much of the time, and I was having a lot of fun being surrounded by all these women in flowing gowns and men in their sharp tuxedos.
About halfway through the evening I was working my way through the tables and came across a woman in a particularly stunning dress – it crisscrossed her body and made her look like a million bucks. She was facing away from me, and I touched her arm to get her attention. “You look absolutely amazing in that dress,” I told her. “You’re a complete knockout.” Her face lit up. “I really needed to hear that,” she said. She went on to tell me that she doesn’t hear that kind of thing enough- and that my compliment made her feel really good.
Women can sometimes be a little catty with each other, especially about appearances. “That dress is too tight,” “Her makeup is too theatrical,” comments that tear each other down behind our backs. What we all need from each other is support and love: outright support, acknowledgment face to face. I love to compliment women: on their clothing, their hair, their strong arms, everything about them. What their warm reactions teach me is how hungry we all are for acknowledgement. We want to be seen for how hard we work to be pretty or handsome or to do well.
Those seconds it took to give this lovely woman a kind word made ME feel like a million dollars that night. The gift was to me as much as to her for her graciousness. It’s a constant reminder of how powerful our WordFood can be.
