Leading Ladies: College Women’s Top Tweets

I was honored to be asked to co-host a Twitter Chat about leadership.

Co-hosted by Cornell University, the online “conversation” was all about women and leadership. The group was small and lively. My co-cost, Michele Williams, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Industrial and Labor Relations School, tweeted out questions related to passion versus profits, role models, personal branding, self-care, internships, and more.

The students and other participants responded openly, many of them posting their own experiences, inspirational memes and recommended reading.

You can see the complete transcript just by going to Twitter and searching for #cuwomenlead. (It was also National Puppy Day, which was also a popular hashtag…hard to compete with that one! Little dogs are just so damned cute.)

My big takeaways:

1. Twitter Chats are a great way to take the pulse of a targeted audience. It’s a far cry from the focus groups of my generation, and a much more immediate and spontaneous feedback system.
2. The next-generation of women leaders are very aware of the pay gap and are looking for ways to close it and earn what they are worth.
3. Their role models range from Beyonce (Thank you ladies of @getbooker for your great GIF!) to Hillary Clinton.
4. How to balance ones passion with ones pocketbook is a big question for these women. They are looking for ways to do what they love and still be able to support themselves as adults.
5. Speaking of balance, they are already thinking about how they are going to juggle family and friends (and possibly children)with a busy work life. They are studying the paths of other successful women and seeking out role models and mentors.
6. They are learning how to make connections — both in real life and in the digital space. (It should be a college course!) They want to know what types of internships will teach them the most and they are not afraid to experiment and experience. It was a fearless group!
7. Self-care is important to them. They understand the importance of physical health (food, sleep, exercise) and mental health (forgiving oneself for mistakes) in being a strong and effective leader.

But, best of all, they understand the power of gratitude and community. In those short 55 minutes (I had to leave for a meeting five minutes before the Chat ended), we all felt as if we had formed our own little digital sisterhood and support system. Again, thank you Michele and everyone who participated!

You go girls!  You can tweet at me any time!