The Ambition Gap: Why Women Are Advancing Less—And What Leaders Can Do About It
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
Release Date: 03/04/2026
Life After Cars: Redesigning Cities for People
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
What if the way we move is shaping the way we live — but not for the better? Join us with the authors of the new national bestselling book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, and the hosts of the acclaimed podcast "The War on Cars" for a bold conversation about how automobiles have transformed cities, communities, and the climate — and what it might take to imagine a future beyond car dependency. Drawing on decades of advocacy, journalism, and urbanist insight, Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon unpack the costs of car culture — from divided...
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Ohio's Data Center Debate
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
Central Ohio has become a magnet for data center development, drawing global tech companies and fueling economic growth. But as these massive facilities expand, communities are grappling with big questions about energy demand, land use, infrastructure strain, and environmental impact. Leaders from industry, government, and academia explore the real trade-offs—and what it will take to balance growth with sustainability in one of the region’s fastest-growing sectors. Featuring: Ryan Augsburger, President, The Ohio Manufacturers' Association Dr. Jeffrey Bielicki, Associate Faculty...
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Older Adults Are Aging Right Into Homelessness
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
Across Central Ohio, more older adults are facing housing instability as rents outpace fixed incomes and affordable housing falls short. A local experimental program offering just $330 a month in rental support showed striking results—improved financial stability, health, and overall well-being. Can simple, cost-effective solutions like this scale up to prevent homelessness and strengthen Central Ohio communities? Featuring: Shannon Isom, President and CEO, The Community Shelter Board Tiara Ross, Columbus City Councilmember Marisa Sheldon, Director, Age-Friendly Innovation Center, The...
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The Race for Ohio’s Economic Future
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
It’s no secret that Ohio is a fierce—and successful—economic competitor. But the state now faces pressing questions about its ability to remain competitive in a rapidly changing national and global landscape. With slowing population growth, workforce shortages, trade and tariff uncertainty, and the added strain of constricted international immigration, Ohio’s economic trajectory is at a crossroads. We’ll unpack the powerful forces shaping the state’s economic future—from talent pipelines and demographic shifts to infrastructure demands and the race to secure...
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Primal Intelligence: The Human Edge in an AI World
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
AI is getting smarter. But are we? What if the future doesn’t belong to people who can out-calculate machines—but to people who can out-imagine them? In a world dominated by algorithms and automation, what makes us irreplaceably human? According to this week's special forum guest, the answer isn’t logic—it’s something more powerful: imagination, intuition, and emotional resilience. Featuring: Angus Fletcher, Professor, Department of English and Story Science, The Ohio State University, and Author, "Primal Intelligence" (Penguin Random House, 2025) Your host is Suraj Hinduja,...
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The War Within a War: Wil Haygood on Race, Vietnam, and America’s Reckoning
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
What did the Vietnam War reveal about race, democracy, and the unfinished struggle for equality in America? In this powerful Columbus Metropolitan Club forum, acclaimed journalist, professor, author, and Columbus native Wil Haygood discusses his new best-selling book, The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home, and examines the experiences of Black Americans who fought for freedom overseas while demanding justice at home. Through vivid storytelling and deep historical insight, this conversation connects the legacy of Vietnam to the racial and political reckonings...
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The Power of the Arts in a Changing City: A Conversation with GCAC's Mitch Menchaca
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
This candid 1:1 conversation features Mitch Menchaca, the newly appointed CEO of the Greater Columbus Arts Council, as he shares his unexpected journey from the stages of Arizona to leading arts policy in Phoenix—to now shaping the creative future of Columbus. Once a visitor who thought there might be “nothing to do” in Columbus, Mitch returns to a transformed city he’s fallen in love with, ready to build on GCAC’s momentum at a time of challenge and opportunity. With decades of national leadership experience, a passion for public art, and a vision for equitable cultural investment...
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When Staying in School Takes More Than School
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
Behind every report card is a bigger story. For many Central Ohio students, poverty, trauma, food insecurity, housing instability, and citizenship status create barriers to learning that schools can’t solve alone. In this Columbus Metropolitan Club forum, leaders in education and student support unpack what’s driving chronic absenteeism, why it matters for graduation and workforce readiness, and what it takes to keep students connected to school. Featuring: Valerie Kunze, Chief of Family Engagement and School Partnerships, Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Adero Robinson, CEO,...
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The Ambition Gap: Why Women Are Advancing Less—And What Leaders Can Do About It
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
A new study, , reports a troubling reversal: stalled early advancement, declining company commitment, and a new ambition gap as fewer women aspire to promotion than men for the first time in a decade. In a fast growing Central Ohio economy, this Columbus Metropolitan Club forum asks: are women being left behind just as opportunity expands? New research from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org shows that only 80% of women now aspire to promotion, compared with 86% of men—a reversal of long-standing trends. Yet the data tells a more hopeful story as well: when women receive the same...
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Braids, Business, and Belonging: Black Hair and Identity in Columbus
The Columbus Metropolitan Club
Hair is never just hair—it’s history, artistry, and identity woven together. Inspired by the upcoming production of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (at the Contemporary Theatre of Ohio, March 5–22, 2026), this forum invites you into a conversation about the cultural, economic, and social significance of African hair braiding and the stories braided into every strand. Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, written by Ohio State University graduate Jocelyn Bioh, follows West African women building lives inside a Harlem salon. African hair braiding is more than a beauty practice; it is a tradition...
info_outlineA new study, Women in the Workplace 2025, reports a troubling reversal: stalled early advancement, declining company commitment, and a new ambition gap as fewer women aspire to promotion than men for the first time in a decade. In a fast growing Central Ohio economy, this Columbus Metropolitan Club forum asks: are women being left behind just as opportunity expands?
New research from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org shows that only 80% of women now aspire to promotion, compared with 86% of men—a reversal of long-standing trends. Yet the data tells a more hopeful story as well: when women receive the same sponsorship, support, and clarity about advancement as their male peers, the ambition gap disappears entirely. The problem, it turns out, may not be women’s ambition—but workplaces that make ambition harder to sustain.
Leaders from business and the nonprofit sector discuss what is driving the ambition gap, why it disappears when women receive equal sponsorship and support, and what leaders can do to build workplaces where women can advance.
Featuring:
Michelle Bryant, Partner, McKinsey and Company
Dr. Pamela Gregory, Owner and CFO, National Center for Urban Solutions
Kelley Griesmer, President and CEO, The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio
Lillian Morales Laster, Executive Director, Empowering Latinas Leadership Academy
The host is Margaret D Finley, President, Central Ohio Belonging Consortium.
This forum was made possible by the Mary Lazarus Legacy in Civic Engagement Fund and was sponsored by Advanced Drainage Systems, Event Marketing Strategies, and The New Directions Career Center.
The presenting sponsor of the CMC livestream was The Center for Human Kindness at the Columbus Foundation. CMC's livestream partner was The Columbus Dispatch.
If you’d like to keep exploring this week’s forum topic, our friends at The Columbus Metropolitan Library recommend reading This Isn't Working: How Working Women Can Overcome Stress, Guilt, and Overload to Find True Success by Meghan French Dunbar (2025).
This forum was recorded before a live audience at The National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus Ohio on March 4, 2026.