The Energy Within Us. A wide-ranging discussion about the upbringing and developmental experiences of four pioneering corporate leaders

Welcome to Episode 26, Season 7, of the Leadership Lyceum: A CEO's Virtual Mentor^®. This episode coupled with the prior Episode 25 on Overcoming Homophily forms two episodes themed to span both Black History Month and Women’s History Month.

I'm joined in this program by four of five women who on May 1^st, 2019, published together a collective autobiographical book titled The Energy Within Us. It is their stories across the arc of their lives from childhood environments and experiences that shaped them to, and through, their long careers in executive leadership roles in the energy industry. These women have a great deal in common. They're all dear friends. They're all accomplished executive leaders in the energy industry and their careers. They're all giving back by serving broader leadership roles in corporate and non-for-profit boardrooms and social service organizations. They all have unbounded generosity of spirit. And they all, as you will hear, exude the energy within themselves.

The discursive style of our interview revealed a wealth of advice for current and future business leaders especially in the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Topics covered include – role models, mentors and coaches, courage to challenge the status quo and hold leaders accountable, assumptions and misunderstandings, barriers to developing instrumental networks and receiving developmental feedback.

Program Guide

A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 26

The Energy Within Us

A wide-ranging discussion about the upbringing and developmental experiences of four pioneering corporate leaders

0:00  Introduction to the program and to guests and authors Telisa Toliver, Carolyn Green, Joyce Hayes Giles, and Hilda Pinnix-Ragland.

2:54    Part 1: What motivated the authors to write their autobiographies?

15:04    Break 1

15:43    Part 2: Upbringing, Environment, and Foundational Experiences

15:49    Author Joyce Hayes Giles and segregated Mississippi

22:01    Background on Medgar Evers

24:00    Audio clip of speech of Medgar Evers

27:56    Audio clip of speech of Myrlie Evers Williams

31:35    Break 2

31:51    Author Hilda Pinnix-Ragland and the North Carolina farming community

36:49    Author Telisa Toliver and growing up in white communities in Oklahoma

43:08    Break 3

43:32    Part 3 Formative Decisions, Influencers, and Mentors

52:15    What is misunderstood about people?

56:02    Break 4

56:46    Part 4 Barriers to Professional Development: Forming Instrumental Networks and Critical Feedback and Coaching.

1:09:24    Break 5

1:09:42    Part 5: Conclusion and Closing Comments and Advice from the Authors

1:12:51    End of Program and Preview of Episode 27, a primer on the regulatory construct that regulated utilities operate within.

We would like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that enable us to bring you this podcast.

 Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

See you next time.

 

Informative and Helpful Links 

Amazon Link to the book. The Energy Within Us

 https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Within-Illuminating-Perspective-Trailblazers/dp/1945875615

Links to Biographies of Guests

 Joyce Hayes Giles

https://dpsfdn.org/about/board-and-staff/joyce-hayes-giles-2/ 

Carolyn Green

https://www.ase.org/biography/carolyn-green

Telisa Toliver

 https://www.aabe.org/docs/pages/19/file/Toliver%20-%20Short%20Bio%202013.pdf

Hilda Pinnix Ragland

 https://www.aabe.org/docs/fck/file/Leadership%20Profile%20-%20Hilda%20Pinnix%20Ragland.DOC

Your host Thomas B. Linquist is the Founder and Managing Director of Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions. Over his 18 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of corporate clients.  This includes leadership assessment and search for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and boards of directors.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and over his 32-year career has served in a variety of roles: as an engineer with Shell Oil Company, a banker with ABN AMRO Bank, and as treasurer was the youngest corporate officer in the 150+ year history at Peoples Energy Company in Chicago.  He is an expert on hiring and promotion decisions and leadership development.  Over the course of his search career, he has interviewed thousands of leaders.

Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Please rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.

Program Disclaimer

The only purpose of the podcast is to educate, inform and entertain. The information shared is based on the collection of experiences of each of the guests interviewed and should not be considered or substituted for professional advice. Guests who speak in this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and neither The Leadership Lyceum LLC nor any company providing financial support endorses or opposes any particular content, recommendation or methodology discussed in this podcast. 

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Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Please rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.

 

This podcast Leadership Lyceum: A CEO’s Virtual Mentor has been a production of The Leadership Lyceum LLC. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.