Architects of Change

Ooh ooh, witchy woman, see how high she flies. Ooh, ooh witchy woman, she got the moon in her eyes.

The Eagles

Women take the lead

It had been several years since I attended the Women’s Conference (officially, The California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women), so I accepted an invitation to go as a guest of my friend, Annie Gilbar, Editor in Chief of the new Los Angeles Times Magazine, which was one of the sponsors of the event. Hosted annually by First Lady Maria Shriver, the conference is now 14,000 attendees strong, and has become the premier conference for women in the country.

This year’s program was all about empowering women to be “Architects of Change,” a phrase that resonated with me as it is so in tune with our book, Changing Lanes: Road Maps to Midlife Renewal.

Like this gathering, our book is designed to inspire women—actually both men and women—to live more authentically and to have a meaningful impact on the world. Similarly, the program reminded us “we are not alone in our quest to discover our true purpose, passion and power to change ourselves and the world around us.”

In the Governor and First Lady’s Welcome Letter, they asked what does living an authentic life mean to you?

“Does it mean starting a business you’ve always dreamed of or launching a non-profit organization in your neighborhood? Does it mean writing the next best seller or going back to school to finish your degree? Does it mean committing to spend more time with your children or deciding to have no children at all?...When we live authentic lives and pass that legacy on to others, we inspire others to do the same.” 

These are the very same themes Susan and I have been exploring in our book and in our weekly blogs . So I was particularly thrilled to participate in this year’s blockbuster event which boasted such stellar speakers and honorees as Madeline Albright, Lance Armstrong, Willow Bay, Bono, Campbell Brown, Marian Wright Edelman, Sally Field, Michael J. Fox, Leeza Gibbons, Jennifer Lopez, Bonnie Raitt, Russell Simmons, Gloria Steinem, Krista Tippett, and a host of others.

For this blog, I chose to capture a few moments which had me furiously writing notes so I would remember the gold nuggets I was hearing from genuine heroes of mine as I sat transfixed in the audience. Sometimes crying (Maria didn’t leave a dry eye in the house when she spoke about her relationship with her ailing mother, Eunice), sometimes laughing (Warren Buffet and the Governator going at it re the economy - see below), I mostly felt genuine awe as I listened to women who have taken the lead in making a difference. 

      “You want to buy stock in a company whose business is so good that even an idiot can run it—because someday he will.”
Warren Buffet

Christiane Amanpour

Born in Iran, Christane grew up in a privileged household with a mother who was a successful role model and showed her there were no limits to what a woman could achieve. Thirty years ago came the Revolution, and her family lost everything and escaped to the United States. Christiane believed that the “history of human civilization is built on story telling” and committed herself to use her voice in service to the truth. In 25 years at CNN, she has covered the world’s crises from Rwanda to Afghanistan, from Iraq to Sudan, often focusing on the ones who are impacted the most: women and children.

She teaches her 8 year old son, Darius, that “it’s about justice; not just us.” This is her philosophy which also underlies her exhortation to young people and indeed all of us “to use your success and power to change the world—to become an army of citizens—go out and spread a soft kind of power.”

She encourages us to travel and get engaged in the world, saying “It is important to be a citizen and not just inhabit our planet.”

Noting the decline in our national pride and our reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world over the last decade, she urges all of us to “take a chance—what more is there to lose?”

Condoleezza Rice and Indra Nooyi

Campbell Brown conducted an interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. Secretary Rice called herself “a failed piano major” who had zero clue what she would do with her life once she figured out she wasn’t talented enough to make concertizing her career. She knew she loved political science and rose to be the highest ranking woman in the administration. Her advice to us all is to “do what you love—it worked out for me.”

Her comments focused on the need to improve our K-12 education, noting in all seriousness that it is not only an education problem, but a national security issue. If our next generation is ill equipped to compete in the world, the country will turn inward and the U.S. will no longer lead.

Indra Nooyi talked about arriving from India to attend the Harvard Business School with only saris in her wardrobe. On her first interview, the only business suit she bought for this purpose had a “wardrobe malfunction” and she completed the interview in her sari. Somehow, she managed to wow everyone with her brilliance and her cool. And she rose very high indeed.

In keeping with the theme of the conference, Ms. Nooyi emphasized the importance of empowering women around the world. Using Afghanistan as an example, she reminded us that when the Taliban fell and women started to be educated again, the benefits didn’t just go to the individual families, but to entire villages. The multiplication impact of women’s empowerment is truly transformative.

These women are Architects of Change who inspire all of us, but they are by no means exceptional. In our book we called them Change Artists and you can read about them in Changing Lanes. There are women like these in every community already doing God’s work. Hopefully, there is an artist like these inside each of us.

Do you have a story about an Architect of Change? Your own story or one you’d like to share about someone you admire? We and our readers would love to hear from you.

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