This past Saturday I attended the Simmons School of Management Leadership Conference. EMC is one of the main corporate sponsors of the event.

Here’s my recap of how the day went for me:

Opening Remarks

In addition to the leaders of Simmons School of Management, leaders from the primary corporate sponsors gave the opening remarks. Bill Teuber, Vice Chairman of EMC, represented EMC. I really appreciated that he explained why he had a reason to be at a women’s conference. He talked about the strong women who have influenced him at home and in his career. He also talked about his understanding of this Chinese proverb:

Women hold up half the sky

He explained that organizations can’t get where they need to be if only half the sky is being held up. He spoke about how inclusion requires an unwavering focus from the top down, and tactically that requires programs, accountability, and patience. He also said that inclusion is an absolute priority at EMC.

Opening Plenary Session

The opening plenary session was given by Maxine Clark, Founder and CEO (actually CEB – Chief Executive Bear) of Build-a-Bear Workshops. Her idea to create Build-a-Bear was based on her childhood, her retail experience, and a coversation with her daughter. Her advice:

• Dream big, no matter what your business may be
• Do what you love and find the connections that bring innovation
• Create an environment so great things can happen
• If you try and fail but learn, it really isn’t a “mistake”
• One important skill she looks for in interviews in curiosity

Morning Concurrent Sessions

During the morning, there were five sessions to choose from. I chose a Leadership Seminar with Annie McKee. Overall, the session was good. Her message was to be a good, whole person if you want to be a good leader. I am going to write an entire post about things she said because I believe some of what she advises is quite dangerous to innovation. Her advice would would work if we actually lived in a flat world, where the culture was entirely homogenized. But we don’t, and actually our differences are what spark innovations. But more on that in another post…

Afternoon Plenary Session

After lunch, Charlayne Hunter-Gault spoke. She talked about her work working with the victims of violence against women in Africa. She began and ended by saying:

There has never been a time like this

She spoke several times about the suit of armour crafted for her by her grandparents and her community. She was given a first class sense of self, so that she had a form of protection when she had to walk through an angry mob to her dorm as one of the first African American women to attend the University of Georgia.

Afternoon Concurrent Sessions

Again in the afternoon there were five different sessions to choose from. I attended the Negotiation Workshop given by Mimi Donaldson. I was also lucky enough to be at the same lunch table with Mimi. She is very funny, and uses that humor to help you think about yourself in the topics she is discussing. She went over the six steps of negotation:

1. Prepare
2. Set Limits
3. Push the Pause Button
4. Listen
5. Be Clear
6. Close the deal

Closing Plenary Session

Diane Keaton gave the closing session. I really liked her session – she spoke about her career and how lucky she has been, and how all the big breaks were connected to each other. And how the first lucky thing that happened to her was to have had such a wonderful mother.

It made me think of my mom, and then made me wonder what kind of mother I have been for my children, and hope that I have given them a good start so that they can be very lucky.

There were other bloggers from EMC at the conference, I’ll post links once they post.