On Tuesday, March 18, thirty Dallas SWE members and guests gathered at Abbot Diagnostics in Irving to meet and hear from Cary Broussard, author of From Cinderella to CEO, How to Master the 10 Lessons of Fairy Tales to Transform Your Work Life.
Attendees mingled with each other and Cary and enjoyed a selection of salads, pizzas, and desserts. Later, Cary began her presentation by introducing herself to the group, recounting a brief history of her experience as an executive in various roles at Wyndham Hotels where she was in charge of deploying a new marketing and branding campaign incorporating feedback from a key group of consumers: women business travelers. She now owns a consulting company, Broussard Global, which serves clients in the areas of diversity inclusion, brand management, and public relations.
Cary then gave several examples of historic and modern fairy tale characters to illustrate that although the identification of particular characters may change over time, fairy tales are universal across cultures and gender identity is a fundamental trait that we use to identify with those characters. She went on to explain how we can learn from fairy tale characters and use their traits in our own lives to cope with challengers at work and at home. These challenges might include a job loss, survivor’s guilt, health issues, or being “dumped” or marginalized by others. She encouraged us to be our own fairy tale characters by not waiting for things to be done for you: take the responsibility to do things yourself or, preferably, with others in order to achieve success!
We ended the evening with a Q&A session and group discussion about various modern fairy tale characters (TV and movie celebrities, high-profile CEOs, musicians, etc), how we might use a fairy tale trait to solve work-related problems, and how our culture differs from others in its valuation of women in business and politics. Cary said she would consider incorporating some of our feedback and discussion in her new book, a sequel to Cinderella to CEO!
Cary graciously provided several resources that she mentioned during her presentation where people can find more information about her and the research she used for her books. You can find links to these documents below:
- Broussard Global Backgrounder – More information about Broussard Global.
- “Creating Value for Women Business Travelers” – A study on how the perceptions and needs of women business travelers are changing the hotel industry.
- Mentor Training Guide: From Cinderella to CEO – A brief description of why it’s important for everyone to both have mentors and be a mentor, plus tips for getting the most out of your mentoring relationships.
- “Keeping America’s Women Moving Forward: They Key to an Economy Built to Last” – A report from the White House Council on Women and Girls published April 2012.
- “Women Matter: An Asian Perspective” – A culture-specific study by McKinsey & Co. on how gender diversity in the workplace raises corporate performance.
- “Women in Technology: Leaders of Tomorrow” – A report by Evolved Employer on responses to their Women in Technology survey from readers of The Glass Hammer.
Many thanks to Cary Broussard for sharing her insights, to Dallas SWE Vice President Barbara Read for coordinating this event, and to the fine people of Abbot Diagnostics for hosting our meeting!
Mark your calendars for these upcoming events!
March 29: Design Your World at the UNT Discovery Park in Denton. This event is SOLD OUT but Volunteers are still needed, so if you are interested in helping with registration, logistics, activity supervision, or clean-up please fill out the online Volunteer Response Form.
April 22: Professional Development meeting hosted by Dallas SWE sponsors Capital One at Jasper’s in Plano. More details and RSVP link to follow!
May 20: Tour of the AT&T Foundry in Plano – Joint event hosted by the Women of AT&T. More details and RSVP link to follow!