Check out the link below for the USA Today article about "Presidential Brands."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2008-11-05-obama-favorite-brands_N.htm

As many of you know I have been a long time support of Hillary Clinton but I stepped up to Barack Obama and I'm glad I did.  He represents a new era for the United States and a true revolution in our thinking and our confidence.  I am so glad to see so many people reivigorated with a passion for America.  I look forward to a new day and a new era that we will all recognize as a new chapter in our history.

Renee

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan.  The purpose of my visit was to speak at the Impact Leadership Conference sponsored by GOLD along with Merrill Lynch and IBM. My role was to serve on a panel titled “21^st Century Leadership” with 4 high-powered Japanese leaders – CEO of Merrill Lynch in Japan, Chair Emeritus of Nissan and the CEO of Berlitz (former CEO if IBM Asia). Our comments related to the need for new ways of thinking and the roles of women in leadership. Interestingly the older Japanese speakers (one woman and one man) spoke of the need for women to “work harder" and that women have not stepped up. It seemed that the audience of 250 Japanese women did not agree. Although we were using simultaneous translation one could tell there was chagrin over the un-optimistic comments from the “old guard”. A fundamental tenet of women making the grade or moving up the ladder to hit the glass ceiling was taking on the tough jobs. Don’t shy away from the hard assignments and the long hours. In Japan that means 12 and 14 hour days and weekends. Clearly putting in the time is as important as results.

My comments stressed the value of diversity in thinking in the top ranks – being satisfied with consensus will leave a company behind. In fact we need different types of thinkers in new leaders. Recent neuroscience documents real brain differences and supports the value of social intelligence as vital to successful leaders (Harvard Business Review, September 2008). Living in a flat world we need to be able to understand the perspective of people across the globe and across generations. Managing the expectations of Gen X and Gen Y/Millennials seemed to strike a chord with the audience – but not with the elders… I suspect Japan is in for some rough times. Their population is aging and the birthrate has slowed. So they will have to turn to women or to imported workers as knowledge workers in the next decade. Women are the better choice.

Watching cultures raise concerns about women as managers and leaders is fascinating. It makes me see how far we have come and how much more progress we need to make. In all cases there is a need to accept “balance” and ways to accommodate the raising of children. Women will always put their children first and society needs to respect that. In the case of Japan, they will need to import nannies from other cultures (with inherent issues of dilution of the race). One solution is to use the seniors as certified caretakers for children - setting up nursery schools and neighborhood centers for pre-schoolers and after-school care. It can be done but the powers that be will have to see that there are no other options. After my short interchange one gets a clear sense that the purity of race argument extends to purity of biology across genders.

Hard-driving, polite and precise, the Japanese can be counted on for rigorous progress. But the need for tolerance and exploration as drivers to creativity seem to have been lost in translation.

Renee