Smart Business Magazine, August 2018

20 Smart Business Cleveland August 2018 SMART WOMEN MARGARET MITCHELL Whats your superpower Issues evolve but strong leadership remains critical to finding solutions Its something Ive been reflecting on recently as my organization the YWCA celebrates its 150th anniversary this year As a pioneering leader in race relations labor and the empowerment of women the YWCA has seen and fought for a lot To name some things Womens right to vote Workers rights including the eight hour workday Interracial cooperation and civil rights Women and people of color have come a long way throughout history and of course there is still so much to do Leadership is critical to staring down societal problems and fighting for solutions and its part of the YWCAs legacy Its also why Im so passionate about leadership what it takes to find personal leadership and how we can develop leaders within our communities that will continue to overcome the challenges that lay before us Police brutality Poverty and homelessness And the systemic racism that undergirds numerous societal issues Leaders from across the spectrum but especially those from underrepresented communities and backgrounds are essential in the work we have before us In the YWCAs work in leadership development a question I often ask of the women who come through our doors is this What is your leadership superpower What is that special skill that enables you to bring people together and move forward The answers I hear vary and theyre not always concrete skills They can be nebulous its the positive things people say about you when youre not in the room Its why people want you on their team I have found that my own personal leadership superpower is diplomacy Its the ability to bring people and perspectives together to find success where perhaps just one person may have seen a question mark or gray area And while leadership superpowers can be applied to numerous different contexts I find that social justice is an area where they can have the biggest impact Its taken generations of women discovering their leadership voice and talents and to apply them to situations where progress seemed impossible to overcome some of historys greatest societal challenges It seems absurd to us now that there existed a time when women lacked the right to vote We ought to envision a day when widespread homelessness and systemic racism in our communities are viewed similarly But we cant just envision it We must fight every day to get there And it will take the continuous development of community leaders to make it happen What were our communitys most pressing issues 20 years ago 50 100 The answers are wide and varied and looking back upon some of them it can be difficult to comprehend a society where those problems existed MARGARET MITCHELL President and CEO YWCA Greater Cleveland Since 2011 Margaret has made an impact by building her leadership team completing a strategic plan and setting the agency on a new performance management course that delivers measurable proven outcomes She is the author of 12 books and a graduate of Hampton University She is also a 2011 graduate of Leadership Cleveland mmitchell@ ywcaofcleveland org 216 881 6878 www ywcaofcleveland org