The Whale Hunting Women Summit in Indianapolis was a great success on Thursday June 4. More than 175 awesome business and professional women attended, with some very self-assured men in our midst!
In a new format this year, we had two sessions of “voices and vignettes,” each featuring three women talking about one or more big deals in their lives and how they handled both the adversity and the opportunity. We also had two keynote speakers (plus me!).
I wanted to share my most memorable take-aways from these women, who spoke from their hearts and their experiences about how they’ve done deals in big business and small business and sales and community, as entrepreneurs, philanthropists, sales professionals, speakers, and educators.
The deals they’ve done are very diverse–taking on new careers, launching new businesses, building and turning around nonprofit community organizations–building things, raising money, creating powerful partnerships.
These are five themes that I heard over and over, from the lives of whale hunting women:
1. “Can’t” is a catalyst
When someone else says “you can’t” – whale hunting women have transformed that negative feedback into a fierce motivation to complete a goal. The closer to you that person is, perhaps the stronger is your motivation to prove the prophecy wrong.
2. “Shouldn’t” is a spark
Often the people closest to you are afraid of what will happen to them if you succeed; hence they encourage you not to try. Whale hunting women have transformed the “should not” into a powerful “must.”
3. “Boat” is a blessing
The Whale Hunters use the metaphor of “the boat” to indicate those co-workers, friends, and supporters who are on board to support you in landing a big deal. Whale hunting women populate and launch their boats. You cannot hunt whales alone!
4. Learning is Leverage
Our speakers have a very wide range of formal education, from almost none to a whole lot. Most of them have changed careers several times. In every case, they sought out new learning opportunities, applied to their needs, and self-directed–including formal and informal learning and training.
5. Despair breeds determination.
We heard some stories of times of true despair–women who faced physical danger, who dealt with economic ruin, who were betrayed by people they trusted. In these stories of survival, women were able to channel their despair into a determination to change their circumstances.
As I look back at these lessons, I am struck by how often there was a very negative event or circumstance that inspired a woman to take a bold new step, regardless of her fear or negative feedback.
So in these scary economic times, if you are grappling with any demons or big-stretch opportunities, take heart from the whale hunting women who shared their stories to inspire others.
Soon we will have video and still photos of the Summit to share with you.
