NFWL Newsletter – January 2015



Thursday, January 1st, 2015


Happy New Year!

Dear Members,

Though the 2015 year has just begun, NFWL is already in the midst of planning events from now until our Annual Conference taking place September 11-15 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma!

NFWL’s #1 priority for this year is to give everyone of our elected women an opportunity to be engaged with the organization. We feel the more people we have involved, the more successful and beneficial NFWL will be! We have current opportunities for you to join one of our various committees, or becoming a State Director!

If you are interested, please contact Allison Jensen at 703-518-7931 or allison@womenlegislators.org.


2015 Board of Directors

Click on each of the Board Members’ names to find out more about them.

newsletter-graphic-board-of-directors


Dome Tours

Dome Tours are a great way to reach out to the elected women in your state to tell them about NFWL. NFWL Chair Senator Diane Allen comes for a breakfast, lunch or evening reception in or near the state capital. It’s informal and fun.

Last year, Senator Allen toured the country, meeting with the state/local women legislators at six Dome Tour stops. For 2015, Senator Allen has set “10 Dome Tours” as the goal to reach between now and the time our Annual Conference kicks off September 11-15!

Contact Allison Jensen at allison@womenlegislators.org if you’re interested in a Dome Tour in your state.

SAVE THE DATE:

Thursday, February 19th,
8:30-10am Breakfast

Soloman Blatt Building, Rm 305
1105 Pendleton Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Hosts: SC State Director Senator Katrina Shealy, NFWL Immediate Past Chair Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson and 2014 NFWL Elected Woman of Excellence Representative Mandy Powers Norrell

Wednesday, April 1st, 5:30-7:30pm Reception

Florida Historic Capitol, Room TBD
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399

Hosts: NFWL Chair of International Outreach Representative Gayle Harrell and FL State Director Representative Holly Raschein

Tuesday, April 7th, 5:30-7:30pm Reception

North Carolina Museum of History
5 East Edenton Street
Raleigh, NC 27601

Host: NC State Director Representative Rosa Gill, Representative Pat Hurley, Representative Bobbie Richardson and Senator Tamara Barringer
Sponsored By: Reynolds American Inc.


Leadership Development

Earlier this month, NFWL’s Leadership Coach Lisa Earle McLeod of McLeod and More shared her thoughts on why metrics-driven leadership just doesn’t work!

“When you try to manage by the numbers, be they test scores, sales activity, or productivity measures, you drive towards mediocrity. Quantitative (numerical) measurements alone will never make an organization great, because it is the qualitative (non numerical) elements of performance that achieve greatness.”

Lisa states the 3 reasons organizations tend to focus exclusively on numerical measures:

1: Lack of Trust in Management

2: Fear about Fairness

3: Nuance is hard

“We default to the easy to understand quantitative elements, while completely ignoring the more nuanced qualitative elements. Yet it’s qualitative elements like emotional engagement, passion, and purpose that are critical drivers of success and satisfaction.”

You can read the full article here.


Women in Politics:
Location, Location, Location.

Once again disproving the notion that the gender gap in politics is simply due to a lack of political ambition in women, an upcoming Yale doctoral paper suggests that, for women more than men, a huge factor in deciding to run for their state legislature is location.

Rachel Silbermann’s research showed that when presented with a hypothetical, women were twice as likely to decide to run for their state legislature if their capital was close by. Whether or not this distinction is due to family responsibilities as John Sides at the Washington Post suggests, one thing is clear. Women in districts that were farther from their capital were no less likely to run for their more local elected offices, proving that a lack of political ambition in women cannot account for this correlation.

Read more on this here.

Related Articles:

The Gender Gap in Political Ambition

Girls Just Wanna Not Run


Follow Us on Social Media: