Key Insights from Day 1 of WIL 2024 | The Women in Leadership Institute Kicks Off with 1,800 Women Leaders

The 2024 Women in Leadership Institute (WIL 2024) is here! WIL is in its 25th year.

This afternoon, we kicked off a four-day conference designed by and for women leaders. Continuing a tradition we began four years ago, we are meeting both in person in Orlando, Fla., and broadcasting live to women leaders around the world through our virtual platform. 

WIL’s Significance  

More than 1,800 women leaders will be joining us for a week focused exclusively on themselves and their own development. WIL is hosted by Linkage, a SHRM Company, and stands as a beacon for empowering women leaders globally. It serves as a crucial place for female professionals to converge, share experiences, gain knowledge, and build networks. 

Consider this: WIL 2024’s significance goes beyond mere participation; its impact creates a ripple effect that impacts workplaces and communities. Attendees will return to their organizations with renewed vigor and innovative ideas, poised to drive change and inspire others.

The Women in the Workplace 2024 report from Lean In and McKinsey & Company stated, “Over the past 10 years, women's representation has increased at every level. Most notably, women today make up 29 percent of C-suite positions, compared to just 17 percent in 2015. But progress has been much slower earlier in the pipeline, at the entry and manager levels.”

That’s why WIL is so powerful. Above all, the WIL experience is about community. Over the next four days, passionate and engaged women leaders will come together to share insights and learn from one another, but they will also become friends, mentors, allies, and champions for one another. 

As we come together for a week of learning, we will:

• Foster connections with like-minded individuals to access resources and support.
• Build professional networks to enhance leadership capabilities.
• Return to workplaces as champions of change, promoting inclusion and diversity.

WIL is all about your empowerment as a woman leader—what could be more impactful than that?

Be sure to follow along on the SHRM Business site for coverage from each day of the conference and follow Linkage on social media for in-the-moment insights.

 

Highlights from Day One Speakers

The first day of WIL 2024 was a compelling blend of inspiration and strategy, setting a powerful tone for the week. Starla Sampaco, an Emmy-nominated journalist, opened the event with eloquent remarks emphasizing the importance of unity among women leaders and the potential for collaborative growth through solidarity. Then, the group heard from two impactful keynote speakers.
 

TAMLA OATES-FORNEY DISCUSSING PURPOSE AT HEART

“You have the power to choose … Choose to show up with presence and passion. Choose to reflect the best of who you are in everything you were created to be.”

Tamla Oates-Forney is the new CEO of Linkage and a two-time CHRO with over 30 years of experience in the corporate world who has overcome hurdles to advancement. She shared the heart-stopping details of a life event that realigned her purpose and inspired her to help lead the way for women in the workplace.

Oates-Forney shared some key insights, including:

• Clarity emerges with time. The pathway to your purpose unfolds gradually. Every experience and every challenge will guide you closer to what you are meant to do. 
• It’s not going to be easy. Living in your purpose will not be easy. You will not always love your job—and some days, you may even hate it. But once you find your calling, you’ll feel a profound sense of fulfillment that makes every struggle worthwhile.  
• Choose wisely. Your partners—in life and the workplace—can propel or poison you. Choose wisely. 
• It’s not about you! Finding your purpose is not about you. True purpose is not self-centered, it is about how you can help others. The best leaders lift people up as they climb.
• Community is your superpower. Success is a team sport. You can’t do it alone. There is strength in community and power in collective efforts. Knowledge must be shared.
  
  

 “Taking care of yourself is a huge part of your career story. Taking care of yourself is the most important role you have.”
 

SHANNON BAYER ON ‘BE AWARE’: MASTER YOUR INNER CRITIC TO RID YOURSELF OF INTERNAL BIAS AND REALIZE YOUR CONFIDENCE 

“We can find compassion for other humans, but can you find compassion for yourself? We are our own worst critics sometimes.”

Do you seek and utilize reflective and in-the-moment self-knowledge? Do you recognize the value you bring? 

The framework for mastering your inner critic starts with being “Aware”. Your ability to understand yourself and stay in tune with your values and your needs is critical. Aware leaders are open-minded in thinking about their capability and potential to achieve. They don’t put limits on what is possible. They know how to best leverage their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses in order to achieve goals. And they keenly consider the impact their behavior has on others. Because of this, they control and filter their emotions in a constructive manner, empowering others around them to grow in a healthy environment—and letting themselves thrive.

Shannon Bayer, principal consultant at Linkage, shared her insights on one of the most prominent hurdles to women’s advancement in the workplace, the inner critic. This hurdle is especially important as we navigate juggling both our personal and our professional responsibilities.  

The inner critic is the voice in our head that, when unmanaged, causes us to speak or act in a way that is “one up”—better than others—or “one down”—judgmental of ourselves. These feelings negatively impact our relationships, our brand, our outcomes, and even our career aspirations.

Bayer presented the following tips for managing your inner critic: 

• Identify which factors in your environment trigger your inner critic. When we develop awareness, we can learn to manage the noise in our head that can lead to chaos in our lives. But it’s not easy—developing self-awareness takes an enormous amount of energy. It requires you to care about your impact on others and your impact on yourself.
• Recognize that your emotions drive your actions. Leadership begins with the individual. We must understand ourselves to lead effectively and to navigate the hurdles that impact us as women leaders.
• Return to your “Compassionate Center,” your core foundation of self-kindness where you are worthy and able to fully realize your potential, with four simple steps:
  1. Become aware—notice your inner critic and what triggers it, along with the physical and mental signs that it is active.
  2. Push pause—stop doing and start thinking.
  3. Be compassionate—be kind to yourself and others.
  4. Get curious—ask yourself: “What’s going on here?”
• Accept that the inner critic is not static. It often bounces between one up and one down, even in the same conversation. The inner critic wants to take you to extremes, but the goal is Compassionate Center.
• Remember that the practice of returning to your Compassionate Center is ongoing. Compassion is not just about what we give others—it’s what we allow ourselves to receive. Strive for your best effort, not perfection. Can you give yourself grace?
• Practice shifting from an inner critic to an inner coach. Harness your full potential and bring out the potential of others by leading with curiosity instead of simply reacting to situations.
  
  

“If we can pause to give ourselves compassion, only then can we act.”

What’s next at WIL 2024?  

Tomorrow, women leaders in attendance will hear from Carla Harris on the “Inspiring” competency and Magie Cook on the “Clear” competency. Be sure to follow along on the SHRM Business site for coverage from each day of the conference and follow Linkage on social media for in-the-moment insights.

WIL 2024 is taking place Nov. 11-14, 2024.