Key Insights from Day 2 of WIL 2024 | Keynotes from Carla Harris and Magie Cook

It’s day two of the Women in Leadership Institute (WIL 2024), and the insights we are gaining from the Main Stage are simply life-changing.

Today, we heard from Carla Harris and Magie Cook, two exceptional women leaders whose thought-provoking insights have the power to change the way we approach life and leadership.

We also hosted our annual Intersectionality & Advancement in the Workplace panel, which featured an inspiring, diverse cohort of women leaders who shared their experiences in the corporate world and outlined how leaders can model better allyship in the workplace. 

Miss our #WILInstitute Day 1 highlights? Check out the recap here and be sure to follow along on social media for in-the-moment coverage.

Highlights from Day 2 Speakers

CARLA HARRIS ON ‘BE INSPIRING: MOVE BEYOND “PROVING YOUR VALUE” TO MULTIPLY YOUR IMPACT AND EMBRACE YOUR FULL LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL’ 

“The biggest way you grow your power is to give it away. Leadership is a journey from execution through empowerment.” — Carla Harris

Do you engage the commitment of others? Are you an authentic leader? 

Harris shared that the “Inspire” competency is all about authenticity—knowing who you are and what you believe and acting in accordance with those values. Inspiring leaders bring out the best in their people and teams. Regardless of how “tough” their style is, they balance this with warmth and compassion. They effectively engage and inspire the commitment, collaboration, and contributions of others instead of trying to do it all themselves. 

It’s time to channel our unique authenticity to help the people around us reach new heights.

Carla Harris is a senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley who previously spent more than 30 years as a vice chairman and managing director. Throughout her career, she managed and executed billions of dollars of equity-related transactions, including the initial public offerings for UPS, Martha Stewart Omnimedia, and the Immunex Corporation. She was chair of the Morgan Stanley Foundation from 2005 to 2014 and sits on the boards of several community organizations, including the Walmart Corporation, Cummins Corporation, and MetLife.

Harris is also a gospel recording artist—with four commercially released CDs under her belt, five sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall, and two at the Apollo Theatre—and a popular public speaker who gives impactful career guidance to corporate audiences based on her books, Expect to Win (2009), Strategize to Win (2014), and Lead to Win (2022). 

During her session, Harris shared her “pearls of intentional leadership” that enable us to become powerful and impactful leaders. Known for her dynamic presence and profound insights, Harris’ session, “Be INSPIRING,” moved beyond the conventional narrative of proving your values. She challenged attendees to multiply their impact by fully embracing their leadership potential.   

Harris emphasized the importance of authenticity in leadership. She shared personal stories and anecdotes, illustrating how being true to oneself can be a powerful tool for influence and change. Attendees were encouraged to reflect on their unique strengths and harness them to create positive impacts within their organizations.

Key Takeaways from Harris:

• Fear has no place in your success equation. Failure brings you the gift, and that gift is called experience. Now you know how to do it better. There’s not one successful leader that hasn’t experienced failure before they got to that leadership seat.
• Authenticity is key. Authentic leadership builds trust and encourages open communication. 
• Leverage your unique strengths. Identify and utilize your distinctive skills to inspire others. 
• Expand your impact. Shift focus from proving value to multiplying your influence across teams and projects. 
• Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Your organization made you a leader for a reason. Delegate tasks when you can. 
• Define success. Once you define what success looks like, your colleagues will have something to strive towards. This vision will likely change as your organization grows. 
• Leadership takes courage. It takes courage to engage with others and impact your environment. 

PANEL: INTERSECTIONALITY & ADVANCEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

Every woman experiences the world differently. Factors like race, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, culture, and disability intersect and overlap with one another. Intersectional discrimination profoundly impacts women’s ability to professionally advance. Panelists shared their stories and advice about advancing in a world that doesn’t always understand and appreciate difference. 

Key takeaways from the panelists:

• “Sharing your own career goals and aspirations with someone you don’t think you have a lot in common with can be uncomfortable but also necessary in developing those key relationships that can be sponsors or mentors.” —Teresa Black, executive vice president and chief operating officer of North America Surety, Chubb 
• “Ask questions from a more neutral place to build relationships. Ask yourself: What are the assumptions I have because of how I identify? How can I ask the question from a more neutral place?” —Kelli Clark, vice president of culture, employee experience, and employee communications, Emerson 
• “People will never forget how you made them feel. Let’s let people feel that they are loved and they are seen. Let’s lift others up as we succeed.” —Shanti Das, CEO and founder, Silence the Shame 
• “Self-advocacy is the most important career skill. ... Let’s advocate for each other and let’s also advocate for ourselves.” —Starla Sampaco, Forbes columnist, Emmy-nominated journalist, and speaker 

Words of wisdom from the moderator:

• “If your network only has people who look like you, then you don’t have a network.”  —Dr. Sheila Robinson, founder, publisher, and CEO of Diversity Women Media

MAGIE COOK ON ‘BE CLEAR: CREATE YOUR FUTURE LEADERSHIP VISION WITH “CLARITY”’     

“When you’re walking your purpose, it feels like you’re walking home back to yourself.” —Magie Cook 

 Are you clear about your vision? Are you able to articulate your ideas in a way that inspires forward momentum? 

The “Clear” competency is all about having a compelling vision for who we want to be as a leader and how we want to contribute to the working world. It’s about using communication to inspire action and support from our teams. 

When we communicate our opinions clearly and accurately and demonstrate creativity in developing our ideas, we unlock huge potential. Clear leaders distill ideas into focused messages. When put into practice, the “Clear” competency empowers women leaders to reach new leadership heights. 

It’s time for us to define the type of leader we want to become—and clearly articulate that message to the world. 

Magie Cook is a self-made businesswoman and the founder of Maggie’s Salsas LLC, a company she started with just an $800 investment and later sold with Garden Fresh to Campbell’s Soup for $231 million. 

Cook specializes in sharing the power of mindfulness in the workplace. She uses simple, research-backed strategies to optimize performance, improve employee happiness and well-being, and transform workplace cultures into more equitable, creative environments for leaders to grow. She also helps entrepreneurs discover their hidden personal power so they can increase their revenue and make a bigger impact in the world. 

During her keynote, Cook shared that one of the most powerful qualities that sets successful leaders apart is their ability to be clear and focused and to shift their mindset in the face of obstacles. If something is not working, they persevere and change their approach 1,000 times until they achieve their ultimate outcome. Cook revealed her inspirational journey through stories of how her mindset and clarity played an essential role in overcoming personal obstacles and in creating her multimillion-dollar salsa company. When leaders adopt these practices, it leads to increased team trust, more creative thinking, and a higher capacity for dealing with change. 

Key Takeaways from Cook:

• Define your leadership vision. Clearly articulate your goals and aspirations as a leader. No matter how strong your purpose is, you will always face some type of adversity. You need to keep moving forward and believe in yourself. “You are the architect of your life,” Cook said.
• Align actions with vision. Make decisions that support your long-term leadership objectives. You need a routine that primes your mind for success and clarity. 
• Start every day with a clear and powerful intention for yourself. We have two choices every morning when we wake up, according to Cook: “We either let life control us or we take control of our life.” When we take control of our life and replace the negative, repetitive thoughts that consume most of our energy and attention with positive, inspirational mantras, good things happen.
• Harness confidence through clarity. A clear vision brings confidence and inspires others to follow your lead. Clarity also requires taking care of our physical health with good food, plenty of quality sleep, and regular movement.
• Find the reward in the effort, then turn the effort into the reward. Enjoy the experience of reaching your vision and remember to celebrate your wins.

What’s next at WIL 2024?

Tomorrow, we turn our attention to keynote presentations from Herminia Ibarra on the “Connected” competency and Ally Love on the “Bold” competency.

Be sure to continue to follow along on the SHRM Business site and on social media for in-the-moment insights.

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