June 30, 2016

Deborah Hicks Midanek: Getting Your Voice Heard in the Boardroom

33 minutes

What does it take for a woman to make her voice heard in a male-dominated boardroom?

Find out from Deborah Hicks Midanek, a seasoned corporate director and executive who has sit across multiple boards and has helped provide solutions for more than 60 companies in corporate America.

She talks about her own humble beginnings, and how she worked to propel herself to the top of the corporate ladder. She also discusses how she claimed her own authority in boardrooms where it can be a struggle to join the dominant conversation.

Deborah then touches on how many companies are opening up to more females in the boardrooms. She also gives tips into what both men and women can do to position themselves at such high rungs in a company.

Power in the board does not always lie in asserting your ideas and making everyone agree to them. Rather, it is about being able to project your views while making others see that you are worth listening to. So listen in as Deborah gives some handy tips on how to communicate your authority in any position.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Tips on how to overcome your fear and other challenging obstacles.

• How a woman can voice her authority in a male-dominated company.

• What leaders in boardrooms are really looking for when getting representatives for the board.

• A surefire way to make men hear the registers in a female voice.

Tweetables:

• There’s no such thing as failure. Every single thing that happens in one’s life is a blessing, and the question is in finding the gift in each individual event.

• The energy that goes into stopping yourself from doing something translates into energy that is propelling you forward.

• Slow down, and don’t try for that opening and play on their terms. Simply play on your own terms.

Big Takeaways:

• You may face a lot of challenges and fears in your everyday life, but learning how to harness that energy into a productive outlet can be a powerful tool that can motivate you to take on bigger challenges.

• Making your voice heard in a boardroom is not about asserting your power and having everyone agree with your ideas. It is about being able to convey your views in the right way while helping to bring the other members into a decision that will benefit the company.