Guest: Melissa Meeker, CEO, The Water Tower 

About this episode

What does it look like when a 35-year water industry veteran finally steps fully into her power and decides to use it to change everything? In this episode, we sit down with Melissa Meeker, CEO of The Water Tower, a nonprofit water innovation centre in Georgia, to talk about workforce transformation, community healing, women in leadership, and why water might just be the most powerful force for human change we have.

Melissa chose the Power card and what unfolded was a conversation about what becomes possible when we stop pretending we don't have any.

In this episode, we cover

• Why so many leaders spend their careers not quite owning their leadership and what shifts when they finally do
• The difference between Big “L” and little “l” leadership, and why the little l matters most
• How The Water Tower is transforming lives through non-traditional workforce recruitment in the water sector
• The systems-level vision: connecting water utilities, social services and community health into one self-sustaining cycle
• Women in water - the post-pandemic leadership gap and what it's really telling us
• Why language is generative, and how naming new kinds of roles could change who steps into them
• Melissa's one piece of advice for every young professional just starting out

Guest bio

Melissa Meeker is the Chief Executive Officer of The Water Tower, a nonprofit water innovation centre based in Georgia. With more than 35 years of experience in water resources management, Melissa has worked across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, with a focus on water supply diversity and resilience through alternative sources including reuse, stormwater, and desalination. Her expertise spans public policy, regulation, innovative technologies, workforce development, and public engagement.

Quotes from this episode

"Water is a purifying factor - so why can't we use it to give people a fresh start?"

"School cannot be all things to all people. We need different ways to serve people with different perspectives if we want to create the world, we actually want to live in."

"Language is generative. It generates the future. When we get clear about that and talk about things out loud - that starts to matter."

"Do it. Even before you feel ready."

Resources & links mentioned

• The Water Tower
• ReSoLve 
• Philadelphia Workforce Hub