How many times must I express the need for new leaders? How many times must I impress upon women to be the leaders we need to be to do what has to be done to keep America strong? Isn't it clear to everyone that America is lacking in leadership in education, business and morality? The question is, what are YOU going to do about it?
You see, it isn't about how beautiful you are, or how sexy you are, or even how much the men in the room follow you. What it is about is how honest you are, how consistent in everything you do you are, and most important, how often people look to you for the answers.
We are desperate for new leaders! They do not rise up in Washington. They do not get visibility on the evening news. They live in the trenches. The live in the cities and towns in America that are crying out for direction.
Sometimes they are teachers. Sometimes they are business people. Sometimes they are moms and dads that just speak up because they can't take it anymore and they believe their kids can have a better future.
The fact is money is not the answer. Women in business, working women, intuitively know this. The real answer is there needs to be more attention paid to the next generation. Allowing our children to know that they have an important job to undertake... that is the future.
Because women are the ones that give birth, as well as the main nurturers of the next generation, they get it more than their male counterparts. What will we do if this new generation doesn't know how to take leadership roles and chooses to stand back and allow the rest of the world to lead?
This is a very scary thought! Think about it: Every generation before us has wished more for their kids than what they had experienced. Now, in 2013, we wish for them to just get by?
Not on my watch! The women I speak with every day, that care about their kids and the future, still see something better for them. We see them excelling in everything they do. We see them climbing ladders that we could never climb, particularly if that child is a girl. Everything is possible for girls in America. Right?
I want to see a woman president in America before I leave this world. I want to know that my granddaughter can be anything she wants to be. I was brought up to believe that if I worked hard enough and believed in myself, anything is possible, and I truly believe that for the next generation of Americans, regardless of color, religion, sexual orientation or any other minority status that exists, that can be a reality.
Let's never forget that we are Americans first and that the world depends on our ability to be more than we can be -- visionaries, leaders, imagineers and nurturers of the planet.
We, women and women in business, can be and are all these things, if we just let ourselves go. Give ourselves permission to lead those that are in our care.
I know that the women in the world will eventually be the change agents for the world. But, it starts with you -- so let it happen -- let yourself go and lead for the next generation.
Because if you don't, who will?