September 17, 2018
What do Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors Company, and Lily Beck Wilson, founder and owner of Veils by Lily, have in common? Through an entrepreneurial spirit and good old-fashioned hard work, they are powerful business women who have formed successful careers and are influencing the world in positive ways. September 22 is Business Women’s Day and a great time to celebrate the women who inspire us.
Business Women’s Day Celebrates the Women Who Inspire Us
You don’t have to look very hard or far to find other stories that are just as inspiring. Perhaps you only have to look in the mirror, or across the dinner table, to find a woman in business who is doing great things in her own sphere of the world, be it large or small. You may think of yourself or those around you as only impacting the world in little ways; after all, we can’t all be at the top of the heap. But it’s worth bearing in mind, in the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, that “… the little things are infinitely the most important.”
Remember that the little things add up, and can snowball into significant things.
Story One: She began working while a student on the factory floor of a major automaker. Fast forward a few years, and she now serves as CEO of the same automaker and has been ranked number one in Fortune’s Top 10 Most Powerful Women in Business for three years in a row.
Story Two: From her home country of Chile, she found herself settling down in mid-America, where she started her own online business eight years ago. Fast forward to February 2018, and she now operates her company’s first retail brick-and-mortar storefront, and the company has experienced exponential growth since its inception.
You Are a Bright Spot
One more story: a woman was leaving the office on her last day of work before she ventured off to start a new position elsewhere. Before she left, one of her coworkers told her, “you were a bright spot.” Of all the words spoken to her that day, that humble pronouncement was unquestionably the most meaningful. And really, whether we’ve climbed to the position of CEO, owner, president, or manager, or whether our title is of a more humble stature, isn’t the highest compliment given us that we have been a bright spot to someone, in some office, in some group of people that we work with, or to some customers that we serve?
So on Business Women’s Day September 22, do your part to celebrate and honor the women in business that you know. I’ll bet you’ll have plenty of ears to accept your thank-you’s and words of appreciation.
Share Your Story
When you post a photo or video of your celebration of Business Women’s Day on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, using the hashtag #RecognitionHolidayChallenge, and when you tag or mention Terryberry in your post, you’ll be entered in our 12 Months of Recognition Challenge for the chance to win big prizes. Good luck!
