52. Maria Doughty on Empowering Women to lead and The Chicago Network

Maria is the President and CEO of The Chicago Network, a group of women business leaders in the Chicago area whose purpose is to empower women to lead.  In this episode we talk about The Chicago Network, its history, their work on getting more women on boards and important aspects of board diversity     Thanks for listening! We love our listeners! Drop us a line or give us guest suggestions here.     Links:   Maria Doughty Bio The Chicago Network HerStories womenlead.io   Big Ideas/Thoughts/Quotes:   Maria's Background – "My parents, who are two of the smartest people I know, have very little formal education. For them it was all about opportunity, and education for them was the door that open those opportunities, so they really made it their mission and purpose to provide my sister and I as much opportunity on the educational front as we could have." Becoming President & CEO of The Chicago Network – "I met with the search committee on numerous occasions.  The more I learned about the organization, I just felt like this was the place for me to be. It was definitely a switch because I went from being a corporate lawyer and a strategist and an advocate and all these pieces to actually shifting into the nonprofit sector, but I knew it was exactly where I should be because this role in particular allows me to help amplify the voices of our members to really live into our purpose and to our mission." Broader Impact of TCN – "Our women [members] lead global organizations, the question is how are they using their power and influence within their organization as well as amplifying the platforms that they are on. How are they using their power and influence to be able to really change the numbers in the gender equity space." Increasing Women on Boards - We've always had a focus on increasing the number of women on boards, but we've really amplified it over the last three years. About 30% of our members are serving on for-profit boards. One of the requirements of our organization is you must be civically engaged, so every one of our members at some point has served on a nonprofit board or is currently serving on a nonprofit board. That board service is really part of our DNA. Growing the Next Level of Leaders - One of the things that we talk about a lot is, , it's really important if you want to be a CEO to own a P&L and most women aren't told that they need to pivot into a P&L role. It's one thing that we feel very strongly about - that women in particular need to be told and recognize and given support to pivot into that space to take on some of these bigger roles. Non-profit Board Service Leading to For-Profit Boards -  Nonprofit board service is a wonderful way to prepare people for for-profit board service. If you pick a nonprofit board, I encourage people to pick one that has a very strong governance. They have a nom/gov committee, they have a finance and audit committee, a board development committee.