Executive Director’s Blog :: Soroptimist International of the Americas

I’m off to region conferences in Korea, Japan and Taiwan; home one day and then to Detroit for Midwestern Region. I’ve already been to Bucaramanga, Colombia for the conference of America del Sur. Surely one of the best parts of my job is being with the members at conference. I eagerly accept the invitations and it always looks quite good - on paper. I have had lots of people ask me how I deal with jet lag doing that kind of travel, especially with the upcoming convention in Taipei. Soroptimists in SIA are used to having convention in North America and haven’t ventured to Asia since the 1990 Convention in Kyoto, Japan. We’ve had questions like, “Why Taiwan? Why so far away?”. When I mention that 40% of our membership lives in Asia and it isn’t so far for them, the next question is, “Isn’t it hot in Taiwan in July?” The answer is, yes it is, but everything is airconditioned and we aren’t planning any events outside. And it was plenty hot in Philadelphia in July 2006! It was 116 in Phoenix at my first SIA convention in 1992. I don’t want to hear about dry heat…It was hot walking from the hotel to the convention center! But Soroptimists love to gather at convention. They are fun! Did you know that we have almost exactly the same number of people already registered for the Taipei Convention as we did for Philadelphia the same number of weeks out? That’s encouraging - and also explains why I’m getting more questions about jet lag. It’s well known by the SIA board and staff that I always come to work the day after returning from a long flight. It’s about 24 hours of travel time from Philadelphia to Taipei and I don’t sleep on airplanes. I do occasionally go unconcious for a while, but as a tummy sleeper I find it impossible to sleep sitting up in an economy seat on any airplane. So how do I manage? I drink no alcohol; avoid carbonated beverages and I DO drink an 8 oz. glass of water for every hour in the air; eat lightly and try to arrange my arrival at my destination so that I can eat a bowl of soup or something small (to keep you from waking up hungry) and then go to bed for the night. Sometimes I wake up, but just roll over and tell myself it is the middle of the night. I do NOT think about what time it is at home. When I arrive somewhere, I am in that time zone. So if all you have to do is arrive, eat a light supper and then go to bed, you can wake up and be functional the next day. I’ve learned from our amazing board members who actually do some pretty strategic decision making even after flying half-way around the world. They have taught me well. What are your tricks for dealing with jet lag?

I belong to several professional associations for association executives. Each of them has listserves and newsletters that I scan or devour greedily, depending on the topic, but also on how mired I am in getting work done. Sometimes I zap them without even scanning them, especially if I am keeping up with email on my smart phone on a travel day. My belief that we can always improve and learn something new from others means I find the time to read them more often than not, sometimes downloading newsletters to print and carry with me for reading on plane trips. Recently, one of my colleagues asked a group of association CEO’s to talk about what keeps us awake at night. Responses were typical (this question gets asked in one form or another about every 6 months): the economy, declining membership, ineffective volunteer leadership, the challenges of globalization with not enough human or financial resources to make a significant difference in the industry, profession or cause. This particular question caught me at a reflective moment and I thought those answers much too erudite. But the things that I worry about wouldn’t necessarily be understood outside of our organization. Here’s what keeps me up at night:
1. Program focus reports that describe Soroptimist fundraising efforts for Kiwanis, Rotary, or a local affiliate of a cause-related organization where none of the proceeds benefit Soroptimist projects or programs or even the local Soroptimist club that provided all the volunteer labor and support!
2. Local projects that are described as being women and girl focused because half of the population that will use the park or the service are female. (argh)
3. Clubs that don’t (or won’t) contribute to the Annual Club Campaign because they want all their money to “stay local”, never thinking that projects like the Women’s Opportunity Award, trafficking, Violet Richardson Award are all implemented locally, using materials that are developed, printed and distributed for local club use courtesy of donations from all clubs.
4. Prospective members turned away because they can’t adhere to attendance requirements enforced by the club despite the fact that SIA adopted a law abolishing such rules in clubs or because the club isn’t doing any women-focused projects.
5. Questions about why we are having a convention in Taiwan when it is “so far away”. Well it isn’t so far away when you live in Asia like 40% of our membership does!

These things keep me awake at night because I feel like the staff, board of directors and region governors are not effectively communicating what the essence of Soroptimist is all about. When the organization was formed in 1921, it was all about women helping women and the power of what an international organization can do locally as well as globally by working together. That focus is even more relevant today. So while the above keeps me awake at night trying to figure out how we can more effectively communicate and motivate, more often than not, I see shining examples of dedication and commitment from those that do “get it”. SI Glendale’s $25,000 donation to the Annual Club Campaign that helped SIA launch that project sooner than we might have otherwise. SI Desert Tucson’s willingness to step up to the plate to support their past Women’s Opportunity Award winner as SIA creates “webisodes”, a new addition to the Live Your Dream Campaign website that will launch around International Women’s Day.

So when I can’t sleep, I dwell on these kinds of examples and count successes instead of sheep. I fall asleep and dream of a day when every Soroptimist club is focused on our mission, well-known in their community for one or two fabulous women-focused projects, has a wide network of donors and supporters (members and non-members) to carry out that work, and has so much fun at well-run meetings that they keep having to change the place where they meet to accommodate a growing membership. Sweet dreams…I need my sleep to keep one step ahead of those pushing us to keep moving forward. We will extend a hand backwards to help slower ones catch up, but our eye is on the future. There’s plenty of room on the train, but it’s moving fast, so grab hold, get aboard the Renaissance Campaign and be part of something larger than yourself, bigger than your club, and enjoy the ride!

I feel like I am on radio with this blog. I’m broadcasting but I wonder if anybody is listening…There has been only an occasional reply to my posts. And I was worried about having to read and reply to hundreds more emails a day. I already average 150 per day which I still haven’t figured out how to handle efficiently without having to look at them all. Any ideas for me? Maybe my blog is not provocative enough. Perhaps you have never blogged before. I’ve never blogged before, but it’s kind of fun and I like the idea of a direct dialogue with the members I serve. Are you more of a “lurker” than a responder to online communities? I have had a couple of nice “off-line” replies, especially in response to my being so open about my experience with ovarian cancer. I encourage you to send me a reply with anything that is on your mind. We can turn it into a new posting if you want to start a new topic. And your replies are not posted “real time”. They are read first and edited if necessary before they appear on the web site. There must be things you would like me to talk about. (Or maybe NOT!) I’ve got 20 years experience as an executive director for two international women’s organizations. I could tell you some interesting things about current and past board members, especially the past presidents. I told them all that I was planning to fund my retirement with a book about some of our true-life adventures together. But they told me they have already compiled a draft publication about ME, complete with photos. So I guess those secrets are safe. Here’s a couple of stories I can tell: I really did receive a convention registration on a cocktail napkin once. And I once had a member send me a photocopy of a $5 bill to prove that she had paid for a subscription to the magazine, yet she hadn’t received a single issue. Now this immediately raised some questions in my mind. (You have to sharp to be an executive director): 1) How do I know this was THE $5 bill? 2) Does she pay all her bills in cash and photocopy all of her money? 3) Does she use the same photocopied $5 bill as receipts for other “purchases”? Some questions will forever remain a mystery. I gave her the subscription without asking any questions, paying the fee myself. It was very creative and still gives me a chuckle today.

Today will be one of the highlights of my career. Soroptimists all across the country are distributing flyers in various transportation centers to raise awareness about the issue of trafficking of women and girls. Staff has worked hard to provide the resources to make this project work and give our clubs the tools they need to be a voice for the women and girls being held captive (go to soroptimist.org/trafficking). As an organization, we are getting lots of press coverage for our efforts. You can see the interview I did this morning at the train station for Philadelphia Inquirer at http://www.philly.com/inquirer/multimedia/13708217.html. Outside the USA, clubs in other parts of the federation distributed flyers on December 2, the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. These organized efforts are not only allowing us to shine a bright light on a hidden and heinous crime, but also making the public aware about the important issues that Soroptimist tackles on behalf of women who often have no voice. I’m proud of my staff for the high quality of the materials that they designed; the research that went into the white paper; the excellent article in the Best for Women magazine and for getting out there and distributing flyers this morning themselves, right alongside Soroptimist leaders and members in 8 local transportation centers. I’m also proud of the Soroptimists who have been working on this issue for almost 10 years and who kept demanding that we find a way for them to actually DO something about this complex but important international issue. SI Glendale (California) made it possible for us to put our dreams into action through their generous $25,000 donation to the Annual Club Campaign. We will be counting all the media hits and compiling the reports from clubs for their efforts on December 2 and today, but I already know this project is a success. And it feels great!

I have gotten some very nice feedback from the Headquarters Highlights article in the September/October/November issue of Best for Women magazine. Nobody called or wrote to tell me, “too much information”. (I worried about that). In fact, most everybody mentioned how glad they were that I was so open about having ovarian cancer. Two women, newly diagnosed, have been in contact with me, relieved to have someone to talk to that’s “been there” and isn’t completely emotionally devastated by the diagnosis or physically debilitated from the surgery and the chemotherapy. While I am happy to find new friends and share experiences on this journey that none of us expected to have to take, I have to watch that all that praise for having such a “positive attitude” and being a “good role model” doesn’t put me a place I don’t want to be. I don’t ALWAYS have a positive attitude toward this disease. I think, “Why me? It’s unfair.” Of course, there is the occasional “poor me” thought thrown in there as well! And because I’m usually the “energizer bunny” I sometimes feel that I can’t say I’m tired or depressed or sad or angry. But then I think, this is really no different than usual. It’s what most of us busy women experience while executing the various roles we juggle simultaneously. How often as mothers have we responded to the 100th plea from a child to “Look at me, Mom.” Or grant a request from a work colleague to take “just a minute” to give advice or review progress on a project? Or have “tea and sympathy” with a friend? Or try to give undivided attention to a spouse or partner when we would really rather have some alone time or just sleep? So I guess I will just add “cancer survivor” to the long list of multiple roles I play as a woman. Life is what happens while you are making other plans. Deal with it!

By the way, if anybody has a better label than cancer survivor I would love to hear it. Personally, I don’t like the term. The opposite of survivor is dead – or at least victim. The term survivor implies, to me, that dealing with the cancer is over. The fact is, even when you are cancer free, it’s never over. Every minor symptom in the world produces a worry that you have had a recurrence. From what I hear from long-term cancer patients (worse term), this fades a bit the longer you remain cancer free, but never completely goes away. We need a new word…or maybe we need to quit using labels in the first place.

As I write this message, it is the last day of the long Thanksgiving weekend in the USA. Headquarters was closed on both Thursday and Friday and I was eagerly looking forward to 4 days of rest and relaxation and to spending time with family. My family is small and geographically dispersed. I live alone in Philadelphia. My grandparents, parents and only brother died years ago. My almost ex-husband (after 38 years of marriage) lives in South Carolina near our son, his wife and the world’s cutest 4 ½ year old. Our daughter lives near Washington, DC and invited me to have the traditional turkey dinner with her at her friend’s house. Yes! No cooking, dishwashing or leftovers. (For some of us with weight management issues, leftovers of initially resisted high-calorie foods can cause stress akin to wrestling with the devil). I live a city life in Philadelphia and do not own a car. So I took the train and enjoyed a 2-hour ride through spectacular fall foliage. The mid-Atlantic states were blessed with a gorgeous, bright, sunny day with temperatures in the 60’s (Fahrenheit). Already in an expansive mood, I was touched when the 8-year old at the table stated that we each needed to state what we are thankful for on Thanksgiving before we began our feast. Being the oldest (I assume), I was asked to go first. Of course I was grateful for my family and friends and after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer last May I said I was just glad to be here and healthy. When my daughter and her friend started to tear up, I didn’t continue with what had really been on my mind during that train ride. Looking at nature always makes me reflective and it was a great time to just think. All those multiple hats we women wear seem to leave us with little time to just think and let our minds wander where they will. I had been thinking how very fortunate I am to have been born a woman in the United States to a family of at least modest means. Those circumstances of my birth have given me opportunities that are not available to so many women in the world just because of the circumstances of where and when THEY were born. Millions of baby girls are born into poverty with little chance to obtain an education or choose if, when and who they will marry. Their marginal existence leaves them especially vulnerable when natural or man-made disasters strike. What I was really thankful for this year – and couldn’t say out loud - was the good fortune to be me. The short version would have sounded kind of selfish – and I was very aware that people were waiting to eat….I wonder what others of you are thankful for and have not had the appropriate time or place to express. Here’s your opportunity!

Leigh Wintz has served as executive director of Soroptimist International of the Americas since 1991. She is responsible for the overall operation and services provided by Soroptimist. Hired to implement a new organizational strategic plan, Wintz assisted in the total restructuring of Soroptimist International of the Americas’ governance system.

Her expertise includes international structure and governance issues, program development, development and international meetings. She has traveled the globe sharing ideas on how women can help other women; discussing issues such as domestic violence and pay inequity; and speaking about Soroptimist’s Women’s Opportunity Awards. As a member of the Soroptimist International of Center City, Philadelphia, club, she also participates in local projects that improve the lives of women and girls.

This is the first post by Executive Director Leigh. To add a comment, click the comments link at the end of the post. 

As part of my personal commitment to being a lifelong learner, I recently attended a leadership development program at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. The day was spent exploring leadershp as a performance art. To start off the session, we were each asked to share our names, occupations and a childhood dream. Mine was to become a doctor - or an actress. Hardly anybody grows up with the idea that they want to be an association executive when they grow up. I have been one for more than 20 years and my own mother wasn’t really quite sure what I did as an executive director. It was easier for her to say my “daughter the nurse” even though I never followed the traditional career path in that role.

How many of us really understand what somebody’s job entails just from hearing a job title - particularly when it is in a field or industry unfamiliar to us personally? Effective networking means we need to look beyond that traditional, “And what do you do?” question asked so often in the USA. And as we gain life experience, even changing careers entirely, how do we get at the essene of an acquaintenance’s expertise? Perhaps we need to run networking events more like “speed dating”, giving each person 5-8 minutes to find what part of our lives intersect.

I’ve got lots of connection starting points for conversations with complete strangers. At this point in my life, I have traveled to more than 50 countries, lived in more than 10 cities and had a variety of jobs. I’ve been a medical secretary, orthopedic and surgical nurse, director of inservice education (now there’s a title few people outside of nursing or teaching understand), hospital administrator, and association executive. At the present time, I am simultaneously executive director of Soroptimist, immediate past chairman of the board of directors of the Professional Convention Management Association, a professional registered parliamentarian who specializes in presiding and writing bylaws, a consultant/trainer in strategic planning, board governance and leadership development, workshop presenter and speaker, a grandmother and cancer survivor. I’m in the process of giving up the wife role, but it seems you can’t ever get out of the mother or nurse role. As you get older, however, your advice in both of those areas seems to get outdated and often ignored. But in times of crisis, the education and expertise gained over the years in both roles seems to come in real handy.

Upon reflection, it seems that everything I ever needed to know about management I learned as a parent and everything I ever needed to know about the human body I learning in nursing school. OK, that graduate degree in administration and the hours upon hours of continuing education courses have been pretty useful too…. I’m so proud to be executive director of Soroptimist International of the Americas and I hope that you will want to check out this blog frequently to get a glimpse of what it’s like to be the chief executive of this organization. It’s an interesting job, never boring because each day is different. I plan to share some of the joys and frustration of being a busy professional woman with a robust volunteer life of my own. Maybe reading about my activities and thoughts will stimulate you to respond or elaborate on the conversation. I welcome your participation and hope my blog will bring a smile to your face, perhaps allow us to share a mutual moment of understanding or insight or be thought provoking. I’m new to this “blog” thing too, but I figure you can’t really do it wrong. And I can add a new thing to my list of experiences - “blogger.” Now that’s a term my mother would never understand!