Patricia Hume – CEO of Canvas GFX

Website: https://www.canvasgfx.com/

 

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“International Women’s Day for me is ultimately about creating equality. An equal world is an empowered world so on this day, as on every other, we should remember to empower women in ways that create real world opportunities.”

“To achieve this we need to network, support each other, and serve as mentors for the next generation of women progressing in the workforce in fields such as STEM. By no means does this have to be only a top down approach. Young women in leadership positions can derive enormous benefit from the experiences of those who may be part of their teams.”

“Early in my career at IBM, I learned a valuable lesson from a woman a couple of decades older who worked for me. One day, about four months in, she asked to speak to me. She said: “We all think there’s a really nice person hiding inside you but you need to learn how to lead people so they will follow.” Since then I have always taken the time to get to know and understand the people on my teams, and to take a genuine interest in their lives beyond the workplace. And that helped me to be a better leader, and to be more effective making progress.”

“Mentoring is about understanding people’s needs and challenges on a personal level as they relate to their efforts and performance in the workplace, and helping them develop the skills to beat those challenges and meet those needsIt is vitally important and we all need to do more of it – whether we are commemorating International Women’s Day, Women’s History Month, or simply laying the groundwork for women to succeed on a daily basis.”