Prepared remarks delivered by Maureen Cavanagh, president of the Vision Impact Institute and 2015 Pleiades Award Honoree, at the OWA Champagne Breakfast Celebrating Women in Leadership, held March 19, 2015 in New York City.
Thank you to my good friend Kathy for such a warm welcome.
I am extremely grateful and appreciative of this very special Pleiades award. For those of you who are not aware of the Greek word Pleiades, it is described as the brightest stars in a cluster also known as the Seven Sisters. Now, I can only assume that I have been nominated for this very prestigious award because of the seven sisters — many of you who are in this room today. Ellen Haag, Kathy Rismiller, Ann Englert and others who have provided guidance and encouragement along the way, mentored me and continue to stand by my side as we step up to the challenges and opportunities in our careers. Together we can brighten the skies and achieve many things as we have learned that gender equality is meaningful.
I would like to thank all of the sponsors who have supported this amazing event. Your support of such an important initiative is commendable and your voice is being heard. More and more companies are supporting gender equality and clearly understand the benefits that women have in the marketplace. In fact, companies are now tracking and publicly reporting this progress as part of their corporate responsibility in annual reports.
The mission of the OWA is to encourage the leadership role of women in the Optical Industry. There is still much more work to be done and the statistics are astounding. The power of diversity is truly diversity. It is not that women are better than men — it is that together we are stronger and diversity matters. However, even with all of the statistics and mandatory goal setting of board seats, there is still an unconscious bias that continues every day, and we need to encourage more companies to support the ambitions of the OWA. One thing we do know is that we cannot achieve this alone.
I am very impressed with the OWA and its focus on networking, education and professional development, as well as its mission to connect, inspire and lead. I would like to comment on each of these attributes as it relates to my own experience.
Connect. We all know that networking is critical in advancing our careers, as it opens up so many possibilities. Internally we need to find stakeholders and advocates who can provide support and speak on our behalf. It is important to be very clear on your ambitions (mobile, global, changing department, etc.) and timelines. Externally we must stay energized, intrigued and well connected. Who you know is what you know. It's also a great opportunity to learn from other industry leaders, share experiences and make new friends.
Inspire. Coaching and mentoring is a great way to give back and inspire our next generation of great leaders. I try to make an extra effort to mentor women and young adults to dream beyond their possibilities, to take chances, and to be confident in their abilities. I often say, it is not where you went to school; it is how you apply yourself. It's your work ethic and the team that you build around you that makes you successful. It's learning by trial and error and trusting yourself to take chances. Those chances may push you a little out of your comfort zone, and they will always challenge complacency. I went to a state school and never imagined that I would one day be so fortunate to be president of a $250M business or sit on the board of a $5B organization, or be one of two women in a male-dominated executive committee. But I took chances and believed in the process — the process of hard work, a commitment to continuous learning and giving back. Now we must send the elevator back to where we started and continue nurturing and mentoring new talent to unleash their potential, and in so doing, build the next generation of women leaders.
Lead. Leadership is by example. Be a role-model and earn the respect of others. People are watching you every minute of every day. You must be encouraging, passionate and confident, and learn to delegate. The best advice I ever received was from a leadership coach at Columbia University. I was told to "get off the dance floor and onto the Balcony." I will never forget it. Finally, you must have strong emotional intelligence. Did you know that 90% of top performers ranked highest in EQ? Did you know that EQ is twice as important as IQ in getting you where you want to go in life? It's all about self awareness, self management, relationship management and social awareness.
I would like to thank the OWA and the board for their confidence in nominating me for this outstanding award. I would like to congratulate Amy on her award and wish her continued success on her journey.
I would like to thank Real Goulet, John Carrier, Hubert Sangieres and the entire executive team at Essilor for having the confidence in me and giving me the amazing opportunity that I have today. I started with Essilor ten years ago and most recently have moved from success to significance, where I have accepted the role as President of the Vision Impact Institute. We are committed to raising the bar and building awareness of the social impact of visual impairment and the quality of life benefits of visual correction.
We are advocates for growing the industry by building awareness of the need for comprehensive eye exams, and we do this by being a curator of the most compelling research and evidence that proves healthy vision should be a priority of overall health care. I encourage you all to visit our website.
Together we can provide better lives through better sight.
I hope today that I have inspired you to create your own network, to take chances and to join the OWA in their efforts to support women in leadership roles.
I would like to thank my family and wonderful parents for an amazing upbringing and for their guidance, support, wisdom and encouragement along the way.
I would like to recognize my beautiful niece, Kelly, who is here with me this morning and is inspirational to me in every way. She is 16 yrs old and very disciplined in school (3.9 GPA), she has the desire and passion to be the best and has a very strong spiritual faith. We need to inspire this next generation of women leaders to shoot for the stars . . . to shoot for the Pleiades stars.
In closing, not one of us could do this without the support systems we have at home. These people enable us to continue to be successful, while juggling the many facets of our challenging lives. I know for sure that I would not be here today without the love and support of my biggest cheerleader and soul mate, Tim, who makes sure that my favorite yogurt and fruit is always in the fridge, the laundry is always caught up and when I return from a long trip there is always an encouraging smile, a warm hug, and a home cooked meal. I couldn't do this without you!
My sincerest thank you to all!
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