I have been asked by many people to expand on my remarks I made in May when I accepted the Woman of the Year Award from the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. This continues a series of “mini” blogs to that end.

Topic #3 - The fundamentals of building a Ten Year Plan for Success

I have been a “ten year planner” since I was 8. This has allowed me to reinvent myself many times over - - Diplomat, Banker, Company Executive, Strategist, Broker/Dealer, Management Consultant, Civic and Corporate Board Member, Professor as well as Mother, Wife, Grandmother and Friend. Every decade I have dreamed ahead ten years to how I would like to be known and involved in the world - - and then I have set out on a journey of discovery to get “here from there”. This means creating a road map with milestones of what critical experiences I would love to have, what knowledge and skills would I like to acquire and who would I like to be in relationship with.

Topic #2 - - Mothers as Courageous Leaders

All of us know how courageous mothers are - - and all that they do and sacrifice for others. But most do not know the real origin of Mother’s Day. Julia Ward Howe, the composer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic was sickened by the carnage of the Civil war in the US. In 1870, appalled at that time by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, she declared a Mothers’ Day Proclamation for Peace and had it translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German and Swedish and disseminated internationally.

”arise arise …..great congress of women of all nationalities who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears… We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies… and our children shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience…We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.” She continued, ” …let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace…”

As I get ready for the HBA WOTY “busy season” with the HBA European and National Leadership Conferences in Basel and Orlando in October and November, I have been reflecting on the key messages from my remarks at the Woman of the Year award ceremony in May (see previous blog for full transcript). Since then I have been asked by many of you to explain “What did you mean by…”, or “Could you tell us more about your thoughts on…”

To that end, I thought I would expand on some of the key messages and themes that I highlighted during my speech in May. For the next seven weeks, I will excerpt some video clips from the speech and share some more thoughts on the specific topic. I welcome your replies and observations to these issues that we have all had to tangle with as professional women.