Thinking Differently Supporting Women by Making a One-Degree Shift
- blog by Sophia Ruffolo Founder. Original article
- Feb 20, 2018
- 3 min read
Emma Watson provides a powerful message with poise and poignancy. She stunningly portrays through photographs the message that "a one-degree shift" is meaningful and that a "small change can make a huge difference." She has a strong message in her article "Designing the Future" Vogue Australia, Emma Watson, guest editor, February 20, 2018, and photographer Peter Lindbergh.
Our femmebought mission is to effect change through leadership which you, as our femmebought community, do every day.
Our women leaders create businesses, champion innovation, effect change at global summits, hire and empower women, change policy, ask for pay equity and even ask for help on occasion, which makes them human.
I want to share a couple of insights about how you, our femmebought community, can effect change through your leadership - you can make a difference by being a role model to others as you make your one-degree change as you Think Differently in Supporting Women.
As Emma Watson's metaphor about steering a ship paints the perfect picture about how you can make a dramatic difference as you make your one-degree change:
That's quite poignant when you think about it. We all, like the captain of a ship, can shift the wheel one-degree to make a difference. Over the past year I've made a one-degree change by Thinking Differently in Supporting Women. I make sure I am informed about whether the businesses I support are woman owned. It made me change my spending habits. I wanted to make sure that at least some of the time I was supporting women businesses. It changed how I spend my money which started to change how I think. In the beginning it was rare that I was able to find a woman owned business that had the product or service I was looking for. That changed over time. As it changed, I noticed that I made sure every day that I was conscious about what I was wearing to make sure that something I was wearing was bought from a woman owned business.
It began with a single question in a single store - "Are you Woman Owned.?" The first 10 times the answer was no. That's when I realized this is a really important question that we're not asking, or not asking enough.
I started telling you about what I was doing on social media and started to really Think Differently in Supporting Women.
My one-degree change made a big difference, not just for me personally but for you as consumers. I could not believe how many of you started reaching out to me and stopping me at social events, in the street, at work, through friends to tell me about a woman business you wanted me to include in our femmebought community, how you bought something from a woman owned business, how you're changing your spending habits. You inspired me!
I realized my one-degree shift started to change the habits of one, then two, then three, then 100 people in a really short period of time.
Emma's not the only one to use the analogy of steering a ship. An incredible inspirational speaker Michael Abrashoff, Former Naval Commander & Author of It's Your Ship gave me the very meaningful leadership insights. His book "It's Your Ship" inspires leadership by prompting "leaders at all levels to re-imagine their leadership thinking and create new ways to elevate [others]."
That's empowering. As a leader you are empowered to Think Differently in Supporting Women.
As we the femmebought community make our one degree shift, we'll see that our efforts are transformative. We are empowered to impact the direction women succeeding in the marketplace by using our collective forces to steer this ship.
I hope Emma Watson and Michael Abrashoff make you feel as empowered to Think Differently in Supporting Women. If you take one thing away from my blog, it's that the small things you do can transform outcomes and make a big difference.
A special thanks to Ilana Singer, Anne Sonnen, Stacee Hasenbalg, Emma Watson, Michael Abrashoff, Vogue Australia, and Rebecca Tascona who inspired today's installment of Thinking Differently Supporting Women.
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