Berta Aldrich - Winning the Talent Shift

To my mom, for being the best, first great leader I experienced in my life. Seven children, a full-time job, countless volunteer activities, and president of a nonprofit to help special ability people, you did it all and with the grace and determination of a warrior. You allowed each one of us to be the best of who we were, leveraging our innate talents to find what truly made us happy in life and to pursue it. You are amazing and have set the bar so high that I can only strive to achieve. Your undying support, resilience, belief in all good with one eye open to those who are not, your strong faith, and your strength and wisdom have carried me through life and encouraged me to achieve everything I was meant to be – and do. I thank God for you every day.

To Vanessa, for your relentless support, positivity, and encouragement and believing that this book would come to fruition and help others. To Val, who inspires me through faith every minute of every day (I love you more), and to Chuck, Dan, and Pat, for being those good guys in life. To Bill and Sandy, for your support and for giving me one of the greatest gifts: your son. I love you all dearly.

To my friends and colleagues who encouraged me to pursue writing for the masses and provided feedback and candid insights that helped set the direction for this book. Rachel and Marie, thank you for sharing your wisdom and learnings from your own success that lighted my path. Julie, Paula, Joyce, Jenn, Melissa, Jennifer, Bill, Ed, Kevin, Jennifer, Christine, Tara, Sterling, and Diana for your insight, encouragement, and support. You are my village.

To the PAG family, specifically Pat and John, who not only supported the message of this book, but encouraged getting its content to the masses. Thank you for creating a high-performance workplace and your continued belief that we can all make a difference in our industry and in our world. To my peers Jim, James, and Jim, who have been equally supportive, encouraging, and willing to take this ride together.

To the Wiley family, Bill, Purvi, and Samantha. Thank you for believing in this message and lending your expertise, vision, and talent to this book. The end result was made better because of you.

I'm also eternally grateful for my colleagues who have taught me so much, who challenged me, stood with me, and were willing to do what is right, even when those around us did not. I could never thank you all, but a few who were especially inspiring for the writing of this book include Dar, who was a true trailblazer and taught me that women can be smart, driven, educated, great leaders, and make a positive impact. Dan, who is hands down the best leader I've ever met: it is an honor to call you my friend. I've learned so much from you throughout my career. You are the perfect combination of brilliance, drive, and humility. Bert, who exhibited what true loyalty, mentorship, and sponsorship was as a leader. Dave D., whose support came at a critical point in my career and tipping point as a mother. Dave W., who gave me opportunities to spread my wings throughout my career. Tom, who has always believed in my talent and impact, and gave me opportunities I could only have dreamed of. Kevin, for inviting me to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Dawn, for being part of your amazing Go Red team. Watching you lead was life changing. You are a true leader. Shannon, who was a perfect example of supporting the greater mission without caring who received the credit. Karin, for being a true leader during a critical meeting that changed the trajectory of my life's purpose, and 1,000-plus other lives across the globe.

To Liz, for your friendship and life's work to create great leaders in the city of Philadelphia and beyond.

To those who have gone before Winning the Talent Shift , especially Joanna Barsh and Sheryl Sandberg, your groundbreaking research and books opened the door for this conversation.

To Shawn and Ed: Without you this book would not have been possible. Ed, your grace, talent, and faith became a critical component of carefully communicating this important message. Thank you for your insight, lending your talent, and incredibly strong words of wisdom and faith throughout the process.

Finally, to all of the incredible mentors, mentees, sponsors, Remarkable Women and Men, and other great leaders I've encountered over the years, thank you for being part of my life's work. I hope this book pays forward the many insights and wisdom you have provided over the years.

In the end, our greatest successes come from our willingness to help others. Thank you to all who have been part of this amazing journey.

–Berta

“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”

– John F. Kennedy

Leadership is the highest honor in the business world.

High-performing leaders are the prisms that expand the variety of talents and expertly inspire the greatest possible impact from each person on their teams. They invest in them, develop them, and help them achieve more than they imagined. They ignite a spark that helps them create something bigger than themselves. True leaders have accepted a vitally important mission.

Great leaders are inspiring visionaries. They develop and promote high performers who have a passion for delivering great results with integrity, teamwork, and grit. They give credit where credit is due and pay their success forward. Their greatest accomplishments are their teams, and it's pure joy to stand back and watch them excel. If leadership is the highest honor in the business world, then leading a team to high performance where everyone contributes their best is the Holy Grail that every great leader should aspire to achieve.

*****

The workplace is changing at an accelerated pace. Over the past 30 years, companies have been required to adapt to global competition, leaps in technology, more highly educated workers, emerging consumers, and innovations that have created unrestricted business opportunities. At the same time, more women and highly educated talent are entering the workplace than ever before, introducing new ways of thinking, leading, inspiring, and engaging to meet these new demands. The unmanaged sea change has created devastating effects on the workplace, placing women and this new high-performing talent squarely in the center of the war. These key groups are vulnerable, unprotected, and at risk because today's boards and executives are using a bottom-up, groundswell marketing strategy to manage the change, failing to lead their companies through one of the greatest transformations in business history. This has left companies at substantial risk for future lawsuits, failed brands, and underperforming teams, potentially costing shareholders billions of dollars each year. The overwhelming research and anecdotal evidence today suggest that the majority of companies are failing to tap into the exceptional talent already present within their walls. This is especially true for women, but also affects men. Pointing fingers at men has only exacerbated the separation of genders into silos of talent.

The answer is not pitting men and women against each other or continuing to encourage cultures where only the strong survive. For companies to adapt to the current market opportunities and to create a high-performing workplace that leverages the variety of talents already available, the company of the future must be equipped with the tools to integrate, inspire, and empower their teams.

Today's workplace and current leaders have not been adequately prepared for the influx of different talents, genders, and beliefs. Training on diversity and encouraging women to “Lean In” is only exacerbating the worst of situations and has resulted in overly competitive, “win at any cost” HR systems that tend to inaccurately identify and promote leaders unprepared to maximize the talent of these new, diverse teams.