Interview with Trudy Bourgeois - continued

Before starting your own business, you worked in a corporate setting for nearly 20 years. During that time, how do you think the business field has changed for women? For men?

While the workforce has changed there has been limited change in the style of leadership that is accepted by Corporate America. The vast majority of the senior leaders are still white men, despite the fact that women are 50% of the workforce. And, women influence 80% of all purchases made in the America. Corporate America still views leadership as based upon a male style of leadership. This is why I wrote The Hybrid Leader. It is time to look at leadership different. This is the only way that we are going to get the full engagement of every employee. Another significant change is the increased demands coming from the consumer and the customer. These new demands require new thinking, innovation and creativity. The only way that America is going to be able to restore its leadership position (in terms of innovation) is to get more people engaged. And, in order for this to become a reality we have got to have a major leadership shift. This is one of the reasons for my mission to share the insight of why a new leadership style is needed.

What can future leaders expect from the business world?

Future leaders can expect the business world to continue to change! Future leaders are going to have to be willing to learn on the fly. They will face a new way of people working. Analysts predict that over the next 10 years as much as 50% of the workforce is going to be working from home. Future leaders will need to be comfortable managing based upon results not on face time. They will also have to be willing to manager virtual teams. One thing for sure is that leaders will still play the most important role in the company that being to unleash the greatest potential in each employee.

How has your background helped to make you an authority on leadership?

I have gone through my own leadership transition. I was raised in a time when leaders were told that it was not their responsibility to motivate people; it was their responsibility to get rid of the people who can't motivate themselves. I got get great results but leave lots of dead bodies in the process. I had a defining moment when I looked in the mirror and didn't like the person that I had become. I was trying to act like the men role models that I saw. I was wrong! I wasn't honoring my values. My faith has always been a big part of my life. It had gotten to the point that I had checked my spiritual values at the door. I then made an intentional effort to incorporate my full self in the work environment and honor my natural feminine traits. I searched my soul and challenged myself to be a leader that I would want to follow. That has been in my sold until I wrote the book. The book is a deep part of me and my leadership journey.

Who, as leaders, do you look up to? Why?

One of the greatest leaders that I have ever known is my grandmother. I looked up to my grandmother who was the product of the slave and slave master. She appeared Caucasian in appearance. She was sold at birth for three chickens, as her mother died giving birth to her. So she had no father or mother. She grew up in a time when racism was overt. She was a maid. A very proud woman. She got the results done despite tremendous challenges. She used to tell me how important character was. She would tell me how important it was to do that which is right. She focused on instilling in me the belief that I should always strive for excellence. She was a woman of grace. I was often embarrassed about the fact that she was a maid. I was one of the first students in the desegregation movement and I was going to with the very kids that my grandmother was caring for. One day I said something about her being a maid and that one day I wanted to have a maid. She turned to me and offered me words of advice that lives within me today-she said I shouldn't ever think of value and leadership in relationship to a title. She helped me understand that each of us is responsible for using our gifts to help and serve others. The mark of a great leader is not about a title, it is about their ability to use their gifts to develop others. I am forever grateful to my gram for instill that belief in my soul. And, for leading by example. She left the world better than she found it.

Do you have any advice for new business school graduates?

I have two pieces of advice to new business school graduates:
1)Value education but place as much emphasis on the value of understanding how to connect with people and 2) to understand that learning never stops. The world is moving so fast that what they learn will be obsolete within 5 years. It is ability to learn that counts!

Business Book Review- The Hybrid Leader