National Women’s History Museum
I am delighted to support the National Women’s History Museum as an advocate (for the museum to be built), an exhibitor (in outdoor adventurers), and as a writer in their online journal (Mountains Have No Ceilings). Please follow this incredible story as history literally unfolds.
O’Brien rock climbing in Canmore, Canada training for K2. Photo Credit: Jay Mills
Mountains Have No Ceilings
What Sports Can Teach Us About Women’s Leadership
By: Vanessa O’Brien
OCTOBER 10, 2018
Despite working over 20 years as a business executive in industries as diverse as power generation to financial services, not one of these businesses was led by a female CEO. Women were there, just not at the top. They were there in key support roles as managing directors, heads of departments, divisions, or business units. As time went on, women increasingly took on more challenging roles, i.e., roles that had profit and loss responsibility. Success in these roles would prove women would be ready for the CEO position.
What made women exceptional from my point of view was the way they communicated. Women’s communication styles are naturally collaborative and nurturing. They are able to bring people together, making teams stronger. In a recent Deloitte survey of 7,000-plus businesses, the number-one goal was to design a network of teams and remove organizational matrices to meet the demands of a changing business climate. A network of teams requires more focus on communication, not less. Which is where women really excel….
More about the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM)
Time To Complete The Story
For the last twenty years, the National Women’s History Museum has served as the largest online cultural institution dedicated to US women’s history.
As an institution, it has galvanized support for preserving, illuminating, and sharing the powerful history of women in America.
The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. Progress has been made, but there’s still so much more to do.
Now is the moment to help the Museum fully realize its mission—and become the first museum in any nation’s capital to show the full scope of the history of its women.
Together, we can build a physical space to experience, understand, and amplify the pivotal role women play throughout history.
You are welcome here.
Grolier Club
The Grolier Club, founded in 1884, is the oldest bibliophilic club in North America. Its purpose is to maintain a suitable club for the literary study of the arts pertaining to books, providing a place where meetings, lectures and exhibitions can take place from time to time.
I was delighted to attend the opening of Dr. Roger Härtl’s Photographs at The Edge, a book, which summarizes important works by Vittorio Sella and Wilfred Thesiger. Those original photographs and rare books were also on display at The Grolier Club for an in-person curator’s chat and various lunchtime tours between March 3 and May 14, 2022.
I was grateful when Dr. Härtl asked if I would contribute my views on The Abruzzi Ridge to Photographs at The Edge (page 22 and 23) and was honored to have Dr. Härtl bestow the explorer’s trait of resilience upon me during dinner on opening night, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. As Dr. Härtl said in his foreword, “I hope the lasting legacy of these explorers transports us to the farthest reaches of the globe, reminds us of the majesty of nature, and compels us to persist through whatever challenges we may face next.”
