Rebecca Braitling of UpSpiral Leadership interviews Diane Menard. Diane is a trailblazer, mentor and advocate for women in business. She currently leads the Commercial Real Estate Division of Prestige Title Business Development. Diane has spent the majority of her career in sales and marketing in the commercial real estate industry. During her career, Diane has taken an active role and career in New Jersey dedicated to advancing women in commercial real estate. She currently serves as a board member for 2020 WomenRising and previously served on the advisory board for Montclair State University. Diane has been recognized for her accomplishments by Leading Women Entrepreneurs as a Top 25 award winner.
[00:28] Introducing Diane
[04:48] Diane’s Motivation for Mentoring Women
[08:37] Limiting Mental Models
[18:30] Diane’s Early Experiences with Strong Women and the Ms Foundation
[23:53] The Importance of Collaborative Leadership
[31:43] Pain Manifests as Anger
[33:28] Lightning Round: A Series of Brief Questions
[39:37] The Flip: “It is Important to Fit In”
Diane attributes her work mentoring and advocating for women in business to her upbringing. She believes that growing up around a lot of men and boys was a reprieve from how women are generally socialized to be more demure and self-conscious when advocating for themselves. Additionally, she sees her ability for empathy as particularly useful in the context of mentorship.
Diane’s approach to mentorship and helping women in the workplace is grounded in one-on-one conversations and asking questions about their experience and strengths they have rarely been asked. Also, in college and in her early career, she found herself networking with women who provided hands-on support to other women, including Gloria Steinem. These networks of women influenced her to pay it forward by mentoring other women and helping them see the strengths that lie within them.
When we approach people with skepticism and feelings based on fear, we tend towards limited outcomes.
Approaching people with empathy, being curious about what’s happening with them, and assuming positive intent allows us to think bigger and create a model for empathetic leadership. When someone is showing up angry, Diane tries to understand their point of view because that anger comes from some sort of pain.
According to Diane, the leadership trait the world needs most right now is compassion. To her, Michelle Obama best models compassion, hearing and responding to all sides with empathy without losing herself along the way. She urges us to consider other people’s perspectives and collaborate better so that we can develop solutions together.
Diane flips “It’s Important to Fit In” with a suggestion that we change the parameters of what it means to fit in. She suggests that the Generation Z’s are doing this by getting rid of the defining variables that keep people in boxes.