ADVANCE: Montgomery Women's Leadership Digest

September 2024

A Message from Leadership

Finding the Sage Within:

Earlier this summer a friend introduced me to the book, Positive Intelligence, by Shirzad Chamine. It has been transformational to read the book and practice its exercises to strengthen my mental ﬁtness. As a result, I have been more able to navigate the long-distance care for my 93-year-old aunt while moving my investment management practice to a new ﬁrm.

Shirzad Chamine writes that each of us has many critical voices and only one wise voice in our heads. He calls critical voices “Saboteurs” with names such as “Judge,” “Avoider,” “Pleaser,” “Hyper-Vigilant,” “Restless.” “Sage”, on the other hand, is the wise voice. Sage has the powers of empathy, exploration, innovation, navigation and activation. Chamine posits that mental ﬁtness requires the ability to intercept and discredit Saboteurs to access our wise Sage. By intercepting these Saboteurs, then taking a pause to clear and calm our minds, we can connect to the empathy and curiosity we need to move forward with wisdom.

As an investment advisor, I’ve witnessed how my clients relate to their wealth. Many are conﬁdent with a Sage voice and just want an experienced guide to help them make better decisions. Others, however, have strong Saboteurs, judging themselves as spending too much or having too little money. Unfortunately, some avoid dealing with their funds or pass off the responsibility to a partner without retaining any control. My clients often believe these erroneous thoughts help them earn more money, circumvent conﬂict with a partner or family member, or avoid losing money. In fact, I’ve found that these Saboteurs often shake a client’s conﬁdence, create unnecessary stress and result in costly ﬁnancial mistakes. In addition to providing clients with the ﬁnancial data for decision-making, my job is to help them pause and recognize their inner wisdom.

Montgomery Women provides members with the opportunity to make deep friendships and gain mentors - to help encounter our Sages within. These relationships can help us recognize when our critical voices are clamoring and loud and blocking our wise voice.

Not sure if you have those friends in Montgomery Women yet? Well, one may be sitting beside you at the First Friday Breakfast at Mosaic Cuisine on Friday, September 6th. Or maybe you’ll meet them at the Fall Kick Off on Sunday, September 8th.

Looking forward to seeing you at our upcoming events and helping you make those connections!

With warm regards,

Tacy Paul Roby

Member, Montgomery Women Board

Member Spotlights

Sylvia Henderson

Chief Executive Officer,

MindTeam Solutions, Inc.

Sylvia moves entrepreneurs and organizations to transform their ideas to action for income and impact. With four decades of experience in corporate and association leadership, including roles as a corporate trainer and manager at IBM and America Online, Sylvia helps her clients get clear about, develop strategies for, take action on, and be accountable to their ideas. As the co-founder and CEO of MindTeam Solutions, Inc., she is passionate about the value of bringing people together in peer-group platforms (forums, circles, masterminds, etc.) to learn from each other, discover what they did not know they did not know, share with vulnerability and trust, and support each other for personal and business growth.

Sylva is also the author of multiple books including her mainstay, "Hey, That's My Idea! How to Speak Up and Get Recognized for What You Know and Think," the best-selling book on corporate leadership and employee engagement, "Internal Masterminds," along with other professional development products and services. In her personal time, Sylvia serves on non-profit boards, volunteers as a Girl Scout leadership trainer, and can be spotted around town on her motorcycle.

Kylie McCleaf

Chief Operating Officer,

JSSA

Kylie is an experienced non-profit executive skilled in risk management, human resources, financial management, public speaking, corporate compliance, donor and volunteer relationships, and business development. As JSSA’s Chief Operating Officer, Kylie ensures agency growth while maintaining excellence across programs. She is responsible for managing all of JSSA’s Aging-In-Place Services, including care coordination and the Holocaust Survivor Program, as well as Mental Health Services, Employment Services, the Training Institute, Compliance Department, and Facilities.

Prior to JSSA, Kylie was the CEO at Family Services, Inc (FSI), part of the Sheppard Pratt Health System, where she spent 21 years serving in many roles during her time there. She currently serves as a Board Member for Nonprofit Montgomery and for Community Behavioral Health Association of Maryland. She is also a graduate of Leadership Fairfax Institute, class of 2022. In 2015, Kylie was selected as a recipient of Washington SmartCEO’s prestigious 2015 BRAVA! Award, which celebrates the achievements of 40 Greater Washington’s top women business leaders.

Leadership Nuggets

Must Reads

Stress at work is a common experience, whether from ambitious financial targets, tough performance reviews, or shrewd competitors. Research indicates that this stress can negatively impact not only personal well-being but also commitment to ethical behavior. This effect, known as "ethical burnout", makes it difficult to uphold integrity and make ethical decisions when faced with complex situations. Learn about the four warning signs of this phenomenon and strategies for counteracting these forces here.

Recommended Listening

Hidden Brain is a podcast that explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world. In a recent episode, host Shankar Vedantam talks to psychologist Cassie Mogilner Holmes about her research on time and provides new ideas on how to think about how we use our limited time. Listen here.

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Key Updates

RSVP for the Annual Fall Kick Off

All members are invited to join our annual Fall Kick Off on September 8th. This event will be an opportunity to catch up with fellow members and find out what Montgomery Women has in store for the year over food and refreshments. RSVP by September 5th.

Save the Date: New Member Connect

This month we are pleased to welcome Chloe Bernardi and Abby Sakariyah to our vibrant and dynamic community!

To all members who have joined Montgomery Women in 2024, please save the date for our upcoming New Member Connect event on October 24th. Keep an eye out for formal invitations and additional information coming soon.