Leaders on How to #AccelerateAction in Professional and Personal Lives

Detroit Regional Chamber members and other industry leaders gathered at the Chamber’s eighth annual International Women’s Day luncheon to celebrate the personal and professional accomplishments of women.

Following their individual keynotes, Chavez, Glaza, Kaur, and McDonald sat together to further discuss career advancement, intentionality in professional relationships, and the future of DEI.

Kicking off the conversation, the panel talked about the current state of business and entrepreneurship, highlighting a large increase in women taking on leadership positions and owning businesses. They attributed this progress to collective efforts and intentional actions.

“We need to become more innovative for and with ourselves,” Chavez said. “I had sounding boards … talked to people and got feedback. I think we have to go out and explore. Often, we limit ourselves. … we’re agile for everyone else but ourselves.”

“… now that I’m well into that third decade in that entrepreneur space, we are seeing more women,” Glaza said. “We have to stop the siloing. We do have to find the people we want to partner with.”

“In the last couple of years, there’s been a higher velocity of effort put into enhancing diversity [and] representation in places where there was more focus on tying these things back to business outcomes,” Kaur said. “And where those efforts were … not backed by outcomes, I see those efforts whittling away much more.”

The panel also discussed when and how to level up in one’s career, emphasizing the importance of building professional relationships within the workplace and trusting gut feelings to figure out what is best.

“The one thing I would say is that it’s extremely important to not wait for someone to tap you on the shoulder,” Chavez said. “You need to have that network … in the company … you have to have trusted people in [your] organization that you can start talking to … to advise you.”

“It comes from the gut. You do have to trust it,” Glaza said. “… when I stop enjoying what I’m doing, I’m stuck. … what are the things you value and what is important to you, and what’s a fit to your family life at the time?”

“… you do what you value, you want. You take the risks that you’re really passionate about,” Kaur said. “I often think about what I did [in my career] … and it was blood, sweat, and tears. And honestly, I tell people I haven’t arrived yet, I’m still on my journey.”

Nearing the end of the conversation, the panel discussed the business decisions to keep and strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in their companies.

“There’s a good portion of this population who don’t believe we should be in this room, the board room,” Glaza said. “I am nervous. I do think people will retreat a bit … but that’s in our control … to keep pushing forward … but I don’t want to ignore the words … those words do matter.”

“It gives me hope that despite the pushback on the words itself, the essence hasn’t been lost for the most part,” Kaur said. “And I think this is what differentiates the companies and leaders that have the courage versus those who don’t.”

“We had to evaluate our public disclosures… we’ve done nothing illegal; that’s my job. So to penalize us for three words is ridiculous,” Chavez said. “The most critical thing, at least from my perspective, is not the words; it’s the work. If you were doing it to check the box, then it’s going away … if people believe by removing those three words are really going to change behavior, then they’ve got another thing coming.”