Motivational Leadership Speaker, Bestselling Oprah Author

I’ve been gone for two weeks, even though my automatically-updating blog made it look like I was really cranking out the copy. It started with an event in Dallas, then Anchorage. Then, I went on a much-needed cruise.

The Dallas event was for the Network of Executive women. I’m still high from it. So, now that I’m back, I am thinking NEW thoughts that I want to share with you. If you know me at all, you know I am a rabid cheerleader for the Network of Executive Women, a collection of powerful women who are set on advancing each other — and the rest of us. The group represents the retail and consumer packaged goods industries, but I’ve made myself a stowaway in its ranks because it has given me more energy, validation and purpose than any other group around. NEW is not just about networking and making contacts that will propel a career. It’s about connecting, heart and soul, and sharing this historic moment for women as we ascend to levels we once only dared to dream we could achieve.

The visionary at the helm of NEW is a whirlwind named Helanye Angelus. Helayne just retired as a VP for Procter and Gamble, but she’s still quite young. I have never met anyone like her, and if I could share anyone with all of you, it would be her. I call her “Hurricane,” because there is no stopping her when she gets moving. She is a brilliant believer who dares to think big thoughts and devise a strategy that will make her ideas a fast reality. Helayne is the reason The NEW Woman Rules exists. We had an idea, she got the fire, fought the fight, gave me the green light and, because of her, I was able to write a book that I know will track other women faster and higher.

I should note that NEW’s executive director, Joan Toth, does a lot of the heavy lifting for Helayne’s ideas. They really deliver a great one-two punch and I’ve never seen anything like it. Both of them are my teachers. They’re in the photo with me — Helayne in green, Joanie in black. And, of course, Helayne leading the conga line with some of the most accomplished women in America following.

Helayne understands that women leaders today are creating a legacy that will foster success for women long after we clock out. That’s why I love her. She’s not on this mission for some self-serving agenda. She’s doing it because it matters to her soul. And that makes it matter to mine.

There are so many women who make the group rock, and I think of all of them as my sisters. Helayne and Joan make it roll.

Fawn Germer is the best-selling author of four books and speaks to corporations and organizations about courages and creative leadership strategies. download vanguard the online

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