Learning From The Best: Speaker
Profiles For August 8 Women’s
Leadership Exchange Conference
By Jennifer Wang
Staff Writer
Hoping to break the $1 million mark? More? Then the clock is
ticking to sign up for the 4th Annual Women’s Leadership
Exchange (WLE) Southern California Conference, an event geared
toward helping successful businesswomen take their companies to
the next level.
Some 800 attendees will have the opportunity to network with other
entrepreneurs and top-level executives, as well as participate in a
series of Growth Guru educational seminars and a Speed
Coaching Program from leading experts whose consulting services
typically cost $500 an hour.
The daylong event will take place August 8 from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. For
more information, visit www.womensleadershipexchange.com or call 888/937-5800.
The following profiles of Sherry Lansing, Marilyn Montross, Taryn Rose and Pernille Spiers-Lopez are the second in a series of three
Business Journal Web stories on many notable speakers and honorees scheduled to appear at the event.
Sherry Lansing
Sherry Lansing is founder of The Sherry Lansing Foundation, an organization focusing its efforts on cancer research. Currently, she
serves on the executive committee of the board of directors of Friends of Cancer Research and is a trustee of the American Association
for Cancer Research. She is founding chair of the philanthropic group Stop Cancer, a regent of the University of California and a
member of the American Red Cross Board of Governors.
From November 1992 to March 2005, she served as chairman of the motion picture group of Paramount Pictures, during which time
three of the studio’s movies won the Academy Award for Best Picture: “Forrest Gump,” “Braveheart” and “Titanic,” the highest grossing
film of all time. Lansing, who also headed her own production company, Jaffe/Lansing Productions, was the first woman president of a
motion picture company.
She has received numerous honors, including the Horatio Alger Humanitarian Awards and the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate
Citizenship. In addition, she became the first woman studio head to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Lansing graduated cum laude with a degree from Northwestern University.
What do you consider the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career?
I’d always hoped that when I was 60, that if I had been lucky enough to achieve my dreams . . . and if I was able financially to be
secure, that I wanted to leave the movie business and start a whole new third chapter. . . . I wanted to start my own foundation and
dedicate it to cancer research in honor of my mother who died of ovarian cancer.
The biggest challenge I faced in the movie business was to make quality movies that were also commercially successful. The biggest
challenge I face now is there are so many things I care about, there are so many good causes – it’s how to stay focused on the ones
that are the most important to me [when] there’s so much need out there. [It’s] how to be selective and how to focus, because one of
the only reasons I would wish to be a billionaire is so that I could give it all away!
I would say there’s a season for everything and this chapter for me is all about giving back. It is the happiest time of my life, but it
doesn’t take away anything from the past. The best time is always the time you’re living now.
What is one piece of advice you have for an up-and-coming businesswoman?
That’s something I feel strongly about: To enjoy the process of what you’re doing. What I always found is that too many people wish for
results. When I would interview people who graduated from college, I would say “What do you want to do?” and they would say, “I want
your job.” And I would say, “That’s great, but what do you want to do today?”
Enjoy the process, that’s what I always think. Enjoy the work you’re doing today and then the results will come. Because if you don’t
enjoy the process of what you’re doing and you only worry about the results, you’re going to be unhappy. Some things work and some
things don’t work – I enjoyed working on the movies that worked as much as I enjoyed working on the movies that didn’t work. And you
can’t take away from me the pleasure I had working on those movies even if they were not critically or financially successful.
In your opinion, what is the difference between someone who is a good leader and someone who is a great leader?
Someone who is a good leader leads in the present, and someone who’s a great leader has a vision for the future as well as for the
present. Because there are many good leaders who run companies very, very successfully.
I think all leaders should be compassionate, intelligent, motivational and collaborative, listen and create open environments where
everybody feels free to disagree and express themselves. [Good leaders] run their companies or their movements very well in the
present, but I think a great leader is somebody that’s a visionary, [who] can be ahead of the times – not just the moment.
Please say a few words about what is important or exciting to you.
I’m extremely excited about this chapter in my life. I’m extremely excited about the work that is going on in stem cell research in
particular, and the promise that it holds for all diseases in the health area. And I’m extremely excited about a movement that a group of
us are trying to start . . . called Prime Time, which is for people over the age of 60. There are 78 million baby boomers between the
ages of 60 and 65 who are . . . going to be forced to retire, and not all of them are going to want to play golf.
So we’re trying to start like a Peace Corps movement for this “prime time” in your life, where you can give back on a part-time basis
(and still play golf a couple of times a week or whatever you want to do), but give back and make the world a better place.
Marilyn Montross
Marilyn Montross is the director of vendor relations at QVC, responsible for setting and managing the strategic direction for all aspects
of the company’s relationship with the vendor community. Under her leadership, the department fields more than 10,000 inquiries each
year to fill approximately 250 slots that are available every week.
She will also be at the Southern California conference to oversee the product evaluation program, where attendees can present a
manufactured consumer product to a QVC representative, for potential placement on the shopping channel.
Prior to joining QVC in 1994, she enjoyed a 15-year career at Bloomingdale’s buying and purchasing departments.
Montross received a B.A. in business from Immaculata College and an A.A. degree in buying and merchandising from Tobe Coburn in
New York City.
What do you consider the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career?
I would say that the biggest challenge I’ve faced was a major job change within the company. I was working at QVC as a director of
merchandise where I supervised buyers, and I moved into a new position as director of vendor relations. At that time, there was already
an existing structure for the department, but I was offered the challenging opportunity to create an additional structure.
Essentially, I was given a blank sheet of paper as a job description with a mission statement on top, which was to improve the vendors’
experience at QVC. The most difficult challenge for me was first identifying . . . the problems and then identifying how to fix those
problems – and then also working to create cultural change within the organization that shifted from the vendor as a third party to the
vendor as a collaborator.
What that required of course, was a major cultural change in behavior, a lot of changing of mindset and shifting of paradigms within all
the different groups within the company that interfaced with the vendor.
What is one piece of advice you have for an up-and-coming businesswoman?
I would say, first and foremost, find a mentor. . . . People by nature like to help other people and usually, you just simply have to ask.
And the great benefit of having a mentor – and the mentor is always best when they’re not in your direct line of reporting – is finding
someone with more experience within the company, who’s got some level of stature or success that they’ve achieved.
It’s good to find somebody who you can meet with on an informal basis to go through issues and challenges that you’re facing and just
generally get career advice – sometimes of a technical nature, sometimes just more of an interpersonal nature. But a mentor is
probably the biggest asset somebody can have.
In your opinion, what is the difference between someone who is a good leader and someone who is a great leader?
I think that great leaders inspire others to achievements that those individuals never thought themselves capable of. And my favorite
quote in the world – the one that I have on my bulletin board and the one I frequently say to people – is: “You must do the thing you
think you cannot do.” That’s Eleanor Roosevelt.
That quote inspires me because it makes me think along the lines of doing things that I think are impossible, or I think may not be
possible or that I hadn’t even conceived of being possible.
And I think that’s what great leaders do. They inspire people to accomplish things that they themselves didn’t think they were capable
of.
Please say a few words about what is important or exciting to you.
My daughter is certainly the most important person in my life . . . and she’s at a very critical stage right now. She’s a sophomore in high
school and next year she’ll have to board at her high school. . . . She and I are very close, probably because she’s an only child. So that
will be quite an adjustment for both of us.
My family is very, very important to me. I guess, specifically, at this stage it’s watching my daughter go from child[hood] into adulthood
and celebrating that, while at the same time trying to stifle all the other personal issues that are associated with it.
Taryn Rose
Taryn Rose is the creator of a luxury, designer footwear collection that combines high fashion with comfort. With boutique locations in
Beverly Hills, San Jose, New York City and Las Vegas, her business has established a high-profile presence and acquired a dedicated
following.
She has been featured on many media and news outlets, including Oprah, CNN, NPR, The New York Times and Entertainment
Weekly. In addition, she was ranked first on Women Presidents’ Organization and Fast Company magazine’s list of “25 Women
Entrepreneurs Who Are Changing The Game” in 2005; honored as one of the most powerful women in New York City by New York
Moves magazine; and recognized by the City of Los Angeles, Women’s Venture Fund and the Small Business Administration for her
“outstanding” entrepreneurial talents.
Rose earned a medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine and was formerly an orthopedic
surgeon. Her career change was motivated in part by her experiences with patients who suffered foot problems caused by fashion
footwear.
What do you consider the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career?
It’s getting the proper capitalization for a very fast-growing business. I think that that’s something most entrepreneurs don’t expect
because your balance sheet never looks great when you’re growing fast – because all of your cash, everything you’re making in profits,
gets plowed back into the business.
Most [financial] advisors . . . say you have to slow down, but there’s a certain point where you have to also keep up with the
momentum, because you only have a certain amount of time to continue to grow.
I came straight out of the medical profession as an orthopedic surgeon, and I did not have any financial background, but . . . I feel like . .
. what I did get training on as a physician was how to listen, to listen for the nonverbal cues and understand what the [other] person’s
point of view is – which I think is very important when you’re dealing with your customers or with your staff.
What is one piece of advice you have for an up-and-coming businesswoman?
Whatever it is that you choose to go into, as far as your business, be passionate about it. Because to be good, you’re going to spend a
lot of hours doing it, so it should not feel like drudgery – it should be a pleasure for you to do. Mind you, you’ll feel tired, but it should
never be that moan of, “Oh God, I’ve got to get up and do this.” I feel very blessed that my work is something that I absolutely love.
And if you have children, absolve all your guilt about the balance of family and work. It’s never a balance – I call it an equilibrium, where
it’s a very fast dynamic change to meet everyone’s needs.
In your opinion, what is the difference between someone who is a good leader and someone who is a great leader?
I think a great leader exudes confidence even during times of great stress and uncertainty. A great leader has the vision to know that
we will get through the storm and is able to impart that confidence to the staff.
Please say a few words about what is important or exciting to you.
I have three children. But I think women should keep in mind that it’s okay to have something that’s very important to you that’s outside
your family – to keep your identity – because that’s what’s going to make you happy. And I certainly hope that by observing me, my
daughter will get a sense that it’s good to be strong, it’s good to be busy and it’s also good to give back to the community and to give of
yourself, whether it’s nonprofit or for-profit.
I’m watching [my daughter] develop and bloom. She is an amazing human being, and I hope that part of that comes from observing my
life.
Pernille Spiers-Lopez
Pernille Spiers-Lopez is president of IKEA North America. She took over the reins in 2001, after heading the company’s human
resources department and working in sales and retail management. Under her leadership, the company has been named to Working
Mother and Fortune magazines’ lists of “100 Best Companies.” Prior to joining IKEA in 1990, she oversaw the retail operations of 24
Door Store furniture locations.
She also serves on the board of American Forest and the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in New York, and is a member of
the Harvard Women’s Leadership Board of the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Spiers-Lopez, a native of Denmark with a master’s degree in journalism, lives near Philadelphia with her husband and two children.
What do you consider the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career?
In many ways, it’s always . . . when you have a new job or when you have a new opportunity. It’s always very exciting, [but] then comes
the reality, and I think when you grow into things, sometimes things get tough. I think one of the challenges . . . is to always stay
focused on your strengths and the possibilities. It’s so easy to be taken down by lack of confidence.
Everything has a journey and there [are] tough times in every journey. And when you’re in that tough time, it’s important to really
remember your strengths and stay focused on them and constantly look at the possibilities.
What is one piece of advice you have for an up-and-coming businesswoman?
I think it is to acknowledge and realize your own strengths and what you stand for ¬– you know, really be clear on who you are and
what you will contribute and what you will not contribute. . . . I think once we try to be everything and focus on things we’re not really
good at, that’s when we get in trouble.
And then the other thing is, don’t get into other people’s “hurricanes.” So many people, I find, come to you [when] . . . they have some
sort of crisis, some sort of problem, and it’s so easy if you have a heart to take that on or get into their world. I said that to my daughter .
. . in her first year of high school, when there’s a lot of drama going on, “Stay out of the drama. If it’s not yours, don’t get in there.”
So my advice would be really find your strengths and then also, don’t get into other people’s hurricanes.
In your opinion, what is the difference between someone who is a good leader and someone who is a great leader?
I think it’s really about authenticity. I think you can be somewhat of a good leader at a very kind of honest and good level, but I think
when you talk about people that are great leaders, they are people that are truly authentic – people that are not afraid of really [saying],
“Here’s who I am, here’s what it comes with: the good things and the things that are not always good.” And they are able to face
mistakes, change [their] mind, and not be stuck in something. I think that’s the difference.
Please say a few words about what is important or exciting to you.
I could say that I personally feel very motivated and passionate about making a difference for other women, and not only being a role
model, but also creating and facilitating things that will help other women to develop.
Specifically, within the field of personal development . . . I’m actually sponsoring and participating in a . . . program with 16 women here
at IKEA [where] we talk about what is holding us back in one way or the other – what is holding me back personally, what is holding me
back in my job and what my possibilities truly are once I see that these barriers are often directed at myself.
So I’m very passionate about that and I think once you can take barriers away and kind of change your view on what those barriers
[are], it’s just unbelievable to see what happens with people.
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