Inspirational Insights – Lisa Bloomquist Scott

We are lucky to have so many tremendous women in our community! You’ve met quite a few of them in our Woman of the Week feature. Now, we’re going to ask them some probing questions and see what kind of insights we can glean from these talented, successful women. Some are Executive Elements clients and some are not. Some are seasoned professionals and some are just starting out in their career.  And all are super smart!

Today we hear from Lisa Bloomquist Scott, HR Talent Manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Adjunct Professor at Loyola University and Self-Help Author. A few months ago she was our Woman of the Week and now she’s agreed to share more career insights.

We asked Lisa, “What do you think is the biggest challenge facing women in the workplace?”

Here’s what she said:

The longer I’m in the workplace, the more I encounter other women who attempt to undermine other women…including me. Fortunately, this did not happen early on in my career. I was fortunate to work with some incredible women when I first started out who continue to be a strong presence in my life today. However, the higher I climb the corporate ladder, the more I find myself becoming a target for other women who clearly do NOT believe in the power of sisterhood. Men have a “Boy’s Club” that is very real and very alive. Women do not.

In my opinion, this is the biggest challenge facing women in the workplace. Women do not jump quickly to empower or support one another. Instead, for a number of varied reasons, women’s initial instinct is often to destroy their female competition before even giving the relationship a chance to blossom into something better….a partnership…a collaboration….a force to be dealt with, if you will.

This is what I would like to see more women do in today’s workplace to advance our gender as a whole. As Madeleine Albright once said in a keynote speech, “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” Isn’t it time women come together and start looking at each other as allies and sisters, instead of enemies?

Great insight, Lisa! Thanks so much for sharing! Readers, do you agree?
Learn more about Lisa here.