If you are a working woman I am talking to you. I believe that we need a new generation of women leaders who are skilled in working with male leaders to create a world of sustainable abundance. I am convinced that it’s not enough to put a few more women in senior positions. We need more than that.

We need women who are empowered to lead like women. We shouldn’t want them to lead like men. It’s in the synergy of male and female strengths that our ultimate destiny will be determined. We’ve given ‘mankind’ thousands of years to create the world we have.  It’s not good enough.  We need the influence of ‘womenkind’ to create something more.

That’s why a small team of accomplished women and I are conducting a Leadership SPA for women on February 3, 4 and 5 at the amazing Pacific Pearl in La Jolla, California.

For the past 12 months I have been speaking at many technology, science, healthcare, entertainment and financial services companies about the business performance advantages of promoting more women into leadership. I have emphasized the critical need to create cultures where women are empowered to lead like women rather than mimic men. I call this ‘Gender Synergy,’ where men and women working together harness the most productive elements of hard power, and the most collaborative strengths of soft power to innovate world-changing solutions and bring them to market.  Both women and men embrace the presentation because it leads directly to immediate practical improvements. But we need to accelerate this change.

Most of all we need more women leaders–women leaders at every level.  Women who know how to lead like women.  That’s what leads to breakthroughs in both innovation and execution. That’s not just my opinion or some politically correct fantasy.  That’s the conclusion of hundreds of research studies conducted around the world in the last five years.

I’ve been working with a group of successful women executives and health and well-being experts for over a year to refine our Leadership SPA’s program. Our goal to make every minute, every insight, every exercise, every meal, and every conversation directly lead to helping women become more clear on what they want for themselves, the contribution they want to make and a clear plan to do it.

One of the things I’m most excited about is our new collaboration with the Pacific Pearl Center for Integrative Medicine where we are holding the 2.5 day SPA. The center is led by Dr. Mimi Guarneri, a world famous cardiac surgeon who founded the Academy for Integrative Medicine which is the largest organization of medical doctors and alternative health practitioners who practice ‘whole health’ strategies. Dr. Guarneri is a thought-leader in teaching stress resilience and natural heart health. (Heart disease is the number one killer of women.) She’s also a role model for professional women who feel compelled to make a difference in a male-dominated field where in-your-face resistance and even disdain is the norm.

Speaking of stress, in many ways what we are training is the opposite of “leaning in.”  I have found that in most organizations leaning in means totally devoting yourself to achieving organizational goals and working like a workaholic. But this is the problem. Too often either the goals are misguided, or the way leaders want to achieve them is crazy.

The Leadership SPA is designed to directly deal with the blocks women need to remove to take their place at the table they want to sit at.  Women need to be at the leadership table if we are going to have any hope of changing the way we work and up-leveling the goals of what we’re trying to accomplish.

There are three foundational pillars women need to build their leadership power on.  Building and strengthening these pillars requires an inner state we can only create through a SPA experience.

This is what I mean.  To be an extraordinary woman leader and live the life that satisfies all your values you must have a clear mind, a calm body, and an inspired spirit. 

A clear mind is necessary to be firm and consistent in what you want for every priority that you hold.  This is especially challenging for women because you experience a high degree of inner stress over conflicting commitments.  You will become more powerful when you are clear about how your professional goals and personal desires fit together.  A clear mind leads to pillar number one.

1. Your Career Vision. Women have been conditioned to spend their energy helping other people achieve their goals.  This frequently results in a lack of clarity about what you want, especially from your career. Whether you’re leading your life or leading an enterprise you have to have a vision that is built on your values, not the agenda of others.  This takes the clarity and courage only a clear mind will give you.
2. Your Leadership Power.  SMART power is the synthesis between the positive elements of hard power and soft power…goal achievement through collaboration.  When women adopt the SMART power skill set they immediately become more influential, confident and effective.  To achieve the highest levels of leadership skills alone are insufficient.  Research is clear that extraordinary leaders are extraordinary at inspiring others.  Genuine inspiration comes from deep personal conviction.  Self-inspiration is the genesis of leadership inspiration.  At the SPA we will teach you to use the skills of SMART power to approach your work as a way to make your difference
3. New Habits.  All of us become what we believe about ourselves.  When those beliefs are elevated so is our future.  But to make that happen more easily we need new skills.  And when skills become permanent they become habits. Once self-enhancing habits are ingrained positive change becomes permanent.  The greatest enemy to change is stress.  Emotional agitation drains your willpower. To be calm is to be strong. Calm women are powerful women. The entire SPA program is conducted on the science-based “Work Like a Genius” daily schedule so you actually experience the power of positive well-being in your minute-to-minute life. A rhythm of mindfulness, meditation and daily yoga during the training sessions literally calm the biology of stress that assaults your best self and limits your potential. Most important, you will incorporate these stress melting habits into your daily routine when you re-enter the churning cauldron of work life.

Put simply the SPA will give you a process to transform the way you lead and the way you live.  And you will do it in partnership with a small learning team of women who are just like you and want what you want. That’s a big reason why the Leadership SPA is a woman-only learning experience. Research is clear that women’s learning style is different than men’s. Your mind puts a premium on trust, collaboration and discussion. You will also support each other’s growth for the three weeks following the SPA in virtual weekly meetings as you continue to get daily habit building tips that will keep you working like a genius.

I started the Leadership SPA because we urgently need a new generation of women leaders who are skilled with working with male leaders to create a world of sustainable abundance.

Please, consider coming to our Leadership SPA. We have tried to price the tuition to make it affordable to virtually any leader willing to invest in her future. One more thing, your presence might make a big difference to someone else or the entire group.  If you’ve got the fire and desire please join us.