Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose

by Melanne Verveer, Kim K. Azzarelli Narrated by Coleen Marlo

Overview

“Ensuring the full participation of women and girls is the great unfinished business of the twenty-first century. The stories in this book of people making a difference give me hope. We can use our power and purpose to help all women. And once we do, we can fast-forward to a better world for all.” - from the foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton

“[Fast Forward] outlines a female power action plan: how to find yours and use it while supporting other women . . . The book is full of compelling studies and stats.” - Elle

Books like Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In have helped advance a conversation about women and their careers that has resonated with millions of readers. Fast Forward, by two women leaders whose experience spans corporate America, public service, and global diplomacy, takes the next step. Through interviews with a network of more than seventy trailblazing women, Fast Forward shows women how to accelerate their growing economic power and combine it with purpose to find both success and meaning in their lives.

Companies, countries, and organizations the world over are waking up to today's new reality. Women control the lion's share of purchasing power and are increasingly essential to competitiveness. Women are using their power for purpose, redefining what power and success mean in the process. Through clear, practical advice and personal stories of women around the world - including Hillary Clinton, Geena Davis, Christine Lagarde, and Diane von Furstenberg - Fast Forward shows every woman how to know her power, find her purpose, and connect with others to achieve her life's goals.

“A durable contribution to the continued efforts to effect change for women.” - Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/03/2015
In this empowering work about women’s valuable contributions to the global economy, consulting firm Seneca Point cofounders Verveer (the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues) and Azzarelli (chair of Cornell Law School’s Avon Global Center for Women and Justice) offer a simple three-step template for continued female success: know your power, find your purpose, and connect with others. To show these principles in action, they incorporate the stories of such inspirational women as fashion designer and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg; designer Donna Karan; Sunitha Krishnan, who founded the Hyderabad-based organization Prajwala to help survivors of sexual exploitation; and Molly Melching, who seeks to curtail female genital mutilation in Africa. “When women have the support and the opportunity to pursue , it’s clear they can put us on track to fast-forward to a world of growth, opportunity, and progress,” they opine. The authors also point out that more women should be encouraged to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. An inspiring foreword by Hillary Clinton bolsters the authors’ message that women, working together, can accomplish anything. 8-page color insert. Agent: Jennifer Joel and Rafe Sagalyn, ICM/Sagalyn. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

A durable contribution to the continued efforts to effect change for women.” —Kirkus “We are all capable of great things, even world-changing things, if we take inspiration from others and join together to get it done. We are witnessing an awakening to the justice of civil rights for women in our time. You can feel it is imminent, and it will change the world when it is accomplished. Here are stories of a few women who have dared to imagine the day, and worked to make it happen. Let them inspire you.” —Meryl Streep “A life filled with purpose is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves — and to others. Fast Forward shows women how to lead lives of purpose and meaning, so that they, and our world, can thrive.” —Arianna Huffington “As I have travelled the world, I’ve seen incredible strength and resilience of women everywhere, working at every level. If there was ever a doubt that our moment is now, this book dispels it. Fast Forward shows every woman how she can empower herself and her community, and why all of us will be better for it. Women are the growing force for progress in the 21st century.” —Madeleine Albright “What is life without a sense of purpose? Any woman who’s asked herself this question must read Fast Forward, filled with inspiring stories of women who’ve achieved power in their own lives and used it to make a difference for others, especially other women and girls.” —Maria Shriver “The stories in this inspirational book serve as a powerful reminder that, with the right support, women can become an unstoppable force in their communities and economies. It is a rousing call to action for anyone who cares about creating a more equal world. Unleashing the full potential of women is not an option – it is an imperative.” —Cherie Blair, founder, Cherie Blair for Women “I love this book. It tells the stories of ingenious women who took the circumstances around them and created successful companies and purpose in their lives, while at the same time recognizing their own power to lift other women up, supporting both economic growth and social progress all over the world. It’s an inspiring wake-up call to action, and once you’re fired up, longing to find your own power and potential, it gives you a tool kit of information as to how you can begin. Brilliant.” —Sally Field “Fast Forward gives all of us hope through the inspiring examples of pioneering women in global leadership, public service, and the corporate world — a path forged by Melanne Verveer since she helped Hillary Clinton transform the concept of women's rights in Beijing in 1995. Verveer and co-author Kim Azzarelli share their practical experience with new insights into how we can all lean even further forward. A must read for women — and men — who believe strong, educated women and girls are the key to advancing societies.” —Andrea Mitchell, NBC News —

Library Journal

09/15/2015
Do we need another book on women standing up for themselves and saving the world in the process? If so, this volume fits the bill. Coauthors Verveer (executive director, Inst. for Women, Peace and Security, Georgetown Univ.) and Azzarelli (chair & cofounder, Avon Global Ctr. for Women and Justice, Cornell Law Sch.), the cofounders of Seneca Point Global—a strategy consulting firm promoting women's leadership—outline problems ranging from honor killings to lack of paid maternity leave. With a focus on both U.S. and global issues (and a foreword by Hillary Clinton), this work looks primarily at high-achieving women and how they have responded to specific social causes. Economic facts and research studies are mentioned often but not footnoted. There is, however, a corresponding notes section in the back with page numbers and references. It follows two appendixes, the first being a 17-page "toolkit" with tips and ideas to encourage the reader to emulate the examples laid out in the bulk of the book, and the second listing selected research reports and foundations covering relevant topics such as gender-based violence and economic empowerment. VERDICT Well written and researched but focused on executives vs. general readers. For women's studies and political science collections.—Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH

JANUARY 2016 - AudioFile

Coleen Marlo narrates with the self-assured tone required for an audiobook that aims to empower women to change the world with their talents and energy. With her appealing, always comprehensible phrasing, she has a wonderful range of intensity. She empathizes convincingly with the true stories used to illustrate the book’s message: Women have tremendous power to create good, and, with increasing economic power and public awareness of their skills, they are paving the way for more women to overcome obstacles and become change agents. The women interviewed by the authors are mostly high-functioning executives and entrepreneurs, almost all still challenged by negative biases in lending and investing practices. But for women anywhere on the occupational or financial spectrums, these are stories that will keep their inner fires bright and move them forward with their lives and projects. T.W. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2015-07-28
Two organizers of the contemporary global movement for women's rights demonstrate how they build networks and focus activities to create opportunities for women to exercise their rights. Hillary Clinton provides the foreword to this account of building partnerships among government agencies, large and small corporations and foundations, grass-roots organizations, and individual activists. Verveer, who worked with Clinton during her husband's presidential terms, accompanied the then-first lady to the U.N.'s Fourth International Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, which marked a new departure for their ventures. She assisted Clinton and then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in organizing women's leadership and promoting the Vital Voices of Democracy Institute within the State Department. Later, she headed its not-for-profit reincarnation, Vital Voices. The spinoffs of their public and private efforts for women provide the framework for this memoir and handbook. For years, attorney Azzarelli has led campaigns to protect women from violence of all forms, and she co-founded the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell University to help toughen laws, and their enforcement, around the world. Abuse, domestic violence, trafficking, sexual slavery, and genital mutilation are among the issues that they confront. Other leaders—including International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, Coca-Cola CEO and board chairman Muhtar Kent, and Gates Foundation director Melinda Gates—advocate for the expansion of women's economic activity as a means to dramatically increase new profit sources. Verveer and Azzarelli also reference other corporations as well as local organizations involved with refugees, immigrants, and education aimed at qualifying girls scientifically and technically. The authors also provide useful discussions of research contributions into the benefits derived from increasing diversity at all levels of responsibility. Appendices feature information about relevant international organizations, further research, and a tool kit for moving "from anecdote to action." A durable contribution to the continued efforts to effect change for women.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169844955
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	10/06/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Why Women, Why Now

IT WAS JUST ANOTHER APPOINTMENT on the calendar for both of us: 2 p.m. on a warm spring day, at Kim's office on the twenty-seventh floor of Avon's headquarters in midtown Manhattan. To Melanne, it was one more meeting on top of dozens she'd already taken to explore private-sector partnerships for Vital Voices, the women's leadership nonprofit she had cofounded eight years earlier and was always working to grow. As far as Kim knew, Vital Voices was just another worthy nonprofit that Avon might consider supporting.

Melanne by then had grown used to the standard corporate position: women were fine as a philanthropic gesture, but not as the active partners she knew they could be. But something was different about this particular meeting. Kim, who then served as vice president, corporate secretary, and associate general counsel, had just taken charge of public affairs at Avon and was ready to use her platform to go beyond traditional corporate social responsibility. As she saw it, companies could join forces with women to both do well and do good, contributing to a company's goals while also advancing the lives of women and girls.

So when Melanne started talking about a potential partnership, Kim jumped in. The traditional approach to corporate charity was often limited. Kim was interested in exploring what she called "next-generation corporate social responsibility" — weaving social impact directly into the business strategy. Melanne did a double take: this was exactly how she envisioned Vital Voices making its impact. She glanced at her deputy, Alyse Nelson (now the president and CEO of Vital Voices), who looked at Kim and said, "You're one of us."

In the near decade since that meeting, wherever we've sat, we have worked together on the basis of the shared conviction that progress for women and girls can fast-forward us to a better world.

The two of us are a generation apart and come from vastly different backgrounds. Melanne, the granddaughter of Ukrainian immigrants who settled in the Pennsylvania Coal Belt, has spent much of her professional life advocating for women from within the public sector — from the White House to the villages of India. Born and raised in New York City at a time when the women's movement was gaining a new foothold, Kim, an attorney, has spent much of her career advocating from the private sector, using her legal and deal-making skills to forge partnerships across sectors on behalf of women and girls.

But despite being from different worlds, we share a fundamental understanding: women are critical agents in creating economic growth and social progress. Yet in the circles in which we traveled, it often felt as if few others saw that potential in women.

In our own lifetimes, we have seen women's advocates win major battles, changing laws and putting issues like domestic violence and sexual harassment on the map. But in government and the private sector, where people puzzled endlessly over how to end conflicts and grow new markets, "women" was still, well, if not a taboo word, a largely unspoken one. In our experience, in those environments, arguments about the catalytic role of women did not get the traction they deserved.

Melanne witnessed this from the vantage point of international diplomacy and development, as Hillary Clinton's deputy and chief of staff during the Clinton administration, then as the cofounder of Vital Voices, and later as the first ambassador-at-large for global women's issues at the State Department. She knew how effective a force women could be, even in societies where their worth was devalued, their legal rights circumscribed. Despite these obstacles, women opened small businesses, invested in their children's health and education, and worked across religious and tribal divides to bring peace to conflict-riven nations. They leveraged what power they had for the greater good.

Kim witnessed the same phenomenon from a different vantage point. In her work with female judges around the world, as cofounder of Cornell Law School's Avon Global Center for Women and Justice, she knew the impact women leaders could make, especially if they were supported and connected. In her corporate and legal career, Kim had also seen women entrepreneurs, often starting with the tiniest amounts of capital, build dynamic businesses. In 2005, she had listened to the economist C. K. Prahalad discuss his thesis that the world's poor were viable business partners, as he laid out in his now classic business book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. "If we stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognizing them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs and value-conscious consumers, a whole new world of opportunity will open up," he wrote. In 2011, Harvard professors Michael Porter and Mark Kramer would coin the concept "creating shared value" to describe how some farsighted companies developed strategies to achieve both business goals and social benefits. Kim quickly saw how these models could apply specifically to women.

But in their rush to partner with those at the base of the pyramid or to create shared value, very few companies envisioned how women fit into the picture. It often seemed that the talent and contributions of women at all levels were being overlooked. This was true in diplomacy and international development as well. Women's potential as full economic participants and agents of change had been undervalued for too long.

In the years since we first met, we noticed a shift in perspective. One by one, leaders from around the globe are beginning to recognize the critical role women can and must play. While this shift is being driven by a number of factors, chief among them are (1) a growing body of empirical evidence demonstrating the impact of investing in women and girls, and (2) a historic and rising number of women in leadership positions.

Today the data is in. Institutions ranging from McKinsey & Company to the World Bank have published research showing that women are one of the most powerful demographic groups the world has ever seen. In 2012, a leading consultancy estimated that as many as a billion women were poised to enter the world economy over the next decade. Their impact could be as great as that of China or India. Women are also a fast-growing entrepreneurial force, creating jobs and fueling economic prosperity. From 1997 to 2014, women-owned businesses in the United States grew one and a half times faster than the national average. As of 2014, the nation had more than 9 million women-owned businesses, which employ almost 7.9 million people and boast over $1.4 trillion in revenues. Women own or lead more than a quarter of private businesses worldwide. Women also wield enormous purchasing power, controlling some $20 trillion in annual consumer spending globally. Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coca-Cola, put it simply: "Women already are the most dynamic and fastest-growing economic force in the world today."

But this story is not just about how much money women have to spend, but how they spend it. Investing in women and girls creates a "double dividend," as women tend to reinvest their earnings in their communities and families, raising the gross domestic product and lowering illiteracy and mortality rates. This "multiplier effect" has made advancing women and girls a primary goal in global development. In 2012, the World Bank's annual World Development Report stressed the promotion of equal education and equal economic opportunities for women and girls. "Greater gender equality," the report's authors wrote, is key to "enhancing productivity and improving other development outcomes, including prospects for the next generation and for the quality of societal policies and institutions."

Women are also driving growth for the companies that appreciate the value they bring to the table. Companies with more women in their top ranks perform better. A 2011 analysis by Catalyst, a nonprofit devoted to expanding opportunities for women in business, found that Fortune 500 companies that consistently had three or more female board directors over a five-year period had nearly a 50 percent higher return on equity than companies with no women on their boards. Credit Suisse has found that companies with more than 15 percent of women in top management have a higher return on equity than companies where women comprise less than 10 percent of top management. A 2015 analysis found that the Fortune 1000 companies with women CEOs performed three times better than the benchmark S&P 500 between 2002 and 2014. In the words of the former president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, "Gender equality is smart economics."

As a result, corporate executives and government leaders alike are waking up to the fact that women are drivers of both economic growth and social progress. Armed with the data, women and men leading communities, nonprofits, companies, and countries are increasingly making the case for putting women at the center of their strategies. From the village to the boardroom we have seen individuals using the data to shift mindsets, changing how we think about the power and role of half the world's population. In some instances, making the case has meant giving families incentives to keep their daughters in school. In others, it has meant lobbying leading CEOs to take a hard look at the correlation between diversity and profitability.

And as more women ascend to senior positions, they are increasingly using their newfound power for a common purpose: to advance other women, to "lift as they climb." They are reaching across sectors, nations, and socioeconomic strata to form networks propelled by a shared belief that women and girls have the potential to ignite change. These are not the old-boys clubs of yesterday where deals got cut in back rooms. Today's women-led networks, purposeful and inclusive, are turning that paradigm on its head.

These purpose-driven partnerships yield their own double dividends for women. In a world where women and men are increasingly suffering from time constraints, being able to make a positive contribution while connecting with others can create both personal satisfaction and professional success.

A substantial cohort of women has reached the upper echelons of government, business, and civil society. Leaders like Hillary Clinton, Christine Lagarde, and Melinda Gates are using their high visibility to draw attention to the importance of women and girls in today's global economy and development. Women CEOs of DuPont, IBM, Xerox, PepsiCo, Sam's Club, Campbell Soup, and General Motors, to name a few, oversee global companies collectively worth billions of dollars. Women presidents and prime ministers in countries including Germany, Denmark, South Korea, Chile, and Brazil are modeling female leadership and exercising hard power in the global arena. Media stars like Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington, and Tina Brown are shaping the discourse around women and power, using their reach to tell women's stories. High-profile business leaders like Diane von Furstenberg and Sheryl Sandberg have made women a central focus of their leadership, using their positions to empower other women. At the same time, women have also entered middle management in large numbers, where they are leveraging their influence and expertise to make the case for women and girls. At the base of the pyramid, too, women are creating inclusive networks that are yielding enormous transformation.

Obstacles to unleashing the potential of women, however, still stand in our way. They range from discrimination to widespread violence against women to the design flaws in the system that make it difficult for women to reconcile today's economic realities with caregiving and other responsibilities. We must continue to work to eradicate these injustices and secure fundamental human rights for women.

But an undeniable momentum is building, as more women ascend to leadership and an increasing number of women and men recognize women's potential to fast-forward us to a better world. We stand today on the cusp of a global power shift, one that has the potential to redefine the way we work and live. What follows is an explanation of what this unprecedented power shift could mean for each of us, and for our global community.

Through the stories and wisdom of women and men we know and admire, hailing from diverse industries, nations, and socioeconomic strata, we show how women's growing economic power is creating social progress. This book lays out the many ways in which women drive the economy — as managers, employees, entrepreneurs, and consumers — and how this is changing the way we do business, define success, and create social impact. You will see how these women are using their power to drive their purpose, building businesses that give back, leveraging resources to empower other women, and engaging in skills-based volunteerism and philanthropy. This is a reference book for those who want to master and disseminate the data on the business case for women, and a how-to manual for those who want to harness their own power and combine it with purpose. To that end, we have included in the appendices a toolkit with some practical advice as well as selected resources that can help you continue on your personal journey. More advice and resources can be found at www.senecawomen.com.

Our collective experience spans more than fifty years and one hundred countries. We've met thousands of women, from British parliamentarians to Afghan peace activists, from the most glamorous cities in the world to war-torn villages. We have met with American combat veterans and women who serve in UN peacekeeping missions, with Supreme Court justices and survivors of brutal acid attacks. And we have found that while the stories have a thousand faces, in the end it is the same story being told over and over again. It's the story of women and their aspirations for themselves, for their families, and for their communities. It's the story of how, when given the opportunity, women can fast-forward us to the world we all want to see. This is the story we knew we wanted to share.

What we have learned from our research, from our work, and from speaking to these thousands of women, including more than seventy female leaders and some male champions interviewed for this book, is that advancing and investing in women and girls can unlock the potential of countries, companies, and communities. Doing so can also unlock the potential of individual women too, beginning with the recognition of our own power and potential to lift one another up.

In fact, change always starts with individuals — in this case, people who found their purpose in advancing women and girls. And in speaking to these women and men who share our purpose, we have found that despite the diversity of our experiences, one simple approach holds constant. It's an approach that can also ignite your own potential, transforming the way you think about your life and work. It can be described in three simple steps:

• Know your power.

• Find your purpose.

• Connect with others.

Whether you work in the nonprofit world, log hours as a corporate lawyer, educate the next generation as a teacher, run a business, or raise children full-time — whatever your calling — this approach results in success. It brings success the way we're defining it: a success that includes not only personal achievement but also meaning, impact, and fulfillment.

As you will see, change often begins with a shift in perspective in one individual, which then ripples through her own life, organization, community, and beyond. And just as women are coming to embrace their own power to effect change, men are also expanding their perspectives, to understand that women are true partners in global progress.

Since 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, where more than three hundred participants gathered for the first women's rights convention in the United States, women and men have advocated for women's equal participation. The progress of history, a wealth of new, evidence-based research, and the imperatives of growth have lent stunning velocity to women's advancement in just the past few years. What follows is what that unprecedented power shift could mean for countries, companies, and communities, and what it can mean for you.

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "Fast Forward"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Seneca Point Global.
Excerpted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Videos