Thursday, March 28, 2024 Mar 28, 2024
47° F Dallas, TX
Advertisement
Business

Morgan Stanley Exec Says Leaders Need to be Authentic, Decisive, and Empowering

Carla Harris delivered the message at the Dallas Women's Foundation Leadership Forum & Awards Dinner Tuesday night.
By |
Image

Keynote speakers at business and charity events walk a fine line. On the one hand, their message needs to be relevant and meaningful. On the other, they can’t drone on so long that attendees start checking their watches or plotting the fastest escape route to the valet line. Tuesday night, Carla Harris—vice chairman, managing director, and senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley—walked the line perfectly when she addressed the Dallas Women’s Foundation Leadership Forum & Awards Dinner.

Harris, who was appointed by President Obama in 2013 to chair the National Women’s Business Council, told the dinner’s 850 attendees at the Omni Dallas Hotel that “you take your life from success to significance when you do things for other people.” And doing for others through leadership, she added, is “all about the letters in the word ‘leader.’ ” Then she proceeded to tick off the word’s six letters, attaching a nugget of wisdom to each one.

“L is for ‘leverage,’ ” Harris began. “You need to encourage out-of-the-box thinking, and leverage other people’s ideas. E is for ’empower.’ A leader must define what success looks like for [her people], even when you’re operating in an obscure environment. A is for ‘authentic.’ Authenticity is at the heart of your power, and at the heart of powerful leadership. If you’re authentic, people will trust you, and it will motivate and inspire others to be authentic, too.

“D is for ‘decisive’ and ‘diversity,'” she went on, first explaining the decisive part. “Meg Whitman, when she was at eBay, said, ‘The price of inaction is greater than the price of making a mistake.’ Make people know that you are decisive!” As for diversity, Harris said, “We are all competing around innovation. To be innovative, you need a lot of different ideas in the room. You need a lot of perspectives. You need a lot of experience. So, you need a lot of different people. There’s the business argument for diversity!

“E is for ‘engage,'” Harris continued. “You must engage your people. You can’t motivate by fear. This is especially true for women and millennials. What motivates them? You need to ask, ‘What’s your experience? What’s the stretch experience you’re looking for?'”

Finally, Harris said, “R is for ‘risk.’ You must be comfortable taking risks. The way to differentiate yourself is to show that you’re comfortable taking risks. Why don’t we take more risks? Because we’re scared. Fear. And fear has no place in your success equation. If you’re not sure about trying something, always default to the try.”

Related Articles

Image
Travel

Is Fort Worth Really ‘The New Austin’?

The Times of London tells us it's now the coolest city in Texas.
Image
Dallas 500

Meet the Dallas 500: Chakri Gottemukkala, o9 Solutions

The o9 solutions leader talks about garnering a $3.7 billion valuation, growing 10x over the next few years, and how the company is innovating.
Image
Local News

An Early Look at 2026 FIFA World Cup Logistics

The World Cup matches will be held in Arlington, but Dallas will be home to a great deal of team and fan experiences. We're getting an early look at what that will look like.
Advertisement