Looking back on the First International Session in China

By Martha P. Farmer, Executive Director, Leadership America

The inaugural session of Leadership America Abroad took place in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu, China, October 14-23, 2009.

Eight women, alumnae of Leadership America and/or Leadership Texas, were trailblazers as they shared the mission and vision of the 22-year-old program for our nation’s women leaders with their counterparts in China.

Designed to provide tools necessary for leadership in today’s global environment and to enrich and expand women’s leadership opportunities in academic, business, educational, healthcare, political, nonprofit and social arenas, the Leadership America program attracts both seasoned and emerging leaders.

The opportunity to meet and interact with women leaders in China heightened global awareness and mutual respect and understanding; engaged the Chinese and American women in conversations regarding the intersection of our agendas; opened opportunities for agile, connective leadership in a rapidly changing world forum; and initiated the development of a global women’s leadership network.

From visiting with an elderly Chinese woman in her modest, traditional abode in the Yannian Hutong in Beijing to having tea with Madam Chan Laiwa, the second wealthiest woman in China (a fact gleaned from the China Daily the day of our visit) and curator of the China Red Sandalwood Museum; from riding in a pedicab, enjoying a leisurely excursion on a sampan to speeding along on the amazing MegLev (the world’s fastest train); from observing the members of the Keiretsu Forum connect venture capitalists with newly minted entrepreneurs to meeting with officials from the very tightly controlled, government connected All-China Women’s Federation; from climbing atop the Great Wall to a behind-the-scenes visit at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding, the women of Leadership America engaged in conversations that tore down barriers, built avenues of mutual understanding and respect, and forged important professional alliances and personal relationships that will serve as the foundation for ongoing dialogue.

2009 Leadership America Abroad set the stage for annual global initiatives that will result in the development of a powerful global women’s network.

2010's International Session will be Dubai and promises to be just as encompassing and life changing as the China Session.

More information to come. You can apply for Dubai or any of our other session in Dallas, Miami and Boston, online at www.leadershipamerica.com.