by Nicholas Masopust, student journalist
Audience members at National Women’s Day learned valuable tips on career management, getting mentors, and learned about successful women in energy on Wednesday.
Hosted by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, keynote speaker Joan Eischen delivered a presentation touted with strong examples of women in powerful positions at energy companies.
As a director for professional services company KPMG, Eischen meets and interacts with several women of power in the Houston area where she works. She furthered those connections by writing her book, Energy and the City, a book comprised of interviews and career advice from some of Houston’s most powerful and influential female energy executives.
Eishen said the interview process for her book took nearly six months, and that even she came away with many new lessons to take to heart.
“The biggest lesson I learned is that executives want to share their experiences,” said Eischen, “they want to help others to be successful.”
“The women I interviewed came into the industry in transitional times, and they learned through trial and error what leadership was, what would work in the industry, and how to find their place in the industry and the organization.”
Eischen’s speech also included advice for career management as gleamed through her many discussions with Houston energy executives.
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘What do I want my career to look like? What do we want our lives to look like?’” said Eischen.
Eischen used the metaphor of a GPS navigation system as a guide for following a career path and the many twists and turns it can take along the way.
One way Eischen spoke of for improving that path is by getting a mentor to help guide through those difficult, uncertain beginning stages of a career.
“Very often we’re afraid to approach those executives,” said Eischen, “but they do have the time when you approach them with a question or a challenge that they can help you with.”
Women making their way in the business world today are still a topic that raises much discussion. Even President Barack Obama mentioned in his most recent State of the Union address the problem of women making 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.
For the women in attendance hoping to pursue careers in more male-dominated fields, it provided a positive reinforcement for what they hope to do.
“It gives me optimism,” said Megan Salisbury, a grad student majoring in Geology. “Some of the struggles she talked about really hit home with me.”
“Sometimes people won’t want to listen to you because you’re younger than them or you’re a girl, but I think once they see your work ethic people become more understanding.”
Those from the millennial generation like Salisbury will be entering the work force before long, so if students like her and the prominent names mentioned in the presentation are any indication, male-dominated fields like energy are going to be brimming with more prominent female leaders in the years to come.
Lead in: "Leadership that..."
AUDIO by: Nick Masopust, runtime: 9 seconds
