Atlanta (Oct. 7, 2013) ─ A new book with important real-word advice for women in management was the focus of an event The Women Initiative at Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP hosted Thursday, Oct. 3. The law firm hosted the launch of former Fortune 500 executive Becky Blalock’s new book “DARE: Straight Talk on Confidence, Courage, and Career for Women in Charge” at Atlanta’s prestigious Piedmont Driving Club. The book includes straightforward advice on leadership skills, confidence, managing others, building a network of allies, and even learning to fail.
Blalock, a former Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest utility firms, says women must take bold steps to move ahead. The book notes that while women hold most professional and managerial jobs in the workforce, only 14% have powerful “C-suite” positions at Fortune 500 companies.
The reception fulfilled a promise MMM Managing Partner Louise Wells made Blalock during an introductory lunch that John Yates, the leader of the firm’s Technology practice, arranged several years ago. When Wells heard the book was underway, she offered to host the launch party to help spread its message.
“She doesn’t realize how powerful that lunch was,” recalled Blalock, who said the promise kept her going despite tough obstacles. “Louise believed in me, and I didn’t want to let her down.” Blalock added that it was especially meaningful because the event was held in conjunction with MMM’s Women Initiative. “When I came out of college, I did not know of any female partners in a law firm,” Blalock said. “There may have been a few but I was not aware of them. I contrast this with the fact that today over 60% of law school enrollees are women."
One component of MMM’s Women Initiative is a program that Chambers & Partners, a highly-respected publisher of legal directories, recognized with the 2012 Best Mentoring in a Law Firm award. Also recently, Real Estate Forum magazine named Wells one of its 2013 Women of Influence.
“Our firm’s goals are closely aligned with what Becky describes in her book,” Wells said. “The MMM Women Initiative strives to encourage and cultivate leadership roles for the firm’s female partners both internally and in the community. It’s crucial to retaining great women attorneys while promoting diversity in the business world.”
In his remarks at the book launch, Yates expressed his confidence in both of them. “If Becky Blalock and Louise Wells were in charge of Congress and the White House, they’d fix the gridlock in Washington, set a positive course for our country, and focus us in the direction for success,” he said, to loud applause. “So move over Hillary Clinton and make way for Becky and Louise!”
Blalock’s book, published by Wiley, includes the perspectives of more than two dozen successful female executives from companies including Home Depot, IBM, Cinnabon, Spelman College, the Girl Scouts and more. The book is available now at bookstores and online.
About Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP
Morris, Manning & Martin (www.mmmlaw.com) is an AmLaw 200 law firm with national and international reach. We dedicate ourselves to the constant pursuit of our clients’ success. To provide our clients with optimal value, we combine market-leading legal services with a total understanding of their needs to maximize effectiveness, efficiency and opportunity. MMM enjoys national prominence for its real estate, litigation, technology, healthcare, intellectual property, capital markets, environmental, green industry, insurance, mergers & acquisitions and timberland & forest products practices. MMM has offices in Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Savannah, Taipei, Beijing and Washington, D.C. and an alliance with FGCN in São Paulo, Brazil.
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Media Contact: Terri Thornton, (404) 932-4347, Terri@TerriThornton.com