Millennials prefer to be coached, not managed… according to Kimberli Lewis of Global Business Therapy. We often focus on the challenges women face in the workforce as opposed to how women can use their strengths to be more effective and get recognized. A coaching style of management, with both individuals and teams, uses the strengths women bring to the table in the corporate environment. Monday night at the Women LEADING IN LOCAL pre-conference event at BIA/Kelsey NEXT, Kimberli nimbly lead the women through a series of leadership training exercises in one hour that normally takes three days.

During the exercises, the “boss” who initially had to just listen and not speak while the “employee” was describing a problem or issue, was eventually allowed to ask open-ended non-specific questions such as “and then what…” or “so tell me more about…” but not offer advice or solutions. The point being to allow the speaker to self-realize the solution to their problem as they talked about it.

Afterwards, Nancy Shenker of theONswitch and sheBOOM presented her Seven Predictions for 2017 for the women.

1. Watch the beacon and get mobile (location based marketing and smartphones).
2. Speed and quality equals success.
3. Content will need to deliver ROI (tracking, martech consolidation, right/left brain teams).
4. Only the best innovations will be funded.
5. Virtual reality and augmented reality
6. Face-to-face will make a comeback.
7. Your inner super girl emerges – no kryptonite (Know your kryptonite and avoid or eliminate it from your life, such as toxic situations like a bad boss or bad boyfriend).