Defining moments and identity discovery was the common theme Friday afternoon at the fifth annual Women's Leadership Colloquium at Brenau University.
The college opened their doors to the community for the event and welcomed Linda D. Nelson as their keynote speaker. Nelson is the UPS President of Customer Experiences and has been involved in the package delivery company since she was looking to go to law school. After sharing how team sports and other elements of her childhood in the 1960s and 1970s impacted how she looked at hardwork, Nelson also shared how working as a box loader and unloader at UPS was a natural fit.
"I had to put law school on hold for a year, and I had also picked up a part time job working for two attorneys. As the next year unfolded, I found myself becoming more and more entrenched in the UPS culture - it's fast paced, it's challenging, competitive, and it's filled with opportunity. I was asked to move in to a supervisory position about a year and a half in with the company. I was starting to see a really clear path to something special at UPS and at the same time I as beginning to question my desire to pursue that legal career," said Nelson. "Once again, I trusted that inner voice and I made the decision to focus on a career at UPS."
Nelson's success at UPS was also more interesting because of the hardships she faced. Sometimes, she was the only woman in the room. Another time she had to lead a team through a transition knowing she would lose her job at the end. And, there was the time two of her team members were shot and killed by a disgruntled former employee shot up their facility in Birmingham.
"My team. These were my guys. Men I had come to know and respect while working together. Doug [Hutcheson] was a husband, father of twin four-year-old boys and Brian [Callans] was one of the most giving people I'd ever been associated with in my years at UPS. They were special. Nothing in my personal or professional experience could have ever prepared me for the conversations I had to have that day," said Nelson. "It's a moment in time that defined and changed the future for so many, including myself. It was a moment in time that required every ounce of leadership I could muster. Because what mattered in that moment was that I could provide leadership and compassion my team so desperately needed."
But Nelson said she knew the downs meant more ups were coming. When her vice president position was removed and she was still working with her team, rejoining the company working under her previous position, she decided to take a look at what she could control. "I needed to take control of the things in my life I could control: my attitude and my passion for the job to start with. So I turned my energy as I always had into always doing my job as well as I could. I knew that if I was ever going to put myself into the position for re-promotion I had to put all my efforts into my work, and that's what I did." Nelson worked her way back up to president in 2015 and relocated to Illinois.
In 2011, she learned she had breast cancer. "The challenges we face in our lives come in the form of personal and professional... breast cancer at 48. A moment that felt like another punch in the gut. But to this day, I' amazed at how calm and practical I was in that moment. It was certainly emotional, but in that moment I was pragmatic, I was logical, I suppose it feels like an attribute to my years experiencing chaos and crisis in the business world."
Three local female leaders, Carole Ann Daniel, Deborah Keith Mack and Lydia Sartain, shared their stories alongside Nelson. The four concluded the event with a question and answer session. Brenau students also shared their talents as part of intermission.
