Kim Schatzel

President
Towson University

The past year has added a level of stress to the daily lives of business leaders that was unimaginable until last March. As someone who has sustained achievement what advice can you give to the Top 100 Women on how they take care of themselves while trying to help so many others (home, work, community? We all know self care if critical but also very hard in stressful times.

It’s remarkable about how many people – particularly women – don’t address their own care. It is actually part of your job. If you don’t practice self-care, you can be less productive. For leaders, you can also negatively impact your team — if they see you stressed, that has an impact on them. So, I try to impart on my team and anyone that I mentor: self-care isn’t selfish. It’s part of being a leader.

How do you and your other Circle of Excellence honorees use your influence and achievement to help the women who want to grow to your level of success?

In talking to CEOs and other c-suite executives, I can share that all agree that never has leadership development been more imperative for organizational success than now. Personally, I was often the first and often the only woman in positions I held throughout my career. I think providing mentor- ship for others within our circles—be it our teams within our organizations, in the case of higher education leaders, it can be working with students—can have exponential impact on others who seek leadership opportunities.

What do you see as the greatest issue impacting professional women today and how do you and other leaders lead change around this issue?

In my career, I began at a time when women didn’t have the right to open their own bank account. For my generation of leaders, we’ve seen great progress. But the greatest challenge facing the next generation of leaders is to continue carrying the baton for those who came before us.