Riya V. Anandwala | Nov. 19, 2008
 |
| Photo by Riya Anandwala |
| Anne Doyle spoke on "Leadership Lessons: From the Sidelines to the Front Lines" while visiting campus last week. |
Doyle shared her own experiences in her talk, "Leadership Lessons: From the Sidelines to the Front Lines."
She opened the session by narrating her first “locker room story,” an encounter with sports star Kirk Gibson. Known as one of the first women journalists to gain access to professional locker rooms, she spoke about the concept of being an interloper and told students they are the innovators who will change the rules of the game.
Doyle has affected the rules a bit herself, first as one of the first female broadcasters in the 1970s to demand equal access to athletes and, later, as a public relations executive during the 1980s and 1990s. She held numerous leadership positions at Ford and served on the company’s executive crisis team during the Firestone tire/Ford Explorer crisis in 1999.
In her talk, Doyle stressed the important political skills people need today to survive in the industry. One of the key skills is relating to people and handling the difficult ones.
"One of the most difficult people I interviewed in my career was Reggie Jackson," she recalled of her years as a Detroit CBS sports reporter in the early 1980s. "My director asked me to get an interview with him, and there was no way I was getting it. However, I did my homework well and got to know certain facts about him." It was because of those facts and her approach that Jackson gave her an interview.
Driving students towards the concept of leadership, she kept the students rooted to their seats with anecdotes.
"This session was very encouraging," said PRSSA member Ali Meyer. "The fact that she called us innovators makes me feel good. I am very inspired by her comments. I think I can be as good as a man, too."
In the second part of the session, audience members watched a clip on sexism in media. This clip was a mix of different instances of female news reporters and prominent personalities on the receiving end of sexist comments.
The clip provoked a reaction from the largely-female PRSSA members, who asked questions and discussed what they had seen. Some wondered how women in leadership roles are judged while others questioned why women are "blamed" for their work.
Doyle summed up the evening by saying, "We are a work in progress. We will make this place a better nation with better culture.
Questions? Comments? Email the Web editor.
