So here's the difference that we can all make every single day by what we choose to do. How are we using our social media, what are we listening to? So it's easy to feel disempowered, when in fact, the biggest power we have is that off on switch. Every media joyce we is either an advocacy position for what matters to women are it's quite the opposite, And we won't change the power structure unless we let our power of voices be heard. That was Pat Mitchell by her
own definition. She's a dangerous woman, and that's a good thing. She's a groundbreaker in media, having been the first woman president of PBS and CNN Productions, among her many other achievements. She also help to create TED Women, where she is editorial director. I'm a land Ververe and this is Seneca's one Women to Hear. We are bringing you one hundred of the world's most inspiring and history making women you
need to hear. Pat Mitchell's memoir Becoming a Dangerous Woman tells how she went from life as a small town Georgia girl with no money and no connections to global success. That success includes winning an Emmy, being a film and TV producer, being the first woman to own and host a nationalist syndicated daily talk show, and acting as a lifelong champion of women in the media and in leadership.
Let's listen and learn why Pat Mitchell is one of Seneca's one hundred Women to hear Well, I'm just thrilled to be here today with Pat Mitchell. She has really blazed trails uh pioneering, particularly on women in the media, but so much more so, Pat, thank you so much for being with us, Milan. It's a privilege. You have had so many important groundbreaking positions, first woman to head PBS and CNN productions, to heading the Payley Center, to editorial director of TED Women, and we can go on
and on. But I know personally, what stays you connected is elevating women's stories and experiences, and you have been so consistent on that. So why is that so important to you even though these positions have been buried. You know, my lan, I believe that being connected to each other, understanding each other's stories and learning from each other's experiences is how we survive, and more importantly, it's how we thrived. I mean for generations, going way back to the beginning.
You know, we did it outside of the caves of the huts while the men were off hunting. We shared stories of survival, and then we moved forward from there to over our back fences are now in talking circles, and now as you and I are talking together, now we have learned from each other, and we've also gone into each other's lives with a deeper level of understanding of what we share. Clearly, our lives are different. We are not monolithic as a community of global women, but
we share certain things. We share certain experiences, and by understanding them, seeing them up close, um leads us to do things that are not possible individually, collective problem solving,
for example, leveraging our power to make things happen. I mean, you've led so many of those efforts in Milan, and you've been in so many of the talking circles that I've been in, And I never ever come away from a gathering of women without hearing some story or some experience, or some insight that illuminates a problem for me or
shows me a new way forward. So I think being together and knowing about each other, elevating each other's experiences and ideas is probably our single biggest survival tool, and it is certainly our biggest lever of power to change things. I couldn't agree more with you, Pat, and you have been just an exceptional connector not just with women across
the United States, but truly all around the world. I want to ask you about women in the media, how women are represented in the media today, because we know, uh, and you know better than most how it's evolved. But for you can tell us what it was like when you started out, uh, and then modest as you are, perhaps a little bit about how you helped change it. When I started, it was a lonely place to be. Uh. There were there were only three or four of us,
and possibly only one and most media companies. You know, the government had insisted that women and minorities as we refer to communities of color at that time, that we all be hired so that television would start to look a little bit more representative. But it didn't look representative, and we were encouraged, as you remember, Milan, we were encouraged not to form ally ship. We were encouraged to protect our turf, stay away from each other. UM. And
therefore the numbers took a long time to increase. Because we weren't doing what we do best, which is advocating for each other. So those early days number numbers matter,
they still matter. And this morning, as I was reflecting on some of the changes that I see in a media which, by the way, so sadly still misrepresents an under represents women and communities of color, I did have to think there are some things to celebrate, and one of them I'm experiencing this week at the Sundance Film Festival, where more than half of the films and projects here
Milan were directed produced by women. Now that's an incredible increase over the I think the largest number of any film festival storytelling representation of women before that have been somewhere around thirty but this year to go over half and more than thirty percent of that from artists of women, artists of color. So we have made progress, and clearly we've made progress. In numbers, you can see more women
and you can hear more women's voices. But where it matters even more than in numbers, is what we are doing as individual women who have the opportunity like you and I do, to have access the media platforms like this one. Also, every woman who is a media consumer, and that's all of us to be using our media platforms, whatever they may be, to elevate and advocate for other women, because that's the way real change is going to happen. You asked me not not to be modest and to
talk about how I changed it. I never think of how I changed it, because it cannot be done only by one individual. But I did decide early on in my media career that I would focus on the stories of women and put them forward every opportunity I would get. And it was easy because in the early days, the answer you get from the programmers was who cares women want their soap operas and game shows? Well, we know that's not true, and so over the years, continuing to advocate, create, produce,
come up with ideas. Uh, that's how we change it. TED Women's another example of of a big brand and organization that was putting ideas out into the world. When we came up with the idea of a TED Women, there were less than seven percent of the stories of women and the ideas of women being represented on that stage and on that platform. Today they're more than half, and among the most popular TED talks in the world are ones that were delivered composed uh and came from
the minds and work of women. So numbers matter, but standing up for each other and navocating for each other UH matters even more. Well, that's just terrific advice. And we like advice on this program because we have so many listeners who really do want to make a difference. UM. And you mentioned the shortcomings that still exist, particularly in lack of representation for women of color for example. UM, what can we do? What can be done to begin
to um accelerate that pace? Well, it's part of of what I talk about when I talk about the leadership opportunities and the leadership challenges for all of us Milan and around media. We tend to think, oh, well that's not my area. I don't really have a voice there. I'm not in the media. Well you know, I'm not in the media now either in that I don't hold an official position and in a media company or whatever.
But I'm a big media con consider or and so are all the people who are all the women listening to us today. And so here's the difference that we can all make every single day by what we choose to do. How are we using our social media. What are we listening to, what are we using? How are we um interacting with each other? And how are we letting our voices we heard when we're not happy with what is being done. Um, it's so it's easy to feel dis empowered when in fact, the biggest power we
have is that off on switch. How that to go to or not go to switch? Uh? Every media choice we is either an advocacy position for what matters to women are it's quite the opposite. Uh. And we won't change the power structure unless we let our power of voices be heard. I love that, you know, using one's power for purpose and in this case what you describe seems so simple, but we don't really understand the magnitude of the impact we could have. Um. That's so well said, Pat.
I know you have a passion for leadership and you just mentioned women in leadership. Tell us about your recent book. Uh, it's quite a title, Becoming a Dangerous Woman, but it's essentially a primer for women who want to lead. So what leadership lessons do you want women to take from the book and from your life story? In writing about my life story and work, I really m couldn't imagine that that would be the focus of of what I
wanted to do. So I interviewed a lot of other women who I admire tremendously and who I think of as dangerous in the good sense of dangerous. So it's important to define what I mean by becoming dangerous, and it's very simple. I mean being willing to take the risk to create change, and that means we have to
stand up, speak up, and show up. And as leaders, women are doing that now in ways we have not witnessed in real time the way we're witnessing now in this pandemic, we've seen women leaders exemplify and therefore proved conclusively in my opinion, that women do lead differently than men when we are I shouldn't say, oh men, many
men and many women, because they're always exceptions. It's hard to generalize, but in in very real examples around the world, we are watching women now in leadership of countries and companies to step forward and do it differently, to look at the world through a different lens, which is our lens as wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, wherever we identify on the gender scale, bringing our female experiences forward and um so it's been thrilling to watch some of the women
who I interviewed in the book, like Stacy Abrams and others, see them take their leadership forward into uh the kind of outcomes that are undeniable. I'm certainly not saying that men don't achieve those same outcomes they do, but in order to have a more balanced, more equitable there are more just approach to problem solving. We've just got to have all perspectives recognized, respected and heard, and women leaders
around the world now are bringing that forward. Um. So for me, it's it's a great testimonial to what you and I've been saying all along. And after all, Milan, let's recognize that you were the first sort of ambassador from this country for women, and that's that made a statement about the importance of women's leadership, and you exemplify that every day and the work you carried forth from
that office. Well, thank you, Pat. But you know what you've said about the perspective and experiences and talents of women that so often aren't a parent or aren't given the opportunity UH to be fully participatory. That doesn't just short change women, it short change the benefits of what they can bring. You talked about objective outcomes, and we saw that and continue to see that in the COVID crisis with tremendous women's leadership. Senecas one hundred women to hear.
Will be back after the short break. May I also say something I'm alanned about Janet Yellen's recent confirmation the first US Secretary of the Treasury. I mean, she said in her opening remarks to Congress, you know, we need every perspective at the table. We cannot envision our implement a just recovery, just economically, even if you put all the other ramifications of this pandemic aside, but just to look at the economic impact on women adversely worse than
any other population. Uh and and again particularly communities of color. But there again, she said, we've got to have all perspectives at the table, and women's perspective through that lens is especially important when you look at all policies, all economic policies. So boys, that encouraging right to think that we'll have a Treasury secretary. You go look at the twelve women that Biden has appointed and know that those perspectives will balance our look at policy and programs um
better good for everyone. Well, and that's such an important statement for this moment because we do know that women have disproportionately been affected by COVID UH and the economic dislocation is just catastrophic. So if in building back better we don't address uh, the gender piece, if you will, we're going to fail in the outcome we want to achieve.
So thank you for that message. At this moment, I would love to add one thing about that, because I've been thinking so much about it from this economic perspective, in particular, seeing what you you said. We can't have a just recovery. It's just not possible without women at the center of it. But when I hear people say and all of us do, that we want to build back better, I've begun to think that a better way, in a more female way of looking at that, is
build forward better. I'm not sure we want to go back because we have never gotten back to be an equal place. So let's move forward to a more just and equitable future. Well that's really quite a quite a positive statement, and I think a good one because what COVID has done is exposed the deep inequalities UH, and we don't want to build back in a way where those inequalities continue. But we want to build in a
way where those inequalities no longer exists. So very good point. Um, Let me go back and ask you, as you're talking about leadership and the role each of us needs to play, what were the greatest leadership lessons you've learned along the way? There must have been some impressions you got back when, or perhaps more recently that really have stayed with you, uh and made you such a strong advocate for women's leadership.
This is a difficult question for me because I feel like I learn something every day, either in a story I read about a woman leader or some observation I make in a gathering of of women friends. Um, but I do think one lesson came through with every single woman I interviewed for the book, and really literally every single woman I know as a leader. Is that being willing to say yes, being prepared, yes, but even taking the opportunity, seizing the opportunities when they come, even if
if you're not if we don't feel fully prepared. Because the difference between the men and women's applications for leadership, as you know very well, Land, is that we often feel as women that we have to take every box. We have to be perfectly prepared, we have to know everything we need to know. Men don't feel that way, and therefore they step forward. So my biggest leadership lesson has been step for ward, take take the challenge. Say yes, yes,
you're risking failure. But one thing I know absolutely from my life and the lives of women I know and admire, you cannot be successful, are effective, or achieved any of the things we want to achieve if we're not also willing to risk failing. Yeah, it's something that we've talked about in in our book, UM in terms of fast forward, that we really do have to accept failure because that's
how we learn. And if you say this to a scientist, they will say, well, it's how we know, uh that one thing won't work and we can reach the reach out to the next thing. Um. But but for women in particular, it seems to be UM that we set such a high standard for ourselves that we often fear the failure more than taking that step. So that's fabulous advice.
Thank you, thank you for that. Truly, what do you see in the younger generation of women, because UM, I know you've been doing some great work UH in that space as well. Are they much more confident? Do they step out more? What kinds of challenges do they have,
or how are they leading differently? But it's my observation that this younger generation both has um that great combination of anger at where they find themselves with a climate crisis that threatens and imperils there in their entire future on this planet UM, and all the other inequities that that they have been left by generations of in activity, and where we haven't accomplished what we need to accomplish.
So I sense an impatience and yes, a kind of righteous anger, and and that's led us in many ways to this reckoning that we are feeling global, the racial reckoning, and I believe soon a part of that will be the gender reckoning that we we need to fix the inequalities in our system. But I'm also finding, as we have with every generation of women UM, that there there are you know, there is still a reluctant to step forward and quite the UM way, the collective way that
I would wish them to do. There's still a group that keeps themselves distance from feminism, who misunderstand it, have accepted other people's definitions of what that means, and God spending a lot of time working with that group of young women who need to embrace feminism and all that it means. But progress forward, and the biggest challenge Milan, I think for all of us is to reach women who have been pushed are found themselves for whatever reasons,
on the other side of the political divide. And so this huge divide has developed, and younger women are are more open to listening and um and bridging that divide. And what I'm finding in my work with connected women leaders, which is a cohort of all generations in all sectors, is a willingness of this younger generation to try and
bridge these differences and stories are the bridges. In my opinion, Pat, as long as I've known you, you've been optimistic um And for many people these are very difficult times, um, almost hopeless times in some ways. What gives you hope
and what makes you so optimistic about the future. I once to ask that question my land of Fidel Castro, but I've did at a long ether be with him, and I couldn't figure out whether he was an optimist or a pessimist because he kept sort of fluctuating between the two things, and he said something to me that I have kept ever since. He said, you cannot be a pessimist and be a revolutionary So I think part of why I cling uh to optimism even in the dark days that we've all gone through, is that I
still so much believe that we need revolutionary changes. Transformational changes is about a way of putting it at so many levels, because we're just a far far cry from the more just and equitable and sustainable world that we have been working our whole lives for so during this time, which has been challenging to maintain optimism and and to maintain connections, which are the thing that fuel my life.
As you know, I'm I'm so energized by my global sisterhood and particular but um, what keeps me going is sort of what my friend Jane Fonda said so many months ago when people ask her why she was jumping back into a big movement at eight two, and you know, she said, I was getting depressed, and what helped me
fight my depression was getting involved, getting engaged. And that is another thing I heard from all the women leaders that I've interviewed and worked with and that I'm sure you're hearing too, is we can't be dangerous from the sidelines. We can't be effective from the sidelines. But we also can't be optimistic sitting on the sidelines. It's just too
much that we witness. UM. I wish I could repeat it the way Amanda Gorman did be inauguration, But what she said so brilliantly was that we're we're at the hill. We the light has come and we have to be ready to embrace it, to realize it's unfinished, is unfulfilled, all of the things that we want, all of the promises of of equality and social justice. But um, we have to stay in the light. And more importantly, my biggest takeaway from that brilliant point was we have to
be the light. And in that being, in that doing is where I find hope. That is a wonderful way to end this extraordinary conversation today. UM, I just want to say, Pat Mitchell, you have been the light. You continue to be the light, a change maker par excellence. I think your advice about staying engaged as the best tonic any of us can have. UH and continue to climb those mountains because getting to the top. Whatever the
top represents is really important in life the land. Thank you and thank you for being on that mountain bringing all the rest of us along. What a terrific perspective Pat Mitchell has. Here are three things that stuck with me from that conversation. First, as Pat says, each of us has a voice and a platform, including through social media, we can and should use our platforms to advocate for other women. Second, to create change, we have to be
willing to take risks. That means standing up, speaking up, and showing up. And we're fortunate to live at a time when we have the great example of women leaders around the world who have taken the bold, brave steps needed to tackle COVID. Finally, more than ever, we need to be talking to people on the other side of the political spectrum from ourselves, and that is where Pat finds hope today and the willingness of the younger generation of women to listen and to bridge the divides that
keep us apart. Tune in next Tuesday to hear about our next featured woman and discover why she's one of Seneca's Women to Hear. If you'd like to join the Seneca Women Network, go to Seneca Women dot com. There you'll get access to exclusive events and workshops, plus updates on new podcasts and other opportunities to get involved. Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear is a collaboration between the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with support
from founding partner PNG. Have a great Day.