More than 500 women from as far
away as Nashville packed into the Lenhart Grand Ballroom at Bowling Green State University Tuesday to glean
advice on "Becoming a Woman of Influence."Keynote speaker Amy Shore, a BGSU alumna who is now
senior vice president with Nationwide Insurance, was one of six females in high leadership roles invited to
talk about what it takes to make it to their current position at the sold-out event presented by Huntington
and co-hosted by BGSU’s original Center of Excellence in Developing Effective Business and
Organizations.Shore talked about what the business and social climate was like for women in 1964, the year
she was born. Among other hurdles:• Want ads were segregated by gender and race;• Sports opportunities were
limited;• Marriage was deemed "the ticket for the life you want";• If you were an airline hostess,
you were automatically kicked out of your job at age 32 because "it was time for you to stay home and
have children."As an 18-year-old, Shore recalled sitting down on the family’s Naugahyde sofa to discuss
her future with her parents."I was being recruited by colleges" but Shore’s father told her,
"Girls don’t need to go to college. Maybe you can go to secretarial school and work until you marry and
stay home."Shore’s mother sat there silent.Her father’s words "lit a burning desire" in
Shore, who vowed to herself: "I’m not going to be a secretary, I’m going to have one."She managed
college all on her own, the first member of her family ever to gain a degree. Shore started at community
college, then transferred to BGSU, "always working two jobs, and always one of them at a restaurant
because that way I knew I would get something to eat."Her mother eventually "became a strong
advocate for me in the way that she could. She sewed clothes for me, slipped me $25 a month from her grocery
money so I could eat."Shore graduated with a 4.0 and tore into a career that currently sees her in
charge of a team including eight regional vice presidents, and two staff vice presidents that lead 1,500
associates and 3,500 agents.Several personal attributes have been critical in making that climb, Shore
said.The first is "adaptability," she said of a career that has involved working three different
jobs and living in six different cities "thanks to a fabulously supportive husband and kids." Her
spouse decided 15 years ago he would be a stay-at-home dad. "That’s what allowed me to relocate."
But she told her company up front that she would not make any moves while her children were in high
school."The ability to be adaptable is probably the single biggest trait I look for when I’m
interviewing prospective employees" because of the speed at which things are changing in the business
world today, she added.Shore also believes she benefitted by changing companies because it forced her to
"learn new cultures."Also of value – her devotion to continuous learning."I was able to study
after the children went to bed" and "demonstrate to my bosses" that she was serious about her
career even though she was a mother.These days, Shore is an avid reader, especially of biographies of women
who have had historically significant impact. Recent volumes about Catharine the Great, Cleopatra and
"The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, from Grocer’s Daughter to Prime Minister" are loaded onto her
Kindle.Among the final attributes that Shore considers important for a woman seeking success are:• Clarity
about her goals, "a gift that comes with time;"• "Compassion in action," which allows a
woman to capitalize on the social norms still assigned to women in a way that allows her to be effective,
nonetheless. This is often achieved through "servant leadership," community service, sponsoring
and mentoring others."Sponsoring someone is helping them when they’re not in the room. It’s not the
same thing as mentoring others," she clarified.Shore quoted former Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright who once famously said there is a special place in hell for women who refuse to help women.Shore
encouraged the women in the BGSU audience to have more confidence in themselves.She cited a study in which a
job description was created which listed five requirements. Males in the study "felt free to apply for
the job if they met two of the five requirements."Women, by contrast, "did not apply unless they
met four of the five."The only true difference between the two groups of applicants was their level of
self-confidence.