My friend Terry McDevitt called this morning to tell me a story about women and power.
Terry, who once headed PR for Fortune and now runs McDevitt Media out of New York and San Antonio, was flying back to Texas from Newark yesterday and got stuck on the runway for two and a half hours. Don’t you hate that? Summer storms, the folks at Continental Airlines told her.
Luckily, Terry had been bumped up to first class–“usually the boy’s club,” as she noted. But yesterday six of this Continental flight’s eight first-class passengers were women. So while the two men in her cabin acted seriously stressed by the late departure (one screamed at length into his cell phone, she said), “All the women started networking. The flight attendants, Sandy and Kim, were wonderful, and Sandy said, ‘This is what happens when there’s girl power in first class.'” The female passengers traded business ideas and career advice, while Terry even got a job opportunty out of this inconvenient situation. Bonding with fellow passenger Kerri Hatch, who works with the Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation, Terry lined up a pro bono PR assignment for that not-for-profit organization.
P.S. I’m keeping it light on an August Friday. FYI, Postcards is primarily about power–connecting you to smart and powerful people, giving you insight into them and advice from them. Plus: my observations as companies and players move up and down in terms of prosperity. Let me know if you’re enjoying Postcards. And what do you want to see more of here? Thanks, and enjoy your weekend!