Last year we examined the role that Employer Brand plays in attracting and maintaining talent, and a recurring theme in our conversation was the importance of training—both initially in onboarding and continuously as professional development throughout an employee’s tenure. We’ve found that among millennials in particular this rates among the top factors they seek in a new position.

Last month we hosted our first industry-specific wine tasting, in an effort to facilitate discussion around industry trends important to our candidates and clients. Surrounded by an intimate group of individuals with various levels of experience in the industry, our guest Brendan Spain, US Commercial Director at the Financial Times, shared some insight on the ever-changing digital media landscape, what it’s like to work at The FT, and most importantly, his preferred East Coast skiing destination

At the end of October we hosted the first women’s event in our new series, Changing the Conversation: Empowering Women in Business focusing on Planning Your Career with Leadership as an End Goal. Over 60 women (and several men!) joined us for the breakfast event, held in the office loft space of Schoology, a leader in EdTech. With coffee and bagels in hand, our audience took notes, tweeted, and engaged with the guest speakers, women representing different aspects of leadership. Moderated by CFW’s President, Cynnie King, our panelists shared their personal experiences and insights into building a career, facing challenges, managing priorities, and taking risks. By 9 am, attendees were on their way out the door, hopefully feeling refreshed and ready to tackle their daily challenges with a new sense of purpose (we certainly did!).

A few notable takeaways:

WHEN IT’S YOUR TURN TO SPEAK OUT

by David W. King

Originally published in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, December 13, 1979

They marched in small rows in my grandmother’s day. And for short distances. Her name was Marie Louise Arthur: “Molly” to her husband; “Mama” to her children. My generation never met her, my mother’s mother, but we all knew of her.

We were proudly shown the reprint from the newspaper, with the photograph of her ten children pyramided in front of her: one of them my mother, the uncles and aunts. The story was almost too faded to read, but it was fun to see what Aunt Gladys looked like at age 22, and Uncle Dave – the baby – at age three. And all the others in between, except for Uncle Eddie, who hadn’t been born yet. The story was framed and proudly hung on a wall in our living room. She even made the cover.

“The New York World Magazine and Story Section” was dated August 16, 1914, and a crowd of fifty marchers must have been a pretty big deal in those days – in the days before a demonstration was a demonstration. I imagined all 50 to be just like grandmother: big-bosomed, dresses to the ankles, and all with hair piled on top of their heads like dark brown popovers.