PEORIA, Ill. — A businesswoman and political figure is serving as the keynote speaker for The Creve Coeur Club of Peoria’s 122nd George Washington Banquet.
Carly Fiorina, Chairman of Carly Fiorina Enterprises, and 2016 presidential candidate, said it is an honor to be the keynote speaker at the annual event.
“It’s such a wonderful event and opportunity to think about what we can learn still to this day from our history and one of our great leaders, George Washington,” Fiorina said.
Leaders and leadership is a big part of her message that she will be sharing at the banquet.
“It is a leader’s character and actions that define them, not their titles,” Fiorina said. “So, I know leaders that are all over this country that aren’t famous, you’ve never heard of them, but nether the less they are leading because they are changing things for the better.”
She said that it is important to share the message of leadership at times when people are not changing things for the better.
“It’s in those times when we need more leaders, more problem solvers, more people, young people in particular to step up and say I’m not going to be defined by my position or title,” Fiorina said. “I’ll be defined by my impact, by my contribution, by my actions, by my character.”
Fiorina said her past has helped her learn what it takes to be a leader.
“I started out as one of these young women that everybody overlooked. I mean I was a secretary, I typed. I dropped out of law school. I had a degree in Medieval History and Philosophy or heaven’s sakes,” Fiorina said. “No one thought I was going anywhere, including me.”
She was thrown into a large corporation with a million employees, and she saw problems that she wanted to change.
“And I saw people who talked about the problems. And, I got frustrated that those problems were unresolved. I started working with the people who were closest to the problems and we started solving them. And the more problems I solved, the more I realized I liked solving problems and I liked collaborating with others,” Fiorina said.
Who we are, where we come from, and what true leadership is, is the message the Fiorina hopes people take away.
Fiorina is the founder and chairman of Unlocking Potential, a non-profit that helps local leaders who work to solve problems in their communities.
