People's University, Forgotten Women, Class 2: Rewriting the Rules: Uncovering the Leadership Lessons of Forgotten Women

October 08, 2026
7:00pm - 8:00pm

October 8: Rewriting the Rules: Uncovering the Leadership Lessons of Forgotten Women

If one asks Google for examples of great business or political leaders, the results are likely to be overwhelmingly men. Author Criado Perez of the book, Invisible Women, argued that women aren’t being excluded intentionally but because men hold the most influential positions in government, business and society at large. The systems we use to define leadership, are outdated and based on old assumptions. One of the beliefs of leadership scholars is that the qualities of a good leader are situational and may change based on what is needed. In this talk, we will explore some examples of women who have used empathy, collaboration, and consensus building to drive change and how we can apply these lessons to identify and support the “forgotten” leaders in our own lives and communities.

Presenter Dr. Wendy Zajack thrives on attempting to understand humans and complex topics in the hopes of offering actionable insights. She spent more than 20-years in marketing and communications in large, messy global corporations like Reuters, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia. For the last decade, she has taught students ranging in age from Gen Alphas to Baby Boomers at Georgetown University. Zajack is a keen observer of human behavior and can connect dots in unusual and surprising ways to make sense of the world. In the Fall of 2026, she was an Austrian Fulbright Scholar. She is often interviewed on a wide range of topics and has been recently featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Ad Age.  She currently lives in Northern Virginia, but is an Ohio native and frequently returns to the Ohio Valley to visit her extended family.