Two hundred and sixteen pages in six weeks. That’s what the East Tennessee Women’s Leadership Council invites you to join them in reading from March 31st to May 8th as they begin “Discuss With Us”, a new online guided discussion about women and leadership in East Tennessee. They’re starting with the book, “Make Room for Her: Why Companies Need an Integrated Leadership Model to Achieve Extraordinary Results” and they want to hear your thoughts about it in a live discussion on their Facebook page.

This is one of three books written by Rebecca Shambaugh, keynote speaker for the June 13th East Tennessee Women’s Leadership Summit. “We all wanted to read this book before the Summit, so we decided to read it together,” said Wendy Pitts Reeves, Council chair. “Then – because we really are building a conversation about women and leadership in East Tennessee, we thought, why not invite others to read along with us?”

The Council has developed a special “Discuss With Us” tab on their Facebook page and a schedule for reading through the book with them, beginning March 31st. Members of the Council will post comments and thoughts throughout the week. Each Thursday night at 7:00 there will be a facilitated one-hour live discussion on Facebook.

“Since women today are so busy, we thought we’d give an online discussion a try, so people can post as it’s convenient during the day,” Pitts added. “Then on Thursdays, you can grab some dinner, then pull up to the computer and we can all talk for a little while.”

Make Room for Her takes a look at an integrated leadership model from the roles of men, women, and the organization. Male and female executives from companies like KPMG, MetLife, and Merck have endorsed both the book and the underlying concept of integrated leadership. In the book, Shambaugh dispels myths about being an executive, discusses leveraging power – personal and organizational, encourages “showing up strategic,” and much more.

The East Tennessee Women’s Leadership Council is chaired by Wendy Pitts Reeves and co-chaired by Sharon Hannum. Sponsored by WBIR TV and B97.5, the Summit is an outgrowth of the Tennessee Economic Council on Women. For more information go to EastTNWomensLS.com/Leadership-Salon/ or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ETWomenLead (see events).