Female Exec Still Wears the Pants Leslie Williams Johnson May 19, 2006

Becky Blalock was in ninth grade when she decided to challenge one particularly cold school policy.

At the time, despite the chilly winter weather in Kansas, girls weren't allowed to wear pants to school.

"During one particularly cold week, I rounded up a group of girlfriends," Blalock explained through e-mail correspondence. "We decided that we were going to wear pants to school the next day regardless of what those administrators said. We were initially expelled, then reinstated -- from then on, girls could wear pants in our school district."

That experience was just the beginning of her future in leadership. Blalock, senior vice president and chief information officer at Southern Co., was the opening speaker at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson School of Business' eighth annual Women's Leadership Forum May 12. Her topic covered creative leadership in a changing world.

"Women have made so much progress since I started out," Blalock said. "I've been the first woman in nearly all my jobs. When I started at Georgia Power there were no female managers. In 1978, that was not unusual -- women made up less than 35 percent of the work force. Today, not only are we equally represented, but women now make up half of the managerial work force in the United States."

Pat Upshaw-Monteith, president and CEO of Leadership Atlanta, has known Blalock since 1997, when Blalock went through the program.

"She's very highly motivated, very self-directed," Upshaw-Monteith said. "You give her a task, and consider it done."

Jack McMillan, CEO of TechBridge, said during her two-year term as co-chair of the nonprofit group's major fund-raiser, the Digital Ball, which was held May 6, Blalock made several improvements. In addition to recruiting new sponsors, McMillan said she came up with ways to make the ball a more memorable experience.

"One of the things Becky felt strongly about was ... [providing] photographs of people coming to the ball as [a] memento or keepsake," he said. So she arranged for the photographers and equipment to be on hand. And, there was no financial burden put on TechBridge.

"She doesn't just throw ideas out there; she comes behind them with resources and solutions," McMillan said.  For the second consecutive year, the ball raised more than $1 million in cash and in-kind donations, McMillan said.

Besides her obvious determination as a young student, Blalock's background gives a clue to the foundation of her resourcefulness and innovation. She said she was an Air Force brat whose education included going to eight elementary schools, three junior high schools and four high schools.

"Each time my family moved, I had to find new friends and quickly get used to my new environment," she said. "I learned flexibility and how to influence others."

While in college and studying business, the man who became her husband, Jim, "challenged me that I would be good at [business] too, even though there were no women in the business school at all," she said.

Interacting with people, Blalock said, is the best aspect of her job. "I get so much satisfaction and joy out of identifying high-potential people and helping them to be successful. Helping talented people assume leadership roles and become all they can be is the biggest reward I have," she said.

She advises women leaders, and those with potential to lead, to keep their attention on doing their best daily at whatever their work is.

"Constantly ask questions and make an effort to learn," she said. "Integrity is your most important asset; never compromise it."