英文原文：https://toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2025/march/leadership-skills-at-the-top
2025年3月
高层领导力技巧
Toastmasters的职位如何塑造了执行委员会中的四位女性。
作者：劳拉·阿曼
Leadership Skills at the Top
How Toastmasters roles shaped four women on the Executive Committee.
By Laura Amann
Laura Amannis managing editor for the Toastmaster magazine. Reach her at lamann@toastmasters.org.
Women play an interesting role in Toastmasters leadership. Although women were not admitted as members until 1973 (with the first female International President taking office in 1985), they are quickly making up time—in 2025, four of the five top Board of Directors members (the Executive Committee) are women. And none were born in North America.
在Toastmasters的领导层中，女性扮演着饶有趣味的角色。尽管女性直到1973年才被接纳为会员（首位女性国际主席于1985年上任），但她们正在迅速迎头赶上——2025年，五位最高董事会成员（执行委员会）中有四位是女性。而且她们没有一位出生在北美。
2023–2024 International President Morag Mathieson, DTM, was followed by 2024–2025 International President Radhi Spear, DTM. Aletta Rochat, DTM, is the International President-Elect, and Gauri Seshadri, DTM, is the Second Vice President.
2023-2024年度国际主席莫拉格·马蒂森（Morag Mathieson），DTM，之后是2024-2025年度国际主席拉迪·斯皮尔（Radhi Spear），DTM。阿莱塔·罗沙特（Aletta Rochat），DTM，是国际主席当选人，而高瑞·塞沙德里（Gauri Seshadri），DTM，是第二副主席。
Their leadership experiences have changed their lives in ways they could have never anticipated, and often in ways that are unique to women.
她们的领导经历以她们从未预料到的方式改变了她们的生活，而且通常这些方式对女性来说是独一无二的。
When you look back [at life], you’re not likely to regret trying and failing but far more likely to regret never even trying.”“
当你回顾[生活]时，你不太可能后悔尝试过却失败了，但更可能后悔从未尝试过。”
Radhi Spear, DTM, 2024–2025 International President
Reasons for Joining
加入的原因
There are many reasons people join Toastmasters, but it’s safe to say that no one goes to their first club meeting with the goal of being International President someday.
人们加入Toastmasters有很多原因，但可以肯定的是，没有人第一次去俱乐部会议时就立志将来要成为国际主席。
Although it’s hard to imagine now, Seshadri and Spear, who are both from India, joined Toastmasters to become more comfortable speaking in front of people and gain confidence. Both joined after they moved to the United States and were conscious of the fact that Americans spoke more directly than they were used to.
尽管现在很难想象，但同样来自印度的塞沙德里和斯皮尔加入Toastmasters是为了在众人面前讲话更加自在，增强自信。两人都是移居美国后加入的，意识到美国人比她们习惯的说话更直接。
“While my English is good, I knew I had to be more confident, more assertive,” says Seshadri, who now lives in Bangalore, India. “I was missing opportunities at work. I realized I was the biggest obstacle in my own path of success.”
“虽然我的英语不错，但我知道我需要更加自信，更加果断，”现在居住在印度班加罗尔的塞沙德里说。“我在工作中错失了机会。我意识到自己是我成功道路上最大的障碍。”
Spear, who lives in Piscataway, New Jersey, also felt she needed to gain confidence in communicating, particularly as a woman in the male-dominant telecommunications field.
居住在新泽西州皮斯卡塔韦的斯皮尔也觉得需要在沟通方面增强自信，尤其是在男性主导的电信领域作为一名女性。
For Mathieson, of Möhrendorf, Germany, and Rochat, of Cape Town, South Africa, the reasons were different. They didn’t have any fear of public speaking—in fact, both were attracted to Toastmasters because they enjoyed communicating and wanted to find people with the same interest.
对于来自德国默伦多夫的马蒂森和来自南非开普敦的罗沙特来说，原因则不同。她们对公开演讲毫无畏惧——事实上，两人被Toastmasters吸引是因为她们喜欢沟通，并希望找到有相同兴趣的人。
Mathieson had relocated from England to Germany, and wanted to meet new people and network with others.
马蒂森从英国搬到德国后，想结识新朋友并与他人建立联系。
Rochat went to her first meeting after years of being home raising her children. “It was just a fun evening out,” Rochat recalls. “But when I got there, I was just blown away. They were so articulate, so funny. I knew I could learn; I knew it was the place for me.”
罗沙特在多年在家抚养孩子后参加了她的第一次会议。“那只是一个有趣的夜晚外出，”罗沙特回忆说。“但当我到达那里时，我被深深震撼了。他们如此健谈，如此幽默。我知道我可以学习；我知道这是适合我的地方。”
“It all starts with putting your hand up. If you don’t do that, you don’t get that growth; you have to do that zone of discomfort.”
“这全部从举手开始。如果你不这样做，你就无法获得那种成长；你必须进入那个不舒服的区域。”
Aletta Rochat, DTM, 2024–2025 International President-Elect
Breaking Down Barriers
打破障碍
While all four women admit they see themselves as leaders first, rather than women leaders, they also all recognize the significance of their role, especially because none of them were born in North America.
虽然这四位女性都承认她们首先将自己视为领导者，而不是女性领导者，但她们也都认识到她们角色的重要性，特别是因为她们没有一位出生在北美。
“As a woman, I find many women come to me, and say ‘because you’re doing this we know it’s possible.’ This is especially true as a woman from outside North America,” says Mathieson.
“作为一名女性，我发现许多女性来到我面前，说‘因为你正在做这件事，我们知道这是可能的。’作为一名来自北美以外的女性，这一点尤其如此，”马蒂森说。
Rochat will be the first International President from Africa, something she finds incredibly exciting and hopes will encourage others to see international leadership as a possibility.
罗沙特将成为非洲首位国际主席，这让她感到无比兴奋，并希望这能鼓励其他人将国际领导视为一种可能性。
Seshadri admits that for years she was reluctant to participate in anything too women-centric, such as International Women’s Day celebrations—preferring to be seen as a leader, rather than a woman leader. But she now realizes the value of stepping up.
塞沙德里承认多年来她一直不愿意参与任何过于女性中心的活动，比如国际妇女节庆祝活动——她更愿意被视为一名领导者，而不是一名女性领导者。但她现在意识到挺身而出的价值。
“If I come forward there might be other people in India or Asia who look at me and think If Gauri can do it, so can I. If I could help at least one person, that would be amazing.”
“如果我挺身而出，印度或亚洲可能有其他人看着我说，如果高瑞能做到，我也能做到。如果我能帮助至少一个人，那将是令人惊叹的。”
Toastmasters gives you a safe space to practice the skills. That gave me confidence, opened doors, created new opportunities for me.”
“Toastmasters为你提供了一个安全的空间来练习这些技能。这给了我信心，为我打开了大门，为我创造了新的机会。”
Gauri Seshadri, DTM, 2024-2025 Second Vice President
Changing Impact of Their Leadership Journey
领导力之旅的改变人生的影响
Mathieson, Spear, and Rochat all quickly jumped into club leadership roles, but it took Seshadri four years before she felt confident enough to do so.
马蒂森、斯皮尔和罗沙特都迅速投身于俱乐部领导角色，但塞沙德里花了四年时间才感到足够自信去这样做。
The ascension from club officer to Executive Committee member looks different for everyone. Regardless of the path, the impact of the leadership roles—the skills gained, the people met, the experiences—has enhanced each of their lives.
从俱乐部官员到执行委员会成员的晋升对每个人来说都不尽相同。无论路径如何，领导角色的影响——所获得的技能、所认识的人、所经历的经历——都提升了她们每个人的生活。
All four women say that unquestionably they would not be where they are today in all areas of their lives without having been in a Toastmasters leadership position.
四位女性都说毫无疑问，如果没有在Toastmasters担任领导职务，她们今天在生活各个方面都不会处于现在的位置。
Mathieson, who was a longtime manager and executive in the pharmacy industry, became involved in a charity in Germany and served as chair of their board, something she says she never would have dared to do before her experience as a Toastmasters leader.
在制药行业担任长期经理和高管的马蒂森，参与了德国的一家慈善机构并担任其董事会主席，她说在成为Toastmasters领导者之前她从未敢这样做。
“I put myself in front of things in a way I wouldn’t have before. The confidence kind of creeps up on you—you don’t realize it’s happening.”
“我以一种我以前不会的方式将自己置于各种场合。这种信心会悄悄地增长——你没有意识到它正在发生。”
Spear, who works in the electrical engineering field, used the communication and leadership skills, as well as the confidence she gained through Toastmasters leadership, to advance her career, allowing her to become involved in resolving more critical challenges and be recognized as a subject-matter expert.
在电气工程领域工作的斯皮尔，利用她在Toastmasters领导层获得的沟通和领导技巧以及信心来推进她的职业生涯，使她能够参与解决更关键的挑战并被认可为专题专家。
“In America, people speak with such confidence,” she says. “And sometimes you know they’re wrong, but they’re so confident. And a lot of women, including me, sell themselves short. For me, it was cultural as well as my personality.”
“在美国，人们说话时如此自信，”她说。“有时你知道他们错了，但他们如此自信。而包括我在内的许多女性低估了自己。对我来说，这既是文化原因也是我的性格原因。”
For Rochat and Seshadri, their journey in leadership led them to completely new careers.
对于罗沙特和塞沙德里来说，她们的领导之旅使她们进入了全新的职业领域。
When Rochat joined Toastmasters, she was raising her children, having left her career in marketing management. Within a year, she was coaching clients on public speaking skills. She soon established her own business as a coach and trainer, helping clients build executive presence, as well as communication and leadership skills.
当罗沙特加入Toastmasters时，她正在抚养孩子，已经离开了营销管理的职业生涯。一年内，她开始为客户培训公开演讲技巧。她很快建立了自己的业务，成为一名教练和培训师，帮助客户建立执行气场，以及沟通和领导技巧。
“None of those things would have happened without Toastmasters,” she says. “I even got my first client through a connection at my club.”
“如果没有Toastmasters，这些都不会发生，”她说。“我甚至通过俱乐部的一个联系人得到了我的第一个客户。”
Like Spear, Seshadri was also in the engineering field and working in the U.S. when she joined. She has since moved back to India and changed career paths a few times, with each change being due to a connection she made in Toastmasters.
和斯皮尔一样，塞沙德里当时也在工程领域并在美国工作。此后她回到印度并几次改变职业道路，每次改变都是由于她在Toastmasters建立的联系。
Her current industry is game-based training, and the company she works for is not only run by former Toastmasters but the founder used to be her mentee. He had been encouraging her to go into the training field for years.
她目前的行业是基于游戏的培训，她工作的公司不仅由前Toastmasters会员运营，创始人曾是她的 mentee。他多年来一直鼓励她进入培训领域。
“Toastmasters gave me the confidence,” she says. “But it also gave me skills like motivation, teamwork, strategic planning, thinking, and an understanding of diverse cultures.”
“Toastmasters给了我信心，”她说。“但它也给了我诸如激励、团队合作、战略规划、思考以及对不同文化的理解等技能。”
The confidence kind of creeps on you—you don’t realize it’s happening.”
“这种信心会悄悄地增长——你没有意识到它正在发生。”
Morag Mathieson, DTM, 2023-2024 International President
Encouraging Others
鼓励他人
To anyone who is thinking about leadership, or is being “voluntold” or encouraged to be a leader, Mathieson states, “Think about saying yes before you say no. What would it mean if I said yes? What doors would open?
对于任何正在考虑领导力，或者被“志愿被告知”或被鼓励成为领导者的人，马蒂森表示，“在说不No之前先考虑说 yes是。如果我说 yes 会意味着什么？会打开什么门？
“What [leadership] did for me was grow my confidence and belief in myself. In the beginning, I wasn’t putting my hand up. I was happy to do things. But I always felt there was someone out there better than me. I realize now it’s necessary for us to put our hand up. There’s room for everyone at the table.”
“[领导力]对我来说是增长我的信心和对自己的信念。一开始，我没有举手。我很乐意做事。但我总觉得有人比我更出色。我现在意识到我们必须举手。每个人都有上桌的机会。”
Listen to The Toastmasters Podcast to hear more from Morag Mathieson.
这里听Morag Mathieson的分享音频
Spear notes that members receive training for every role, and leaders practice those skills in Toastmasters’ safe, supportive environment. She encourages everyone to embrace the opportunity.
斯皮尔指出，会员会接受每个角色的培训，领导者在Toastmasters安全、支持的环境中练习这些技巧。她鼓励每个人抓住这个机会。
“In life, it’s easy to doubt yourself—feeling not good enough, smart enough, knowledgeable enough, or fast enough—and let that fear hold you back,” she states. “But when you look back, you’re not likely to regret trying and failing but far more likely to regret never even trying.”
“在生活中，很容易怀疑自己——觉得自己不够好、不够聪明、不够知识渊博或不够快——让这种恐惧阻碍你，”她说。“但当你回顾时，你不太可能后悔尝试过却失败了，但更可能后悔从未尝试过。”
Rochat’s philosophy has always been to simply make herself available, taking the attitude of: If I’m elected, I’ll do the role, if not, that’s okay.
罗沙特的哲学一直是让自己有空，抱着这样的态度：如果我被选上，我会担任这个角色，如果不，那也没关系。
“It all starts with putting your hand up,” she says. “If you don’t do that, you don’t get that growth; you have to do that zone of discomfort. None of [my leadership experience] was planned, and none of it would have happened if I hadn’t said yes.
“这全部从举手开始，”她说。“如果你不这样做，你就无法获得那种成长；你必须进入那个不舒服的区域。我的领导经历没有一项是计划好的，如果我没有说 yes，这些都不会发生。
“The journey you take at Toastmasters puts you on a journey to meet new people and experience new things. It’s incredibly enriching to be part of this organization, to interface with people all over the world.”
“你在Toastmasters的旅程让你走上一条结识新朋友和体验新事物的道路。成为这个组织的一员，与世界各地的人互动，这是非常充实的。”
As Seshadri says, “When you interact with our global membership, you deepen your understanding of adapting your communication and leadership skills to diverse audiences. You learn how you work across different cultures.
正如塞沙德里所说，“当你与我们的全球会员互动时，你会加深对调整沟通和领导技巧以适应不同受众的理解。你学会了如何在不同文化中工作。
“Toastmasters gives you a safe space to practice the skills. That gave me confidence, opened doors, created new opportunities for me. I was able to jump into roles and experiment with what I wanted to do outside of Toastmasters.”
“Toastmasters为你提供了一个安全的空间来练习这些技巧。这给了我信心，为我打开了大门，为我创造了新的机会。我能够跳进角色，尝试我想在Toastmasters之外做的事情。”
Takeaways on Leadership
关于领导力的要点
Everyone’s leadership journey is different; there is no “right” way to do it.
每个人的领导力之旅各不相同；没有“正确”的方式。
Even people who initially join Toastmasters with a fear of public speaking can one day be International President.
即使最初加入国际演讲会时对公开演讲心怀恐惧的人，有一天也可能成为国际主席。
Don’t be afraid to say yes to opportunities, particularly if someone is encouraging you.
不要害怕抓住机会，尤其是当有人在鼓励你时。
Impostor syndrome can appear at any level, but growth doesn’t happen if you don’t challenge yourself.
冒名顶替综合症可能出现在任何层级，但如果你不挑战自己，就不会有成长。
Toastmasters allows you to practice challenging leadership skills and experiment with new approaches in a safe space.
国际演讲会允许你在安全的环境中练习具有挑战性的领导技能，并尝试新的方法。
