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Click Here\\xa0for the blog post and resources from this episode

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\\u201cOur real vision\\u2026is that we will help women\\u2014through God\\u2019s hand leading us\\u2014see that their faith should be a part of every minute of every day, that their relationships should be their priority, and that their work is a place God has called them to be.\\u201d \\u2013Diane Paddison

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At the age of sixteen, Diane Paddison was leading crews of eighty people on her family\\u2019s Oregon farm. As an adult, she was often the sole woman in Fortune 500 and 1000 boardrooms. Diane realized the crucial importance of a mentor early on, and now pays it forward mentoring countless women through her website 4wordwomen.org and her book, \\u201cWork, Love and Pray.\\u201d

Through trials of her own, Diane learned how to pray fervently, stay grounded in God\\u2019s Word and surround herself with a support system of women who were fellow believers. She also went through the \\u201cHalf Time\\u201d system, where she realized that God had prepared her with her experiences professionally and relationally, with a firm foundation of faith. She met Bob Buford, who encouraged her to write her book and catapulted her to start her ministry to \\u201cconnect, lead and support professional women to reach their God-given potential.\\u201d

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\\u201cTry to find companies where your values and priorities align. And then try to find roles where your strengths align with that role.\\u201d \\u2013Diane Paddison

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What You Will Learn:

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• The importance of a mentor and how to find your own mentor
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• How to focus your goals in these three areas: professional, relational and spiritual goals
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• The keys to putting fear behind you and overcoming hardships
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• How to discern God\\u2019s will for your life and reach your full potential
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• How to discover where your energy comes from and what you are passionate about
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Resources:

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• 4wordwomen.org
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• \\u201cWork, Love and Pray\\u201d and companion study guide by Diane Paddison
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• \\u201cHalf Time\\u201d by Bob Buford
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• Christianity Today
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Bio

Diane Paddison, 4word Founder and President, is a Harvard MBA graduate, former global executive of two Fortune 500 companies and one Fortune 1000 company, and serves as an independent director for two corporations and four not-for-profits.

But her life\\u2019s passion is mentoring professional women.

The leading advocate for the professional Christian women community, Paddison published\\xa0Work, Love, Pray\\xa0in 2011 while laying the foundation for 4word. The book cast a vision for women of faith who represent a growing share of the fulltime workforce, yet are underserved in resources compared to the men around them. Featuring 15 women leaders who found personal and business success while keeping faith at their core,\\xa0Work, Love, Pray\\xa0affirms and challenges women who feel uniquely called to the workplace.

Diane\\u2019s heart for encouraging professional women took root in her early in her commercial real estate career, an industry where few women held mid-level roles, and were virtually absent in senior leadership. Crossing lines of tradition, Diane approached the top company executive \\u2013 a man \\u2013 to express her professional goals and ask for mentoring. He agreed, and since then,\\xa0Diane has been purposeful in supporting women around her with the lessons she learned.

Mentorship is a lifestyle: even when traveling to a regional office on business, she often reserves a lunch hour to gather women company-wide to foster relationships. She led the development of the CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) \\u201cBridging the C-Suite Gap\\u201d mentoring program, credited with the advancement of many participants to senior executive ranks since it launched.

Diane Paddison speaks on life/work balance, mentoring/sponsorship, and impactful leadership at events across the country. She authors weekly posts at 4wordwomen.org, and is a featured columnist for Today\\u2019s Christian Women \\u2013 a Christianity Today digital magazine. Diane serves on the\\xa0board for the\\xa0Harvard Business School Christian Fellowship Alumni Association.\\xa0Diane and her husband, Chris, have four children and live in Dallas, Texas.

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