SHECENTER(FOLD): MARCIA DAVIES charge of advertising, public affairs, industry relations, and he had a diverse look at what was going on externally. One day he took me out to lunch. He was a former reporter for the Daily News, kind of a no-nonsense New Yorker, and going to lunch was a little out of his character. He said to me, “You’re very good at what you do and I can tell you enjoy your job, but I would like you to consider moving into a different job working for me.” I asked what he wanted me to do and he said, “I want you to lead our public affairs.” I don’t have a background in journalism, I wasn’t even paying attention to which reporters were covering Freddie Mac and which weren’t. I asked why he would want to do that. He replied, “Because there needs to be a change in leadership and focus, and you have all of the right skills to do it. You know how to build relationships, you’re intuitive, you know how to influence, you’re very good at communication. I can teach you to differentiate between a good press release and a bad press release. You have technicians who are on that team; what they need is leadership and someone who’s decisive. I think you’ll be perfect for the job.”
“I’m a farm girl from New Jersey.”
Despite my discomfort, I agreed to do it. I did the job and I was good at it. Freddie Mac was happy with my performance and from there I moved into other roles. What it taught me was that leader seeing something in me and taking me out of my comfort zone was huge. It was a huge risk for him and a huge risk for me, but it changed the course of my career forever, so the risk was worth taking. Sometimes it’s good to get out of your comfort zone and take a risk. From that I learned being a good leader means really understanding the skills—the how, not the what—that make your workers good leaders and applying their talents to other areas that could really use them. Being a leader is looking for skills and experiences to provide growth opportunities and fresh perspectives in areas. I would encourage more women and leaders to not only take those risks but also think about being comfortable managing things you may not have technically done before. Another thing this experience taught me is that I’m very comfortable empowering those around me. When you are given that empowerment, it makes you step up and be able to thrive in a new role within which you never envisioned yourself. This also makes you confident and comfortable when you have good people that are working with you. You have to empower people, and as long as there are clear goals, trust that they will achieve them, even if they get there in a way that you never envisioned.
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Marcia’s childhood home
NAWRB: You’re a board member of MBA’s Open Doors
Foundation (ODF) which “sponsors philanthropic activities focused on home and community support.” What does philanthropy mean to you? How has it impacted your life?
Marcia Davies: As you know, our mission is to help families
in distress who have critically ill or injured children. What our foundation does is make mortgage or rental payments for these families in hardship. The board meets regularly, the foundation is five years young and we’ve helped over 800 families. We continue every month to get more grants and we serve families coast to coast. It’s changed me because when you read a grant application and see what somebody else is going through in their life, it’s so rewarding that you can be a little part of helping during that dark and difficult time. It’s also made me think creatively about what we could do to continue to raise awareness of the foundation and get people to contribute. Whether it’s a $25 Text-to-Give donation or big company donations that come in at $100,000, 100 percent of the donations that come in go directly to families and MBA underwrites all the operational and staffing costs for the foundation. We are very proud of that. What has affected my family most profoundly is cancer and I’ve always given to organizations fighting that disease. It opened my eyes to the many ways we can make a difference. Contributing to ODF and other charities is something that we started doing more and more. NAWRB: What is something about you most people don’t
know that they would be surprised to find out?
Marcia Davies: I have two. The first is I used to weigh over
200 pounds. I am proud to say I’ve kept the weight off for three decades now.