Speaker at Power of Women event says 'boss' is a dirty word

A keynote speaker at the fourth annual Power of Women luncheon and expo Wednesday urged about 350 women at the Show Me Center to eliminate the word "boss" from their vocabulary.

"'Boss' is a four-letter word," said Karla Bakersmith, a 1981 graduate of Southeast and founder and CEO of Scrubs and Beyond LLC. "You want to be a leader. 'Boss' is a word you should never say again."

The Power of Women program at Southeast began in 2012 and allows "philanthropists, entrepreneurs and extraordinary ladies of Southeast" to empower, transform and connect with past and future colleagues in the community. The event is sponsored by the University Foundation, Department of Athletics and Student Government.

Bakersmith started Scrubs and Beyond in 2000 and grew it into a chain of 30 stores, a catalog division, an outside sales division catering to hospitals and a large Internet business. The company has 153 stores and is the largest retailer of medical apparel, shoes and medical accessories in the country.

In July 2013, the company acquired Life Uniform and Uniform City in a merger. Bakersmith worked for Life Uniform as the vice president of merchandising and marketing for 13 years before starting Scrubs & Beyond.

During her speech, Bakersmith said a boss micromanages and gives direction, but a leader inspires, listens and coaches.

"A boss will say 'Go' and a leader will say 'Let's go,'" she said. "Somebody once told me that a boss talks about their employees and a leader talks about their people. Again, it's just words. But your actions and your words can mean the world to someone when they're trying to follow you."

When someone is a leader, it's about how many people they can help, coach and mentor along the way, she said.

"We all want a lot out of life, but if you don't take the time to coach and mentor people, you're not going to get what you want," she said.

Leaders can let people fail, Bakersmith said, but they will not let people become failures.

"Whenever somebody messes up, you need to stop and breathe -- not berate them or belittle them," she said. "Use it as a coaching moment. Of course you're going to mess up, but now you've learned your lesson and you're not going to do it again."

After the presentation, three female Southeast students -- Rachel Buenemann, Mary McKee and Haley Holton -- were given Power of Women scholarship awards.

The scholarship, first awarded in the fall of 2013 and endowed in spring 2014, is awarded to full-time students enrolled at Southeast who have completed at least 30 hours with a minimum 2.75 grade-point average.

Vicki Boren, president of the Southeast Alumni Association, said the women were selected from 33 applicants and are chosen based on academics, volunteerism and involvement at the university.

Southeast president Kenneth Dobbins also spoke during the luncheon. He said women have always played an important part in the history of Southeast and cited examples, such as Sadie Kent, for whom Kent Library was named, as well as women who have served on the board of regents.

"All these outstanding women we've talked about in many ways have created a great legacy for our university," he said. "I can't imagine all the lives of our students that have been affected by what they have contributed to our university."

klamb@semissourian.com

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