“Tonight, ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and 450 other women will raise their hands to recite the Girl Scout pledge at a dinner marking the organization’s 100th anniversary at the Four Seasons Chicago. Girl Scout executives will be crossing their fingers, hoping the group’s new emphasis on girls in business will get it through the next 100 years.
The Girl Scouts of the last century largely ignored business, and no wonder: For the first 50 years of its existence, most women were encouraged to become wives and mothers, not executives. Still, as Girl Scouts sang around campfires, sold cookies and earned badges—in fields ranging from orienteering to good grooming—they picked up skills useful for all areas of life, careers included.
For the new millennium, it’s careers first, soft skills second.”
