What a sad day it was on Friday Sep 18th when we learned Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) had left this Earth. What a resilient and tough as nails change agent she was. Below are just some of the difficult things she went through in her lifetime.
Her mom died of cancer the day before she graduated high school
She was one of nine women in a class of more than 500 at Harvard Law School
She helped her husband through testicular cancer while taking care of a three year old, attending her own law classes, and sleeping very little at this time
No one would hire her as a lawyer after graduating law school because she was a woman and mother
While working she endured chemotherapy and radiation for:
Colon cancer in 1999
Pancreatic cancer in 2009
Lung cancer in 2018
Metastatic pancreatic cancer in 2019
Liver lesions in 2020
Death of her husband in 2010
Terrible pain from shingles that never went away completely in the last few years of her life
Despite all of the above, she persevered and accomplished all of the below.
Graduated from Cornell University with highest honors in government
Became the first person to become a member of both the Harvard and Columbia Law Reviews
Graduated top of her law class at Columbia
Became the second female law professor at Rutgers and the first tenured female professor at Columbia Law School
Co-founded the Women’s Rights Project
Won five of the 6 cases she argued in front of the Supreme Court
Served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for 13 years
Served 27 years on the Supreme Court
Became the second woman to sit on the bench of the Supreme Court in its 212 year history
The difficulties she went through are more than most can bear, and my heart breaks she never was able to experience the joys of retirement she so greatly deserved. We owe her a debt of gratitude for all her hard work and sacrifice in advancing women’s rights in this country. May she rest in peace knowing she really did all she could while on this Earth to make it a better place for future generations.
As you reflect on this powerful Change Agent’s career:
What lessons has she taught you?
What action has she inspired you to take?
How can her resilience help you through a tough time?
What a shining example of “be the change you want to see in the world” she was. She will be greatly missed and may her last wish of “my most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed” be honored.
Call to Action
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About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.