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Women in Leadership

Instructor Laura Wooten Empowers Tomorrow’s Leaders Through Communication and Self-Awareness

SMU CAPE instructor Laura Wooten leads the Communicating for Influence module in the Women in Leadership: Influence and Impact Certificate program.

Great leaders are meant to have a keen sense of themselves to know how they can showcase their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses to achieve their goals. Laura Wooten believes this as well, and passionately engrains these principles in the minds of her students.

“The first step to being a good leader is understanding yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, and how to leverage those to exert influence.” she says.

Wooten is a business strategist, customer experience designer, and implementation coach based in Texas. Wooten is also an instructor and facilitator leading the Communicating for Influence module in the online Women in Leadership: Influence and Impact Certificate program offered through SMU Continuing and Professional Education (CAPE).

Communication is Key

Wooten’s career path has been shaped by a series of decisions driven by balancing personal aspirations and family life. She has spent her career working as a strategic problem solver, consultant, marketer and coach. For over 15 years, Laura built her own consultancy helping small and mid-sized businesses, nonprofits and corporate clients turn their expertise into revenue streams.

“In my current role, I work with C-level executives. Watching their interaction with others, decision-making process, and how they solve problems reinforces the content we are teaching in the course and gives me real-life examples to share.”

Wooten discovered her passion for teaching while designing and teaching the copywriting course for CAPE’s Digital Marketing program, which she taught from 2015-2021. Wooten’s work has spanned industries in corporate, nonprofit and entrepreneurship. Through it all, she has found fulfillment in empowering women both professionally and personally to uncover their passions, embrace authenticity and create meaningful careers.

“I love when the Women in Leadership students relay stories of when this clicked for them and how it enabled them to find their own power, in their own way, and succeed,” says Wooten. “I have heard feedback that using the tools we offer in this module has helped former students manage their own stress, achieve better results, and have a more enjoyable work experience.”

Building Tomorrow’s Leaders at SMU CAPE

SMU CAPE’s Women in Leadership Certificate program is designed to give students the tools they need to become effective leaders. Wooten facilitates the third module in the program, Communicating for Influence, which focuses on applying strategic thinking to being able to communicate with other leaders, peers, and team members. Wooten says, “Many students are surprised that the most impactful content in the modules is about self-awareness, understanding your own stress, and discerning between the facts of the situation and the ‘stories’ you tell yourself.”

Wooten believes there are 4 key skills and qualities that make up an effective leader. These include:

  • Strategic thinking – The ability to keep the big picture in mind. 
  • Communication – Both listening and articulating ideas for different audiences.
  • Emotional intelligence – Managing your emotions and working to understand others, create positive relationships and build a sense of safety within your team.
  • Lifelong learning – Curiosity, the ability to take feedback, and learn new skills helps leaders find new opportunities or bring creative solutions to play.   

Striving to achieve these traits is the main goal of Wooten’s module and the program. SMU CAPE’s  Women in Leadership Certificate is a 6-week online program that helps students to develop a holistic view of their skills, strengths and personality traits to establish themselves as an effective and influential member of an organization.