I have been fond of Tish Long since the mid 1980s when I first met her at OPNAV while she was working Airborne Special Projects. Sometimes I'd be fortunate to say a few words when I'd catch her at my friend's home in Alexandria, Virginia when she'd visit for a ladies' wine night. These women were all fast-rising brilliant professionals in the program and budget world of the various intelligence communities. She was brilliant then and is even more brilliant now. She is smarter than most men and certainly much smarter than I am. She was interviewed recently by Tom Fox of the Washington Post in their NATIONAL section. You can read the full interview HERE.
But, this first part is what I really enjoyed most because she is all over the DIVERSITY issue and gets it like few professionals do.
Tom Fox asked, "What are the challenges and rewards of being a female leader in a
traditionally male-dominated arena like intelligence?"
Tish said, "I tend not to think about being a woman in a man’s world. I really look at it as the challenges and rewards of being a leader in times like today. I cannot deny the fact that I am a woman. Women have made great strides in the intelligence and defense communities, and I think both communities clearly understand the business case for diversity. From an NGA perspective, we really focus on cognitive diversity, not diversity simply based on age, gender or ethnicity. Diversity is about your experience, your background and everything you bring to the table. The challenge is that we are leading during a challenging time, and the reward is being a part of an agency that delivers outstanding geospatial intelligence, analysis and products that make a difference."
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