Summer Book Review #15: How Will You Measure Your Life?

I’m not a big sports fan.   My 7-year-old son has taught me more about sports and team devotion in the past year than I’ve learned in my entire life.   Last week, before our beloved Boston Celtics lost to the Miami Heat in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, we were listening to an interview with one of the Celtic’s big three, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.   The player responded to a journalist’s question about their approach to upcoming practices and games by saying, ‘we’ll probably watch the tapes.’ Continue reading…

Transition and Steve Jobs…shared learnings?

Merriam Webster’s Online defines prolific as, “marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity <a prolific composer>.”  I turned to this query after completing Walter Isaacson’s, Steve Jobs (Thorndike Press, 2011).   Prolific, although not a descriptive used by Isaacson, came to mind as I finally closed the book.  Yes, I admit I read a physical version of the book despite the tech infused visionary at its core.   Prolific.  How else can you describe someone who served as the catalyst for a list that includes…the Macintosh, Pixar blockbusters like Toy Story, Apple Stores, iTunes, the iPod, the App Store, the iPad? Prolific? Continue reading…

Risk and Failure

“I finally got around to reading your interest card,” said Andrall Pearson former President and COO of Pepsi Co. and my professor during a second year course at the Harvard Business School.  His quip came as he leaned on my desk with hushed tones moments before class started.   The card, an arcane pre-Internet system – think index card – held a few sentences authored by students to convey our interests to professors.    On my card I’d divulged my dream of running an emerging business.  That day the class was scheduled to discuss a 1980’s-style emerging business, Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT).   OAT was founded in 1978 by a high school anthropology teacher in her three-story house in Cambridge, Massachusetts.   My little visit from Andrall was my heads up, referred to as a soft-call, that I would be leading the class’ discussion that day.  I had about a minute and one-half to prepare. Continue reading…

Does Action Trump Everything?

“I have a piece of paper that I’ve kept for more than twenty years. On it are two questions.  ‘What do you want?‘ and ‘What are you willing to do to get it?’”  said Sylvia Ferrell-Jones,  President and CEO of the YWCA of Boston.  Ms. Ferrell-Jones is a community leader who is advancing Greater Boston’s understanding of social justice and change.  She and I happened to be guests at a dinner party of a mutual friend.   Her comments emerged during a discussion among attendees about her organization’s goals: to serve Boston’s neighborhoods where health, education and safety inequities are most significant.  It is against these formidable challenges that she measures progress. Continue reading…

Her Place at the Table and Thanksgiving Treats

I’ve had Deborah Kolb on the brain since last spring.  I registered to attend a day long event last June that she was hosting at Simmons College.  It fell during one of the those  weeks when I got three days notice for an end-of-year event from my children’s school.  It still amazes me that such short notice exists.  The summary is that I missed the Kolb event… and missed her book on my summer book tour.  Not sure I can cite the school alone for being disorganized!

Kolb is a noted lecturer and educator on the topic of negotiating – particularly women & negotiation.   This week – I jumped on a pre-Thanksgiving TABLE twist and finally read her 2004 missive,  “Her Place at the Table.”  Continue reading…

Summer Book Review Finale: Learnings?

An incident struck me yesterday morning.  I was walking with two neighbors at the crack of dawn — as I do regularly.  We were discussing an issue that hit a chord with one of my compatriots.  She physically changed as the conversation ensued.  Her body tensed and she began to shake ever so slightly.  Needless to say she was very keyed up.    She was struggling with anyone – it didn’t matter whom – who couldn’t see this topic the way she did.   From my view she seemed absolutely CLOSED to anything anyone else had to say.

It was a powerful juxtaposition to my summer  – a summer that opened me up to scores of new thinking about women’s transition issues.  Continue reading…

Summer Book Review #12: Women in Career & Life Transitions

Do you remember the sock puppet commercial from the early 2000’s?   I think it was for pets.com or some other internet start-up.   A sock puppet with scraggly hair and button eyes would respond with the phrase, “the horror,” to many missives tossed at it.   It was silly and cavalier and – most of the time – just perfect.

The sock puppet’s “horror” voice was in my ear in  Continue reading…

Summer Book Review # 11: It Takes a Village

A rare evening of downtime last week inspired this week’s book choice.   I hardly ever put on the tv but in doing so I happened upon the 2009 documentary “The Last Train Home” directed by Lixin Fan.  This documentary follows  a Chinese couple from Sichuan province as they travel almost 1,000 miles home to their native village for the 4 day New Year’s celebration; a trek made by almost 130 million migrant Chinese workers.   The couple have made the journey for more than a decade to see their two children who are in the care of an aging grandmother.   Aside from letters this will be their only contact with the children for the year.

At one point the mother’s total anguish is overwhelming Continue reading…

Summer Book Review #10: The Price of Motherhood

What a week!  It started with a minor hand injury that has left me with a few splinted fingers.   At the funeral of a dear family friend – also this week — I had to duck a few crushing hand shakes given that the blow was to my right hand.   My visiting mother-in-law queried me about how we plan to raise our children given that my husband and I hail from different faiths.  Caught a bee sting today while watching our two little stars at a ‘mock’ swim meet.  Did I mention that this was a family vacation week?

Amidst this swirl I read, Continue reading…