Ever heard of blockers? I picked up on the phrase during my tenure as head of HR and Administration at a large S&P 500 corporation. A blocker in that context was a person who stood in the way of another’s progression. For those outside the corporate world this may seem odd so here’s the scoop. Every year the CEO, the head of HR (yours truly), and all business unit presidents would discuss the ‘talent’ (read: employees) who held the title director or higher. In our world that numbered more than 400 people. Continue reading…
Transition Interrupted….
“Take out your application and reread it,” urged an endearing professor to our section of first year students at the Harvard Business School. We were less than a month into a two-year residence there. To a one we were humbled by the scope and pace required of us. At that moment we stood bleary-eyed and dejected. Her recommendation was intended to rekindle some sense of personal self-worth amidst a sea of upheaval. Did it work? Not sure any of us headed for our file cabinets but the sentiment was an elixir in its own right. Continue reading…
Transition Requirements: Deftness Inside and Out
Do you remember Lawrence Summers’ gaffe regarding women and the sciences? He referenced a “different availability of aptitude,” in 2005 while addressing an audience as president of Harvard University. It cost him his job. Would it surprise you that he might have unknowingly referred to a pervasive cultural bias that most likely affects women in every field, not just the sciences? Why stop at the fields…this bias is likely present in every transition over the arc of our lives. Continue reading…
Failure to Act?
I don’t know if anyone caught the news last week. On September 11 a textile factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan killed 289 workers. The factory made jeans destined for Europe. In reading about this tragedy and why it happened I was reminded of a quote in an investigative report on Apple and its Asian manufacturer Foxconn in the New York Times in January 2012. The series focused on the too-often fatal working conditions for employees who polished aluminum iPad cases. The quote by MIT professor, Nicholas Ashford, was, “If it were terribly difficult to deal with aluminum dust, I would understand. But do you know how easy dust is to control? It’s called ventilation. We solved this problem over a century ago.” Jeans? iPads? A profoundly sad common denominator…these tragedies were avoidable. Continue reading…
2012 Summer Book Review Finale: What if?
“I never want to go back to the law,” shared a friend who is a law school graduate and a very accomplished public defender. Our conversation was interrupted by a swirl of kids ages 2 through 8. Mid-sentence we conducted an emergency rescue from a climbing structure that resembled a gangly over-sized found-art project. Public defense? Idealistic me was instantly mesmerized by the work and its likely impact. Never? Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #26: Smart Women Embrace Transitions
A red-haired expatriate hippie with a beard and a business suit sat on the floor across from me in a Japanese restaurant in the middle of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Think Jerry Garcia meets Howdy Doody. Lincoln, a former Peace Corps volunteer, was regaling myself and a friend with stories of his escapades in Latin America. I vaguely remember him talking about starting a business importing condoms. He was concerned about the quality of those available in country. It was unclear if his interest was driven by humanitarian or by personal reasons. Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #25: Meeting at the Crossroads
“I can’t say anything,” said a long-time friend as she shared with me her opinion of a decision facing a mutual friend of ours. She was catching me up on the news of this friend whom she sees regularly. Her silence was triggered by an issue related to a child. The child’s parents disagreed on an educational decision. You couldn’t possibly say anything? I was stunned. Shouldn’t she offer a perspective or talk our friend through some options? I realize that I’m more confrontational than most…but silence? Really? Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #24: Smart Women Don’t Retire They Break Free
‘It’s not easy to think about what I really want….for as long as I can remember it’s been achieve, achieve, achieve,’ I said to a friend of mine who joined me for lunch early in my transition. The concept piqued her interest. It engaged her. She’s a financial services entrepreneur. Her dream had been fashion design. And yet she found finance and accounting. A detour? A revelation? A necessity? Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #23: Odd Girl Out
“I couldn’t get a job,” said my sister-in-law as she was relating her story to a sympathetic audience at a recent family event. She sent out resumes. She interviewed. It didn’t go as she’d planned. Road block. Full stop. Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #22: The Way of Transition
“Nancy, Nancy, wake up! NANCY!” I shouted to rouse my sister who was asleep on a chair-cum-bed in my father’s hospital room. It was just after 7:00 am on a Sunday morning. We had dozed off at about 3:00 am. Cancer. I’m not sure why I woke up when I did. His breathing was erratic. We held his hand.
These moments raced back at me this week Continue reading…