“Don’t do that when I’m not around,” said my eight year old son. “I like to learn when you’re on the phone,” he continued. We were talking about what I do when he is at camp. I told him that I held conference calls almost constantly while he was gone. His comment surprised me. I always perceived my work as an imposition on our time. In fact I try desperately to manage work around my children’s schedules. In a million years I wouldn’t have guessed that he would arrive at such a place. Powerful concept. Learning. Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #30: Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success
“Part of me has been taken away,” shared a bright energetic woman during a 1:1 interview I conducted for Novofemina’s Research Jam. We had pivoted to her personal story after she had agreed to share some transition observations from a women’s economic development organization where she worked. A career change. A new husband. A first child. Mixed in with these life events I heard isolation and failure, or something that resembled it. Her reaction?
Transition’s Winning Formula…
“It wasn’t me,” shared Carlos Kotkin as part of The Moth’s Radio Hour. “I felt like my spirit, my soul, was being stifled. I hated my shoes.” So went the conclusion of a story entitled The Accidental Executive. Carlos went from college drop out, to chauffeur, to studio executive at 20th Century Fox in what seemed like twenty-four months. Serendipity? Perhaps. His next move may surprise you. Continue reading…
Transition’s Trails….
“Go to Florence,” quipped an early Novofemina Research Jam participant. She was responding to a light-hearted question during a Focus Group. “If we could pack a magic bag for a woman just starting transition, what should we put in it?” I asked. The answers surprised me. Kleenex. Something warm. Armor. A friend. Nothing. What would you add? Plane tickets? Continue reading…
Marquee Moments….
“What are they going to ask me,” queried a former colleague as we were talking about her upcoming job interview. ‘Marquee projects,’ I responded without even thinking. She sought a new, expanded role in another company. When we worked together she led a huge enterprise-wide initiative. Yes, this was in addition to her day job. Sound familiar? Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #27: Lean In
“This doesn’t get me,” remarked Carolyn Bates, a recent Notre Dame grad, from the dressing room of a mid-western retailer. (Fat Talk Carries a Cost, Hoffman, NYT, 5/28/2013, D4). This exchange from ‘Fat Talk Carries a Cost‘ highlighted body-centered self-deprecating women speak. Have you ever heard something like, “I can’t believe I ate that brownie. I am so fat!” Or responded, “You must be joking, you are not fat. Just look at my thighs!” (Fat Talk, NYT, 5/28/2013, D4) The article identified cultural norms that include all manner of negative retorts meant to maintain relationships. This doesn’t get me was presented as positive, a pivot. Continue reading…
Transition Requirement: Progress?
“Let’s not measure something simply because we can… let’s measure something because it’s meaningful,” challenged a woman sitting next to me as she stood and spoke into a cordless microphone at a corporate dinner I attended earlier this week. She saw a gap between the items the company had the capability to measure versus the things that were perhaps more difficult to measure but really important indicators of the company’s future. I understood her cautionary remark. Can action feel like progress even if it isn’t progress at all? Continue reading…
Transition: The Path Forward….
“I’m going to quit and go to work for Crate and Barrel,” said a dear friend after a long day at her employer, a local technology super power. She is a senior level leader. Her company is heavy on politics. Add to that endless pressure on quarterly results. Get the picture? A bit far afield from large white boxes and beautifully displayed home goods. I wondered as I listened…is Crate and Barrel a day-dream for her or a legitimate path forward? Continue reading…
Transition: Embracing ‘New’
“That may be good science — but it is bad archaeology,” said anthropologist and archeologist Professor Rosemary Joyce in the Berkeley Blog last June. She was critiquing reports of archeological findings in Honduras. It seems that researchers, although not archeologists, used a plane outfitted with LIDAR, a laser detection technology, to map remote portions of the Honduran jungle rumored to house ‘lost cities.’ Joyce publicly maligned the findings. Was it simply the technology’s newness that upended her? Continue reading…
400 and 2
‘I’ve got young children,’ recounted a slight teenager as he retold of a pleading woman’s request as he worked to untangle her from the rubble of last week’s garment factory disaster at Rana Plaza, Savar, Bangladesh. 400. The number of workers, largely female, who won’t be returning to waiting children or siblings or spouses. $37. The average monthly wage that makes a difference there. Great hopes relinquished all for another tee-shirt. Great hope…despite tremendous personal risk. Continue reading…