Miracle waiting to happen?

This summer I remember sitting outside my neighbor’s house having coffee and waffles one morning and being totally struck by one of their visitors.  She was a woman who was probably in her early- to mid-sixties visiting with her husband of roughly the same age.   We’d been invited to join our neighbors and their guests for breakfast outside their cottage under a beautiful shade tree – in a pretty garden a few hundred feet from the sea.  What could be nicer with a coffee in hand (ok, decaf) and someone else worrying about my children’s breakfast? Continue reading…

Must we all be entrepreneurs?

This week I was thinking about how to define “transition.”  It brought to mind one of my favorite movie scenes of all time, a scene from the Dead Poets Society.  In it Robin Williams plays a high school English teacher, Professor Keating.   At one point he has each child walk to the front of the classroom and stand on top of his desk – looking out at the class.   It is a powerful moment that allows the kids to see that one can get great energy by taking the time to use another lens to look at something familiar.  Continue reading…

What’s your Agenda?

” I wasted a lot of time,” confided a long-time friend as she described the years that she had not worked outside the home.  She and I were having a conversation about her decision to return to work.  At the time she had three high school aged children.  The dialogue stayed with me.

A recent conversation got me thinking about this ‘wasted time’ exchange.   A friend was out and about with a visible kick to her step. Continue reading…

The Baseline: An elusive tool

Last Sunday my family and I participated in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. For those who aren’t Bostonians, the Jimmy Fund is the fund-raising arm of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute dedicated to supporting research on childhood cancers.  My daughter and I were walking a pace or two behind our team.  We happened to be interspersed with a group called Jessica’s Twinkling Stars.  There were maybe 30 of them including 8 or 10 little girls about my daughter’s age.  Each of the girls had a light purple crocheted hat; some hats were adorned with white flowers.   My eight year old daughter was captivated by the hats. 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…

Summer Book Review #9: Working Identity

Driving yesterday I heard an NPR story on WCAI, the Cape & The Islands (CAI) radio.  They broadcast a show entitled “The Moth”  which features audio storybooks of everyday Americans.  Their first story really gripped me:  an  autobiography by Aimee Mullins, a young women who lost both of her legs at birth and has used prosthetic limbs ever since.

Ms. Mullins told a truly amazing story about her life and her various opportunities to touch the lives of others.   One was a little girl who also had an artificial limb.  At the time Aimee first met her she had been struggling.  Kind of ‘just’ getting along –  setting no great expectations for herself while locked inside the world’s limited view of her capabilities.  Aimee inspired her to re-frame her expectations for herself and for those around her.

At a chance meeting a year or two later Continue reading…

Summer Book Review #8: Necessary Dreams

A dear friend from business school stopped by to see me one day at the office.  I knew something was up because she was in town from Colorado and REALLY wanted to get together.  It was one of those weeks where I had kid’s events, work commitments, or other stuff every night.   So, the only time we could pull off was lunch in my not-so-lovely office cafeteria.

Looking back – I am so happy that she stopped by.  At lunch she shared with me an experience that had deeply affected her.  Just days before she had attended a HBS event, a healthcare symposium, during which students and alumni get together to discuss emerging trends and career issues.   At the event’s luncheon she sat  with two soon-to-be graduating students who happened to be incredibly gifted ladies.  Prior to attending HBS one had been an industrial engineer, the other a NASA scientist.   Despite these credentials their conversation with my friend was astonishing. Continue reading…