In our recent GUTSY WOMEN LEADERS retreat I showed a video of Isabel Allende when she was a presenter at a TED conference. She is one of my favorite authors; her novels are filled with the depth of what life is all about; love, sorrow, misunderstandings, and the courage to change. She mentions a conversation she had with her daughter who stated emphatically that feminism is … [Read more...]
Women Executives More than Twice as Likely to Leave Jobs
Female executives are more than twice as likely to leave their jobs as men. This includes both voluntarily and involuntarily departures. Yesterday I was interviewed by a reporter writing for CareerBuilder on negotiating for women in business, and the data from a study by John Becker-Blease of Oregon State University, and his colleagues from Loyola Marymount University and … [Read more...]
Women Leadership and Reshaping
There is a scene in the film “The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio” starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson that struck me like a bolt of lightning. They are the parents of ten children just living their lives in a small town. She is a housewife and he is a machinist. The era is the happy days of the fifties spilling over into the early sixties. They call each other … [Read more...]
A Woman’s Place is in the Classroom
I was recently invited to speak at Purdue University and had the absolute pleasure of spending time with Dr. Beverly Davenport Sypher. Dr. Sypher had some important statistics for us to consider before we moved into the fascinating reasons she chose higher education as her vocation. We all go to school, most of us graduate. School is a good place to be. There used to be a … [Read more...]
Leadership Strategies: Are You a Davos Woman?
Picture yourself in Davos Switzerland at the annual gathering of the world’s rich and powerful. No, you have not morphed into Angelina Jolie, you are you with a lot to offer and much to say. First some facts: Did you know that fewer than 3 percent of the Fortune Global 500 chief executives are women? Only 15 percent of ministers and parliamentarians are female? Less than 20 … [Read more...]
Appreciating the UConn Streak
Post by Jane K. Stimmler, contributing Women on Business writer As some of you may know, the University of Connecticut women's basketball team made history a couple of weeks ago by setting an NCAA record with their 89 game win streak. This topped the previous record, set between 1971 & '74, in which UCLA had 88 wins in a row. The UCLA team, however, was a men's … [Read more...]
Sexism and the Media
Post by Jane K. Stimmler, contributing Women on Business writer Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a thought-provoking discussion at the Vision 2020 conference in Philadelphia, a national project focused on advancing gender equality by energizing the dialogue about women and leadership. The subject was Communications & Media, and the conversation pointed out … [Read more...]
Getting Beyond Unconscious Bias
We are all guilty of bias. It is part of being human. One of the issues facing women in business is continued stereotyping , unconscious bias and the unintended consequences that result. This is one of the most difficult issues organizations face when they are working on culture shifts that must take place if women are to participate on an even playing field. The most … [Read more...]
What You Dont Know Can Hurt You
Many times when working with organizations on strategies to increase gender diversity in the leadership ranks the leaders will say " lets just get all the women together and ask them what they want". While this is noble and certainly talking with the women in the organization to understand how they experience the culture is critical it is not "the answer" . One of the most … [Read more...]
Of Beauties and Beasts
Post by Jane K. Stimmler, contributing Women on Business writer I was watching a business channel, CNBC, the other day and it struck me - every woman commentator was glamorous and the men, well, not so much. Why, on a television show devoted to business, must the women be on the younger side with lots of hair and make-up - while the men are mostly aging and craggy … [Read more...]