"Women simply do not have the aspiration to pursue C Suite roles which is why we do not see equal numbers of men and women in leadership positions." I have had this conversation more times then I wish to remember when working with organizations on increasing gender diversity in the leadership ranks. The aspirations of women can be a very perplexing yet popular topic of … [Read more...]
Free To Be You and Me
The 70’s was a time of vast changes. The movements were all coming together, civil rights, peace, women, all saying “there has to be a better way”. Anyone out there remember the album for kids, actually for all of us that had songs like “free to be you and me”, “It’s alright to cry”, “parents are people”? What a break through time. Many of us in the work world have taken … [Read more...]
Metacognition — Being Able to Tell Where You’re Situated
I'm in the midst of reading "Work Your Strengths" link and I highly recommend you take a look. The book references "A Scientific Process to Identify Your Skills and Match Them to the Best Career for You" and highlights 12 ways of understanding skills, with the premise being that if you know which top three skills you possess, you have a better chance of slotting yourself into … [Read more...]
The Most Talked About Barrier- Work/Life Balance
This is the fourth post in a series about the barriers impacting the lack of advancement of women in business. We have discussed the background regarding women's lack of advancement and also covered the first two barriers- Lack of Career Advocacy and Lack of Visible Role Models. This final post in the series is about the most talked about barrier regarding women's lack of … [Read more...]
Visibility of Female Leaders
In the past two posts we have been talking about why we do not see more progress in the advancement of women in business , community and politics. In the first post we covered an overview of what is happening to slow down our progress. Much of what happens is subtle and not well understood. (Post May 24) In the second post we talked about the first barrier in more detail- … [Read more...]
Leadership Dilemma: Why Are You Mad at Me?
Becoming keenly aware of why people’s buttons get pushed and what to do about it saves time, money, and aggravation. When you hear someone continuously ragging about the same person over and over and over (you get the point) it is time to look beyond the obvious and dig down past overt symptoms. Interpersonal tension isn’t fundamentally the result of economic … [Read more...]
Advancement of Women – the Barriers
Last weeks post introduced the barriers to the advancement of women. This week we concentrate on the lack of access to career development and advocacy. This issue is not very well understood in many organizations. It is however one of the most important if we care about diversity in our leadership ranks and advancement of all top talent. The issue of advocacy is often subtle … [Read more...]
Can any “passion” be turned into a business?
Many people I speak to wish they could start their own business or be their own boss. I’ve become a huge advocate for entrepreneurialism over the past year or so and I believe people can turn their passions into a successful business. However, is that the case for everyone? Can anyone just be passionate about something and turn it into a money-making business? Where do we … [Read more...]
Notice the Work all Around
I returned recently from a 10-day vacation. For me ten days is a good length of time. One day was "get there" day and one day was "go home" day...that left eight days for vacation. That was enough days to have some solitary beach time, some shopping and "do lunch" time and sightseeing. While resting and relaxing I noticed the variety of businesses associated with the … [Read more...]
The Most Effective Way to Improve Your Marketing
We are just past the midpoint of the second quarter of 2010. Are you on track? Is your business showing the returns and growth that you want to see? If not, consider changing your relationship with your marketing plan. Work With A Written Marketing Plan I’m assuming you have a marketing plan and that it is current. In other words that your marketing plan is in … [Read more...]