Years ago at a small women's college in New England, thirteen girls from all over the country met and became good friends. At the time, those thirteen girls had no idea how strong their friendship was to become and how it would last and, in fact, strengthen through the years. We called ourselves “The Dynasty” which gives you a clue as to how impressed we were with … [Read more...]
You Need to Raise Your Hand
If you don’t raise your hand, you won’t be called on and maybe that’s a good thing; a good thing, that is, if you want to remain invisible and safe. After all, when you raise your hand, you are risking public failure. When you raise your hand, you are sending a signal to everyone that you have the confidence to publicly state your opinion, volunteer for something, or ask … [Read more...]
How Do You React When Someone Upsets You?
Last week I attended a Board meeting for a local non profit organization and before the meeting officially started, we were having a casual conversation when a colleague of mine made the comment that someone’s “nose was out of joint” because of a certain interaction that had occurred earlier in the week. That got me thinking. What was the origin of this idiom and what … [Read more...]
Do You Ever Get Stuck?
A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Libby Gill on my Head over Heels Radio show about her book, You Unstuck: Mastering the Rules of Risk Taking in Work and Life. Reflecting on that discussion this week, I realized that there are so many ways we get stuck in our personal lives and in our businesses. I guess it’s part of the human condition to get “stuck in our ways”, … [Read more...]
Customize Your Pitch
Why do we hate those nagging telephone calls from strangers telling us to buy something? Why do car salesmen have a bad reputation? The reason, I believe, is that the sales techniques they use are impersonal and we often feel that something is being forced on us that we do not want or need. The fact of the matter is that even if we do need the product or service that’s … [Read more...]
Taking a Much Needed Break
Last weekend I took a whole day off! I have been consistently working seven days a week for months without a break and my coach strongly suggested that I try to take one full day off each week. Well, if my coach told me to do this and it was part of my assignment, I could not refuse. I have to admit I was very anxious about this. If I do indeed take Sunday off, what … [Read more...]
Are You Considering Becoming an Entrepreneur? Here’s a Test.
The Harvard Business Review posted a test this week, “Should You Be an Entrepreneur?” The test of 20 questions was created by the author of the article, Daniel Isenberg, who is a professor of management practice at Babson College. I thought it would be fun to pose these questions to those of you who are entrepreneurs, like myself, or to those of you who are … [Read more...]
Betty Takes on Walmart
Last week a San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals certified the largest class-action employment lawsuit in U.S. history. The dispute was first filed in 2001 by Betty Dukes, a store greeter from California, along with five co-workers. The plaintiffs argue that women are paid less and given fewer promotions than their male co-workers, and the lawsuit states that … [Read more...]
Why Can’t We Just Be Ourselves?
Sometimes I think we can make things much more complicated than they really are. We analyze and dissect and re-analyze our behavior and the implications of our behavior until we forget our original intention. I could be wrong here, but I think we, as women, especially professional women, expend a great deal of energy second guessing ourselves. Do you find that’s true for … [Read more...]
Women and Networking
The Times Online from the UK, published an article in March called Why Women are Such Bad Networkers. It’s no good thinking that hard work will get you anywhere. If you want to make it to the top, you’re going to have to overcome your fear of socializing and start schmoozing like men. Of course, this caught my attention! Is this really true? Is it valid that women have a … [Read more...]