Joy To The Workplace: 10 Ways To Bring Happiness in The Front Door This Season

Whether or not you celebrate the holidays, it is undeniable that most of the world around you at work and in your personal life do. While you may not be humming the lyrics to “Joy To The World” every morning, noon and night, it may be in your best interest to seek out the joy this season and cultivate a work culture that oozes happiness. Or at least a genuine smile.

“Being joyful at work is crucial for mental health and overall well-being. Joyful individuals often experience lower stress levels, improved mental resilience, and stronger interpersonal relationships, says the expert,” psychologist Dr Neha Dutt tells Healthshots.

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Listen, Hear: 10 Best Podcasts For Women’s Leadership & Why

Lots of choices and options are good, but when you have close to 4.2 million podcasts around the world to pick from, which ones are best for you as a busy person interested in women’s business, leadership and entrepreneurship topics?

Take The Lead has selected 10 of the best podcasts for women—by women—that you can spend your time listening to—while doing other things, so you can be the multitasker you are. With a range of shows aimed at different generations, fields and identities, this list can perhaps validate choices you already made or introduce you to others you may not have known.

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Intentioning Solutions: 5 Ways to Go From Despair to Power

While it’s natural to feel overwhelmed in the wake of challenging societal or political events, staying in a problem-focused mindset limits our ability to act. It almost ensures we will fail to get our preferred outcomes.

In fact, I’ve learned from my decades of leading complex organizations and movements that are frequently under attack, the best antidote to fear and despair is to take action.

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Free Up To Calm Down: 10 Ways To Restore Yourself, Your Workplace Now

It’s been a lot. The stressful developments of the past several months from political campaigns, the election and catastrophic global conflicts, to natural disasters have caused distress and disruption for anyone and everyone, regardless of politics.

The 2024 American Psychiatric Association report shows 70% of adults in this country “are particularly anxious about current events.”

Add in the requirements individuals bear for the holidays at work and at home, as well as end of the year presentations, reports and projections, and there is an equation leading to burnout. Add in the disparities of race and gender in culture and the workplace, and it may seem insurmountable. But it is possible to transcend the discord with strategies to stay calm—and productive.

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10 Reasons To Give To Take The Lead Now: How Your Gift Powers The Future

In 10 years of operation, under the visionary direction of co-founder and president Gloria Feldt, Take The Lead has accomplished immeasurable successes and influenced directly hundreds of thousands of people.

On this Giving Tuesday, Take The Lead is shouting out 10 of its greatest programs and resources, so you can see exactly what and how your generosity powers a path to a future of gender equity in leadership across all industries and organizations. There are so many more reasons to support Take the Lead, but this is a solid guide to what your giving enables to continue long into the future.

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Michele WeldonComment
🙏🏽 Giving Thanks + 🦃 The Turkey’s View + 🥔 My Secret Potato Roll Recipe

Our editorial director and newsletter writer Michele Weldon is taking Thanksgiving week off, so I’m taking this space to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you. Many thanks for your support — whether as a donor, a participant in one of our leadership development programs, an attendee at an event, even talking with us on social media, or reading this newsletter. Your support has enabled Take The Lead to celebrate 10 years of impact. See what we have accomplished below.

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Through the Glass Ceiling: 5, Actually, 7 Strategies for Women

How often do you click on an article because the title promises you’re going to learn something new or fix a problem you’ve been struggling with — and it turns out to do neither?

In this moment when many are seeking answers as to why for the second time in less than a decade, a highly qualified female leader didn’t break through what Hillary Clinton dubbed the “highest and hardest glass ceiling,” you might be among the many asking “Why?”

The next question typically is: “When will the country be ready for a female president?”

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Wealth Fitness: Golden Seeds Co-CEO Loretta McCarthy Funds Women Entrepreneurs' Dreams

“It’s like health fitness; it is wealth fitness. Many women know they will be fully responsible financially for themselves,” says Loretta McCarthy, co-ceo, and managing partner of Golden Seeds, LLC,  an investor consortium that invests in early-stage, women-led businesses.

Managing the nationwide network of nearly 300 angel investors, McCarthy has been with Golden Seeds for 20 years and in that time, “We have invested in 253 companies with $185 million from 1,100 investors,” she says.

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**Action Required: How to Turn Your Fear into Power**

As the dust settles after the November 5th election, many of you are deflated, while others are elated.

No matter where you stand, one thing is clear: Take The Lead’s mission for gender parity in leadership across all sectors has never been more essential. Our work transcends party lines and industries, grounded in the belief that advancing women’s economic power, parity, and reproductive freedom benefits us all.

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Read Up: Top 10 Books in 2024 On Women, Power, Justice, Equity, History, Culture & More

Every year Take The Lead dives into select and recommended nonfiction books that further the mission of Take The Lead for its 10 years of driving gender and racial equity. As this is the season of reading, giving and swapping books, here are 10 titles published in 2024 (in alphabetical order by author last name) we suggest and why.

These books cover history, popular culture, politics, sports, COVID, feminism, aging, health and memoir from a range of women authors across race, generations, identity, experiences and points of view. 

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Michele WeldonComment
Part 4 of my 3-part Series: How Kamala Harris Uses the 9 Power Tools (though she probably never heard of them)

When I started writing this series a few weeks ago, I planned on writing one post on each of the “buckets” of those 9 Leadership Power Tools: the self-definitional tools, the counterintuitive tools, and the change leadership tools.

Turned out there was more to say, so here’s part 4.

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