At Your Service: The Strategies and Shelter You May Need

Take The Lead has content across platforms that can help you as you shelter in place.

Take The Lead is available for inspiration and tools as you shelter in place with resources you can watch, read and listen to now.

“@Takeleadwomen is available for #inspiration and tools as you #ShelterInPlace with #resources you can watch, read and listen to now. ”

More than a month in, with most everyone in the country quarantined and working remotely or at social distances, it is fair to say everyone in the country is affected by COVID-19,. Many report the economic and emotional burden is higher for women.

At Take The Lead we know that funny videos and memes may be distracting for a few minutes, but they will not change reality. Information and tools you can use may offer a different perspective. We have a treasure of videos, podcasts and blogs to help you learn more, discover more and help you to use your power to change your career and your future.

“@Takeleadwomen has a treasure of videos, #podcasts and blogs to help you learn more, discover more and help you to use your power to change your career. #Virtual #Resources ”

Take The Lead— a 100 percent virtual team— is not taking this pandemic lightly, noting that the latest survey from Economist/YouGov, shows that 81 percent of the people say that the Covid-19 pandemic has created a “national emergency,” according to the Brookings Institute. About three-quarters of Americans are concerned about an outbreak in their communities.

In a separate study from Pew Research Center, 66 percent of those surveyed believe that it is a “major threat” to the health of the U.S. population, 88% say that it is a major threat to the economy.

The impact on small businesses especially is and will continue to be devastating.

“Around 87% of business owners say their businesses are hurting from the coronavirus,” according to WalletHub’s new Coronavirus Small Business Survey. WalletHub reports that “35% of small business owners say their business can only survive for less than three months in current conditions” and “79% of small business owners think that minimizing COVID-19 deaths is more important than re-opening the economy.” Additionally, “60% of small business owners think restrictions placed in response to COVID-19 should stay the same or be relaxed.”

According to Harvard Business Review, “small local businesses— across the U.S. are facing difficult decisions. These institutions are crucial to our nation’s economy, employing 58.9 million people in the United States, or about 47.5% of the total private sector workforce. Their GDP contribution measured $5.9 trillion in 2014, the most recent year for which small business GDP data is available.”

But as you are spending more screen time during this disruptive era, Take The Lead offers you insight and info that may help you now and down the road, when COVID-19 has peaked and passed.

“As you are spending more screen time, @Takeleadwomen offers you #insight and info that may help you now and down the road, when #COVID-19 has peaked and passed. ”

Make your own Take The Lead watch party. Here is a link to our Take The Lead video channel , and below we have selected a few of our favorite recent Virtual Happy Hours to inspire you and help you with strategies and tips you can use now and in the future.

“Make your own @Takeleadwomen watch party. On our video channel we have selected a few of our favorite recent #VirtualHappyHours to inspire you. #TTLWatchParty”

Best Possible: Improving Work Culture with Mission: Cherish the wisdom from Aubrey Blanche, formerly Global Head of Diversity & Belonging at Atlassian at the time of this taping and now Global Head of Equitable Design & Impact @CultureAmp.. You'll learn how to: Identify issues, steps you can take to improve your workplace culture; understand elements of the most inclusive and welcoming business cultures; create change in process and behaviors to improve your workplace; and learn how you as an individual can make a difference in your workplace culture.

Speak Out On Purpose: Listen to the advice and strategies from Carina Glover, Founder and CEO of HerHeadquarters; Amanda Kahlow, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, 6Sense; and Wendi C. Thomas, founder, editor and publisher of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. You'll learn how to: Use your voice to speak out on issues you care about; create companies and organizations to create change; enlist different platforms to communicate about your mission and purpose; decide how, when and why you want to speak up in organizations and discover ways to communicate purposefully.

Pride In The Workplace: Why Building LBGTQ Inclusive Culture Is Critical: Hear the incredibly valuable input from Natalie Jane Egan, CEO and Founder of Translator, former CEO and founder of PeopleLinx, and parent of three children; and Jehan Agrama, CEO of Harmony Gold, CEO of Lemonette and a founding member of GLAAD. You'll learn how to: Develop a workplace culture of inclusion and empathy; discover solutions to address challenges of bias for LGBTQ workers; how you can be a more empathic colleague; adopt strategies to create practices of inclusion and fairness; communicate your expectations of fairness to leadership; develop network support at work and beyond and find resources to improve your leadership for all workers.

Take The Lead has so many resources for you on our award-winning Movement Blog. Here are some snippets from a few of our favorites over the last few years. We suggest you visit Take The Lead and search by category or topics from the more than 600 columns and posts about every level of career across dozens of different disciplines. Here is some quick reading for you from five of our favorite Take The Lead friends.

“@Takeleadwomen has so many resources for you on our award-winning #MovementBlog. Search by category or topics from the more than 600 columns and posts. #WomenBlog”

1.  Get back up. “In her book, Extreme You: Step Up. Stand Out. Kick Ass. Repeat, Fly Wheel CEO Sarah Robb O’Hagan interviews 23 people on their successes and failures.  She told NBC, “I think probably the worst advice has always been from those people who’ve said that move is too risky, that idea is too risky, don’t do it, because ultimately, even if they’re right, for me, the act of making those decisions, screwing up ended up being a good thing anyway because I learned from it. I learned years forward that those wrong moves helped me really hone where I was not good so that I could learn to surround myself with people with complementary skills.” Read more here in Take The Lead..

2.  Do it now. Gwen Jimmere, CEO and founder of Naturalicious, a natural hair care product sold globally in more than 1,200 retail stores and online: “Waiting is not a strategy; waiting for your kids to graduate, waiting for X,Y and Z to happen, something else always comes up. You have to jump off the cliff. There will never be a time you are not waiting to move forward with whatever you dream.” Read more about Jimmere here in Take The Lead.

“@Gwenjimmere, CEO and founder of @Naturalicious, a natural hair care product sold globally in more than 1,200 retail stores and online, advises: “Waiting is not a strategy.” #CareerAdvice”

3. Be fierce. Stacey Engle, president of Fierce Conversations, is all about change management. If you are leading in the time of COVID-19, you can heed some of her advice. “As a leader, depending on the scope of your team, can you get a clear idea on how people feel in your organization? Can they show up as themselves? Engagement ties to top and bottom line results.” Engle explains the model for inclusion as a beach ball. “You train and support people with different stripes and colors. No one person owns the whole truth about an organization. Each person owns their own truth.” Read more about Engle here at Take The Lead.

“@Staceyengle, president of @Fierce_inc, is all about #change management: “Engagement ties to top and bottom line results.” Read more at @Takeleadwomen ‘s #MovementBlog.”

4. Find the groups where you can belong.  Georgene Huang, CEO and Co-founder of Fairygodboss, is the fairy godmother of networking for women. She advises,“You may be looking to connect and find networking opportunities and mentors now more than ever. Joining the right group is a big part of the battle. Search and fill out a profile, we recommend groups. Our recommendations are only as good as what you tell us.” Read more from Huang here in Take The Lead.

“@GeorgeneHuang, CEO and Co-founder of @Fairygodboss, is the fairy godmother of #networking for #women. She advises, “Joining the right group is a big part of the battle.””

5. Do a personal audit of yourself. Laverne McKinnon, co-founder of K & L Productions in Los Angeles, suggests you take the time to interrogate your intentions. “We all have saboteur voices whose job is to keep us small. Know that when they are at their loudest it means you are going out of your comfort zone, so have the courage to keep going. Take one small action to build your confidence. The biggest mistake is to mistake a belief for a truth.” Read more about McKinnon in Take The Lead here.  

“Do a personal audit of yourself. Laverne McKinnon, co-founder of K & L Productions in Los Angeles, suggests you take the time to interrogate your intentions. #CO-VID #Advice”

Take The Lead is prepared with content across platforms to help you with your own strategic action plan for the future. Explore all the offerings and stay tuned for information on upcoming webinars.

“@Takeleadwomen is prepared with content across platforms to help you with your own strategic action plan for the future. #CO-VID19 #Leadership”