At events, I often hear: “You are always so positive!” and: “It’s always great to have your smile in the room.” Someone recently said, “I thought there was something special about you because you smiled at every single person when they got up to introduce themselves.” The truth is, it’s more FUN to be around people who smile more. It’s definitely more fun to be around myself when I do.
Read MoreAnecdotally, we’ve been seeing a trend towards more men wanting to be involved at home, and research just bore that out in a big way. Bain and Company surveyed 1,500 MBA students and graduates about their career aspirations, and about half of women and men reported that they “plan to prioritize non-work commitments over career progression.” In fact, women and men were just about even on this measure, with 50 percent of women and 51 percent of men saying that the “life” part of “work-life balance” will win out when push comes to shove.
Read MoreIn the post-Lean In world, it feels as though you can’t spend five minutes on the internet without seeing an article about cracking the glass ceiling. Women’s professional development is all the rage right now (and we contribute to that—sorry we’re not sorry!).
Read MoreThe author of the viral 2012 Atlantic article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” has a new book out on Tuesday: Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family.
Read MoreI talk a lot about the importance of closing the gender gap in STEM. The statistics clearly outline the problem: only 14% of engineers are women. Girls are losing confidence in math and science by age eight. Something needs to change.
Read MoreThough we haven’t reached gender parity among Fortune 500 CEOs yet, according to new research, our perceptions of CEOs are looking pretty darn gender-equal.
Read MoreWe’ve all heard of her: the “queen bee” woman who achieves professional success and then keeps other women from reaching her perch, or at least can’t be bothered to offer them a hand. This is who Madeleine Albright was referring to when she uttered her famous line, “There’s a special place in hell reserved for women who don’t help other women.” There are many who think that queen bees are partly responsible for the fact that women have a hard time advancing into leadership.
Read MoreMost women feel that they need to be bold, decisive, and confident to lead well, especially when they feel how they lead is being scrutinized by men. On the outside, this appearance is important to convey. On the inside, women need to have the courage to feel unsure of themselves so they can make their best decisions and positively take the lead.
Read MoreI read an article in The Atlantic last week about the vast “confidence gap” that separates the sexes, and it made me ponder why I haven’t suffered from the same self-doubts that afflict so many women. The article’s authors, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, point to several studies showing that women not only lack confidence about their performance and careers but often under-estimate their abilities—in contrast to men, who generally have few doubts about their competence or capacities. This lack of self-assurance holds women back because, it turns out, confidence matters as much as competence in achieving professional success.
Read MoreIt’s true that we’re all learners, we’re learning all the time (let’s hope), but it’s also true that some of us just know about some things more than others.
I know more about writing and dialogue than my engineer friends. Olympic skiiers know more about skiing than I do. I remind myself of this whenever I get uncomfortable calling myself an expert.
Read MoreHow comfortable are you with the power you have to improve your own working conditions, ask for a raise, sing your own praises, solve a challenging organizational issue or go after the promotion you deserve? As Gloria Feldt has found, too many people allow the authority they’re given to confine the power they actually have – powers of persuasion, persistence, creativity, disruption and the ability to form mutually beneficial alliances with others.
Read More“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
– Toni Morrison
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