The coronavirus pandemic has altered every aspect of life, and the workplace is no exception.
In 2020, 2.3 million women left the U.S. workforce—either through job loss or being forced to quit in order to care for their children—leading to the lowest levels of women in the labor force since the 1980s, prompting Vice President Kamala Harris to declare it “a national emergency.”
Read MoreSometimes a surprise email makes your day, or week, or year.
Take Lead Co-Founder and President Gloria Feldt opened this email recently from Erica Miles, a leader in tech.
“Gloria, you are my inspiration,” Miles writes. “Because of my work with you, your 9 Power Tools, and the Take the Lead training, No Excuses, I made a leap for a promotion. Thank you for your leadership; you encouraged me to step out, market myself and personally drive the next step in my career. I was getting stuck and not realizing my own value. I am hoping that all the inspiration I received from you will be realized by all your training participants, so they also realize their own worth.”
Read MoreYou have likely heard the adage that a picture is worth 1,000 words. In the case of Annie Leibovitz, iconic photographer for more than 50 years, her pictures are priceless.
The legendary creative force and winner of the International Center of Photography Lifetime Achievement Award and the Centenary Medal of Royal Photographic Society, Leibovitz humbly graced the Chicago Humanities Festival stage recently to talk about how women are seen—and not seen authentically—and ultimately not known.
Read More“I am driven by justice,” says Sonali Kolhatkar, author, radio host, nonprofit organization co-director, artist, musician and mother. “There’s a time and a place for rolling up one’s sleeve and getting the work done,” says the Los Angeles-based host and executive producer of the nationally syndicated radio and TV program, “Rising Up With Sonali” which airs on KPFK and KPFA and also as a TV show on Free Speech TV.
Read MoreIt is likely that if many of us had a nickel for every time someone questioned our authority or expertise, many of us would not be too concerned about having enough saved for retirement.
Yes, those moments when your title and role are announced and the naysayers shrink in the back of the room, can be satisfying, but the consistent presumption of a lack of authority and credibility based on gender is far too prevalent and costly. It hinders not just acknowledgment, but advancement, opportunity, income and quality of life.
Read MoreAround the world, women in their 20s are shaping their professional careers, embracing the freedom and liberation that comes with completing school, gaining financial independence, and customizing their futures of work. Still, many twenty-somethings may still depend on families, particularly due to COVID restrictions and a shift to moving back into the family home.
Being financially independent gives many a chance to develop valuable money management skills, and to foster the confidence needed to voice your own opinions and desires. This is a global concern.
Read MoreWhen was the last time—if ever—you were part of a venture when a leader pronounced that joy was an integral part of the mission?
“We built into our mission that joy underlines our ethos,” says Deborah Douglas, co-editor-in-chief of The Emancipator, the new journalistic venture from Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research and the Boston Globe’s opinion team resurrecting the 200-year old abolitionist newspaper. “Journalists should not have to create from tension.”
Read MoreAs millions of women exit their jobs—by choice or by default—and leadership doesn’t seem to get it, where does this leave women in the workforce?
They want flexibility, transparency, accountability in their jobs and from their leadership.
Read MoreNow vice president and head of strategic partnerships at Amex Digital Lab, Stephanie Schultz recalls it was not all that long ago starting her career at American Express, when she thought maybe it was time to get an American Express card herself.
And now she spearheads the innovation hub at this Fortune 100 company, creating new ways for customers to interact with Amex digitally across all platforms and apps.
Read MorePerhaps the writing was on the wall from the time she was a teen.
At 16, Heather H. Wilson was a national officer for Future Business Leaders of America as a student at James Wood High School in Winchester, Virginia, where her mother was a teacher. Her father was an art teacher at an elementary school in town.
“I was raised by two educators who set very high bars and standards,” says Wilson, CEO of CLARA Analytics, the leading provider of artificial intelligence technology in the commercial insurance industry.
Read MoreFor too long, many women have bought into the lie that their relevance is proportional to their youth. The truth is, aging is a secret power.
Don’t believe me?
Take a look at 7 reasons why getting older is one of the best things that can happen to you.
“I think that ageism is a cultural illness; it’s not a personal illness,” actor Frances McDormand, recently said.
Read MoreThe more you know, the better you can do.
A spate of new research on shifts and changes in income, career, life outlook and more for women since the pandemic slowdown and ensuing Delta surge shows significant changes in who we are, and how we work in the world.
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