Posts in The Sum
How Would You Like an Extra Million Dollars?
How Would You Like an Extra Million Dollars?

Issue 194 — March 21, 2022

That’s a no-brainer, right? But I’m serious. Studies have shown that women lose between $400,000 and over $1,000,000 cumulatively over a lifetime of work in comparison with men in equal jobs with equal experience. You deserve to be paid fairly and equally to others with your qualifications.

Equal Pay Day was March 15 this year. Saying that women make on average 83 cents to men’s $1 is an oversimplification because there are huge variances based on race and ethnicity.

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The SumGloria FeldtPay Gap, Gender Equality, WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTHComment
(Un)equal Pay Day: Is it Good News or Bad News?
(Un)equal Pay Day: Is it Good News or Bad News?

Issue 193 — March 14, 2022

It’s progress to be sure that March 15 marks Equal Pay Day 2022. Women now earn 83% of what men earn for matched full time work.

Last year the annual recognition of when U.S. women had to work into 2021 before they earned what men earned what men did in just 12 months of 2020 occurred on March 24. The year before that, the day was March 31.

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The SumGloria FeldtEqual Pay Day, gender equality, Racism, WorkplaceComment
"Bravery Has no Gender" Kira Rudik and Volodymyr Zelenskyy Lead Like a Woman in the Face of the Unthinkable
"Bravery Has no Gender" Kira Rudik and Volodymyr Zelenskyy Lead Like a Woman in the Face of the Unthinkable

Issue 192 — March 8, 2022

My heart clutched as I watched Stephanie Ruhle interview Ukrainian Member of Parliament Kira Rudik on “The 11th Hour.”

I urge you to watch it a few times, not to become fearful but to observe how she speaks powerfully AND with empathy, humanity, and courage. These characteristics are what I mean when I say she leads like a woman.

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The SumGloria FeldtWomen Leaders, War, Politics, Women In PoliticsComment
What "And Just Like That," the Truckers' Revolt, and the Great Resignation Can Teach Leaders
What "And Just Like That," the Truckers' Revolt, and the Great Resignation Can Teach Leaders

Issue 191 — February 21, 2022

If you were eagerly awaiting the “Sex and the City” reboot, “And Just Like That,” perhaps you were one of many who concluded that you can’t go home again and expect it to be a satisfying visit.

I loved the iconic television series back in the day. Yet I can see that trying to update it while maintaining the elements that made it so much fun in its first go-round was an impossible task. Because its current iteration takes place in a culture chastened by a pandemic and awakened to deep seated racial injustice that makes the whiteness of the original four female friends, especially in one of the world’s most diverse cities, seem so out of place.

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The SumGloria FeldtGreat Resignation, Covid-19, Leadership Power ToolsComment
How Black History Month Can Help Us All “Uncover Ourselves”
How Black History Month Can Help Us All “Uncover Ourselves”

Issue 190 — February 7, 2022

Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the 1619 Project said it like this: “At some point when you have proven yourself and fought your way into institutions that were not built for you, when you’ve proven you can compete and excel at the highest level, you have to decide that you are done forcing yourself in,” she writes in her statement explaining why she left the University of North Carolina after an acrimonious but ultimately successful tenure battle to take the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Reporting at Howard University.

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The SumGloria FeldtBlack History Month, Intentioning, Black Lives Matter, RacismComment
Let's See: Why Black Women Must Be Visible Beyond Black History Month
Let's See: Why Black Women Must Be Visible Beyond Black History Month

Yes, there is a Rosa Parks signature series Barbie doll, Ella Fitzgerald Barbie (who comes with a standing microphone), Ida B. Wells Barbie with a newspaper in her hand, as well as Katherine Johnson (with an ID badge around her neck) and Maya Angelou Barbies, each in the collector series costing about $30.

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The SumMichele Weldonblack women in leadership, Black Business, Women Leaders, intersectionalityComment
Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Fierce Urgency of Now” — Updated for 2022
Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Fierce Urgency of Now” — Updated for 2022

Issue 189— January 17, 2022

I honestly can’t believe that my column on January 18, 2021, recognizing Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday barely struck the alarm it deserved.

How could I not have drawn brightly the profound contrast between Dr. King’s exhortations to Civil Rights movement activists to hold nonviolent protests and last year’s January 6 violent breech of the Capitol?

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The SumGloria FeldtMartin Luther King, Racial Equity, gender equality, Activism, Voting Comment
Imagine: What if You Could Turn Implicit Bias into Your Superpowers?
Imagine: What if You Could Turn Implicit Bias into Your Superpowers?

Issue 186 — December 6, 2021

Dr. Harbeen Arora enters a full room of women leaders from around the world. She lightly clangs a spoon against a teacup. Immediately, attention focuses on this petite woman, whose passion fuels her intention for global gender equality. Soft spoken and eminently gracious, she calls one by one on the G100 global chairs and then country chairs eager to join in her bold vision; she aims to mobilize a global network of powerful women and men who support the effort to turn the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #5, to “Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls” by 2030 from rhetoric to reality.

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The SumGloria FeldtWomen Leaders, gender equality, Parity, Workplace Culture, Leadership ToolsComment
Thank You! We’re Celebrating What You Made Possible
Thank You! We’re Celebrating What You Made Possible

Issue 185 — November 22, 2021

Before holiday season gatherings (in person or virtual — please stay safe), I’m taking a moment to say how grateful I am for all we have accomplished together despite pandemic-induced setbacks. Seriously, it has been amazing to look back at 2021 and realize that thanks entirely to your support, Take The Lead has provided over 10,000 women with resources and actionable tools to navigate career challenges and changes. You helped us help women rethink, refresh, retool, or revise their career intentions. And those are just the ones we can count.

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The SumGloria FeldtTake The Lead, Intentioning, Power Up, Leadership Tools, Career SuccessComment
How to Solve the “Great Resignation”
How to Solve the “Great Resignation”

Issue 184 — November 15, 2021

The Microsoft Work Trend Index says over 40% of the global workforce is considering leaving their current employer, and 46% plan to make a significant career pivot.

This and other recent studies have pundits and business leaders wringing their hands about the difficulty of filling jobs in the wake of the pandemic’s massive economic disruption.

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The SumGloria FeldtWorkplace Culture, Work/Life Balance, Great Resignation, burnoutComment