Issue 173 — July 26, 2021
Two billionaires went into space last week and created a big dust up here on Earth. The debates over whether Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos did something amazing or disgusting raged on social media.
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The Tokyo 2020 Olympics kicking off this month are notable not just for what is missing—the crowds in the stands, many athletes who tested positive for COVID and Sha’Carri Richardson due to a positive marijuana test—but what gains have been achieved for competitors identifying as female.
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Of course, women have come a long way since gaining their right to vote. Female representation in traditionally male-dominated industries continues to grow.
However, Pew Research shows that about 64% of women still think there is much work to do as progress in equal rights remains not far enough. And many argue that COVID has set back women a decade on progress towards equity in the workplace.
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After delivering her third child at 5:25 a.m. March 18, 2020, by 8 a.m., Erica Lee, the chief operating officer of Marquis Who’s Who, was on the phone with her remote team asking how they were doing with her newly devised COVID plan to work from home.
“I had her, she’s fine, now let’s get you working,” she says she told her team.
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Issue 172 — July 12, 2021
Last week, I attended my first unmasked, in person, un-social distanced theatrical performance, albeit outdoors. It was pure bliss.
The play was, of course, the thing, and an entertaining one at that. But being in a community of happy theater goers was by far the essence of my joy.
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Whether you are settling down with an e-reader on your favorite screen or thumbing through pages on a beach, this summer season offers many exciting new reads from fiction to nonfiction, advice, memoir and biography by some familiar and new favorite authors.
Each summer Take The Lead recommends what you might like to dive into, share in your book club or recommend to a friend, colleague, mentor or mentee. Here are a delightful bakers’ dozen of Take The Lead suggestions (alphabetically listed because we can’t possibly rank them as we love them all), with an addendum of four irresistible Young Adult offerings you may want to share with a younger person you mentor, love and intend to inspire.
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It’s no secret that women have struggled to find equality with men in the workplace, both in terms of treatment and salary. Discrimination — overt and subtle, conscious and unconscious — has been common in workplaces across the country, and the wage gap has been a constant. Equal pay still isn’t a reality.
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Issue 171— July 5, 2021
Philanthropist Melinda French Gates stood for a photo op with French President Emmanuel Macron at the UN Women’s Generation Equality Forum June 29-July 1, 2021 and discussed the Gates Foundation’s new commitment of $2.1 USD to women’s economic empowerment, family planning, and (Hallelujah! At last!) accelerating women’s leadership.
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Perhaps the seed for Lisa Ann Pinkerton’s career as founder and chair of Women In Cleantech & Sustainability has something to do with the fact that she was born in Hyden, Kentucky near the Daniel Boone National Forest.
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Issue 170 — June 28, 2021
My weekly zoom with women friends who have been staying in touch through the pandemic recently focused on how hard it is to get old ideas and solutions out of their heads when a new and better one has been proven more effective.
The examples mostly came from the world of science and medicine, starting with Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis who was hounded out of the medical profession in the 19th century. Dr. Semmelweis observed that simply washing hands after treating other patients could significantly reduce maternal mortality. Despite a growing body of scientific papers that backed up his theory, most physicians refused to change their traditional practices, and eventually had Semmelweis committed to an institution where he died.
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Seven is considered a universal lucky number for those who believe in numerology.
Seven is an essential number in designing business strategy for Pamela Ayuso, CEO of Celaque, and author of Heptagram: the 7-Pillar Business Design System for the 21st Century.
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June 18, 2021
Growing up deep in the heart of Texas, I learned in (segregated) school that Juneteenth was a big celebration day for Black people because it marked the date on which the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, finally reached Texas on June 19th, 1865.
This date, when federal troops arrived in Galveston to take control of the state after the Civil War, at last ended the egregious practice of legal human slavery in the United States.
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