Life tools and tips
A Few Tips to Shake Things Up!
We’re not going to belabor the ‘stuck in your comfort zone’ thing but after our last email, we would be remiss if we didn’t pop in and share a few tangibles ways to break free from the grips of your comfort bubble. (-;
If you’re truly ready to take steps away from your comfort zone, here are some tips that can help.
Read MoreDangly Earrings and Other Breaks with the Past
Issue 138 — August 10, 2020
CBS Sunday Morning reminded me, in a piece about President Gerald Ford’s photographer David Hume Kennerly, that August 9 was the anniversary of the date in 1974 when President Richard Nixon resigned from office. Why is this relevant?
Well, it is quite relevant to me, for it marked a major turning point in my life and my career. As it happens, that is also the date on which I was offered and accepted my first CEO position. I became executive director of the small young Planned Parenthood affiliate in West Texas.
Read MoreIs your career disrupted? How you can regroup, refresh, and rewire for success
Issue 135 — July 13, 2020
What had you planned to do in 2020?
I could hardly wait for 2020. It was going to be an epic year. The 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote. So many events were already being planned that my calendar was filled with places I wanted to go to join the celebration. It was to be the year that Take The Lead was finally poised to scale up with our strategy to achieve gender parity in leadership by 2025.
I had so many plans. Just the sound of those round numbers 2020 were enough to signal a special year.
We were about to find out just how special.
Read More7 Tips for Networking Even in a Pandemic
Issue 133 — June 29, 2020
One thing COVID-19 has done is make life easier for introverts.
If you break out in a cold sweat at the thought of networking, in the sense of walking into a large room full of people you don’t know and trying to make connections that will be useful to you in your professional life, while balancing a beverage — it might seem in first blush that at least that worry is over.
But the reality is your network is your net worth.
Read MoreIt’s 2020: New decade, old secrets from the trail of life.
Issue 118— January 20, 2020
It was a gorgeous Arizona Sunday, not yet two weeks into the new year and the new decade. The 2020s. I love that nice round number. I was lighthearted, with the sense of optimism I get at such a time, when it seems like the slate is clean and the future open to our intentions.
Hello 2020: 3 Intentions to Predict the Future by Creating It.
Issue 117 — January 5, 2020
My son gave me a cool gift last year called StoryWorth. I answered a question about my life (almost) every week and it was shared with my children for their comments. The company will turn all this content into a book now. Nice.
The Sum Volume #9: Stop
“The first responsibility of leadership is the creation of meaning.”—Warren Bennis. Word of the week is STOP. I know, I know! I’m usually telling you to GO. To set your intentions higher and embrace your power TO achieve them, and to go full bore to lead your dreams, not follow them. How do you like my…
Read MoreTake The Leap (Day) to Make Your Own History
It’s Leap Day! February 29 is the every-fourth-year calendar adjustment for the Gregorian calendar’s imperfections. The extra day appended to February inspired a leap of vision and blazing hope for women in 5th Century Ireland, when St. Bridget persuaded St. Patrick to declare that a woman could do what was then the unthinkable: ask a…
Read MoreMaxisms: 8 Things I Learned from My Crazy Father
My father, Max Feldt, stood 6’ 3” with a personality so big (and the towns we lived in so small) that the postal service once delivered a letter to me addressed only: “To the eldest daughter of Big Max, Stamford, Texas.” Family lore says he roared, “Who said I wanted a boy?” when reminded that…
Read More8 Ways to Erase the “Can Women Have It All?” Question
If it’s so darn hard to be a parent and a CEO, why doesn’t Indra Nooyi resign from PepsiCo? Nooyi, who receives high marks as a CEO, fell several notches in my estimation as a leader who apparently doesn’t realize the impact her words will have on younger women’s aspirations. And don’t even talk to…
Read More