5 Tips to Thrive in Chaos (or What Good Is Vision When You’re up to Your A** in Alligators?)

By Gloria Feldt | September 29, 2011 |

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWHpTQc-nhM[/youtube]

I knew there’d be pushback the minute I dubbed vision the #1 leadership characteristic.

“Get real,” several readers e-mailed. It reminded me of the cartoon a colleague once gave me, bearing the caption: “When you’re up to your a** in alligators, it’s hard to remember your goal was to drain the swamp.”

In a time of economic chaos, when many people are desperately trying to keep those writhing reptiles from nipping off their knees, lofty vision talk sounds unrealistic.

It’s difficult to keep your eyes on the prize, your focus on the vision, your hand steady to the wheel when the assumptions you thought were well grounded turn out to be quicksand. But a counterintuitive skill that can help you thrive in times of change and disruption is to embrace chaos as opportunity…

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Friday Roundup: Will Women Leaders Carpe the Chaos?

By Gloria Feldt | June 3, 2011 |

Earlier this week, I came across an article titled “Why ‘Female’ Skills Are Worth More.”

This week’s roundup reflects the news that in the current financial chaos, with a little help sex scandals here and there, women are taking important leading roles in journalism, finance, and government. It’s a really big deal that the New York Times has its first female executive editor–check out these takes on Jill Abramson’s appointment:

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5 Tips to Carpe the Chaos and Thrive

By Gloria Feldt | January 20, 2011 |

NAFE, the National Association of Female Executives asked me to write a “Five Tips” article for their latest newsletter.

I chose to write about 5 tips to use chaos as opportunity, or as I’ve put it in No No Excuses power tool #5, Carpe the Chaos. I had recently spoken on this topic to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Women’s Roundtable and the International Museum of Women. In my experience as a leader, it has been a very useful concept that got me through tough times when many people thought there was no way to succeed.

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Get Your Coven Together and Create a Revolution on Friday the 13th

By Gloria Feldt | November 13, 2009 |

If you are a writer and a woman, you’e probably heard about the great new website SheWrites started by a very powered woman, Kamy Wicoff, and already boasting a membership of over 5000. I just posted this over there and couldn’t resist sharing it with you. Seems that Publishers Weekly released its annual list of Top 10 Books, and guess what, there wasn’t a single book by a woman on it. So Kamy swung into action, which I love. The rest of the story will be obvious. (BTW, if you’re a woman writer, join up today by clicking the picture on the right.)

So here’s what posted at SheWrites:

I like Friday the 13th. Thirteen is a great number. Why? First of all, my birthday is on the 13th, April 13th. Every once in a while it lands on a Friday, and I feel just as lucky then as when it falls on a Tuesday. The gifts are just as much fun to open. Publisher’s Weekly has handed us at SheWrites a gift by calling attention to the lack of books by women writers on their Top 10 list.

I also like Friday the 13th because 13 is the number of a coven. Covens are powerful. Every women needs her coven, no matter what her religion is or what she thinks about witches. We need our circle of women friends, our old or new girls network. Our sister courage. Our girl gangs. One of us alone can accomplish a lot, but 13 of us together make a movement. Remember, thirteen colonies started a revolution and formed a new nation in 1776. Kamy has challenged us to create our own revolution.

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