The Power of the Infinite Pie: a Legacy Love Story
Leadership is first and foremost about developing others. I wrote this post to our fabulous and diverse and talented participants in our NEW Train-the-Trainer program (we held the training at the beautiful Omega Institute in May) to share why my core workshop is so necessary for women NOW—how their role as certified “Take The Leaders”…
Read MoreQuick! What’s Happening August 26, Really?
If you said “Women’s Equality Day,” you’d be right. And if you said it’s the 95th anniversary of the date in 1920 when women’s right to vote officially entered the U.S. Constitution, you’d be spot on. But the greater significance of this day is not about looking backward at quaint sepia photo of suffragists picketing…
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 More5 Things You Can Do Today for Equal Pay
This was in my Twitter feed today to remind me it’s Equal Pay Day: This is funny, + sadly, true. On average, ♀ r working 22% of the time 4 free. We need 2 fix this. https://t.co/c76v6hqeXC @GloriaFeldt — Sheryl L. Axelrod (@sher_lawyer) April 14, 2015 I don’t know about you, but I’m sooo tired…
Read MoreHow Spanx Shapes Women’s History
Dear Readers and Leaders, It’s Women’s History Month and I have a personal question: Are you wearing Spanx? Me too. And yes, there is a connection. In the 1970s, feminist leader Betty Friedan urged women to throw away their girdles and we cheered. Today, Sarah Blakely has become one of the few female billionaires by…
Read MoreThe Power TO Live With a Whole Heart
February is Heart Month. I had the honor of keynoting, and Take The Lead cosponsored, an American Heart Association Go Red for Women Leadership Forum event in New York. This disease is insidious. And because women are less likely than men to be symptomatic, it’s critically important to know our risks and symptoms. Here’s the…
Read MoreScaling the Unscalable: What’s Your El Capitan?
On Wednesday, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgenson completed their grueling 19-day climb to the top of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. And I was mesmerized. But why? I’m as uninterested in summiting sheer granite cliffs as in having another root canal. Yet why was I so engaged, cheering the news that these two men…
Read MoreTake The Lead Presented and Connected in 2014—and Wants Your Suggestions for 2015
Understanding the Role Confidence Plays Would workplaces become more balanced and society more equitable if women exhibited more confidence? Katty Kay and Claire Shipman created a stir with their book The Confidence Code and their article, “The Confidence Gap” in The Atlantic. To continue this important conversation, we were honored to have Shipman speak to the…
Read MoreVoting Power 2014
When Shirley Chisholm broke both racial and gender barriers to become the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968 and later the first Black woman to run for U. S. president, she leapfrogged over more barriers to power than any woman considering a run today can even imagine. Was she conflicted in her relationship…
Read MoreWhy Flex Time Is the #2 Most Important Employee Benefit
A big barrier to women’s leadership parity was overlooked in the recent brouhaha about Facebook and Apple covering employees’ insurance for egg freezing. These companies are not, as headlines screamed “paying women to freeze eggs.” And I see nothing wrong with covering fertility treatments that though still far from fully effective, can give women childbearing…
Read More