Are Leadership Messes Women’s Opportunity?
Female leadership firsts are trending. Especially when an organization is in big trouble, it seems. Often the choice of a woman appears to be an act of desperation. Fix us, clean up the mess and make it all work. Call mommy to doctor a skinned knee, soothe the troubled waters.
Power and Leadership: Storify Your #SummerofPower
In case you missed or want to relive our June 1 tweetchat, I’m pleased to share the Storify summary. The tweetchat about women and power was incredibly fast paced — the tweets virtually whizzed by — and I had a great time answering as many questions as I could get to in our short time.
Jill Abramson and Gender Bilingual Communication
With hindsight, this 2013 article all but predicted Jill Abramson’s unceremonious fall. Though according to the New Yorker rendition, her demise was precipitated when Abramson, the New York Times’ first female executive editor, confronted her boss, publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., after learning her pay was significantly less than her predecessor, I point the finger of firing fate much toward implicit cultural biases that influence behavior much more than any of us want to believe.
Thank You, Maya Angelou, Phenomenal Woman, 1928-2014
I remember the first time I read Maya Angelou’s book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It was the most searing yet beautiful prose I had ever encountered. And later, the phenomenon of her poem “Phenomenal Woman” invaded my consciousness and became a kind of anthem for women everywhere. Nothing will ever dim the words of this phenomenal woman. Thank you, Maya Angelou. May you rest in the peace of one whose words and deeds have made the world phenomenally better.
“Born Leader” Betsy Rafael Is GoDaddy’s First Female Board Member
When GM’s new, and first female, CEO Mary Barra moved quickly and publicly to recall cars with the company’s potentially lethal ignition switch problems her predecessors had known but failed to address for a decade, you could feel the fresh air. It would be foolhardy to say her gender made her act in this ethical manner, or to assume a man would not. Still, you can’t help but notice that Barra straight-up owned the problem in a way startlingly distant from the public relations posturing typical of Fortune 500’s protecting their fortunes.
Bikinis and Bongos: GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving Beats the Drums of Change
When you speak with GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving, it’s easy to conjure the teenage percussionist he once was, asserting his high energy drive with his drumsticks, and quite possibly driving his mother crazy by beating bongos while doing the split in the kitchen like Jean-Claude Van Damme in this classically weird GoDaddy ad.
I had a chance to interview the leader of the world’s largest and most controversial domain name registrar, not long after his first anniversary there.
Read MoreMary Barra, First Female GM CEO, Takes The Lead
Does it seem odd for Mary Barra, the newly appointed CEO of General Motors—the first woman to hold that top position in the male-dominated automobile industry–to be profiled as a “woman like you” by the nonprofit organization Take The Lead I cofounded in late 2012?
85 Broads Phoenix Amazing Women Series: The Q and A
Take a listen to the interesting and profound questions asked by the members of 85 Broads Phoenix. I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the fabulous Stacey Gualandi as a part of their Amazing Women series. This is an audio recording of just the Q and A section of the interview. Enjoy-and if you have comments on my answers or further questions, you know I want to hear from you.
Boston Leads the Metropolis Charge to Erase Gender Wage Gap
I was so excited to learn about Boston’s new initiative, designed to do something different to close the wage gap…The Women’s Workforce Council has created a compact to which businesses and companies of Boston are asked to pledge to pay their employees equal wages.
How Women Lead: Not A Hero, Everyone as Hero
I recently had the pleasure of meeting Arizona State University student Lauren Sandground at a meeting to plan the Take The Lead Challenge Launch event (happening February 19 at ASU—check it out here and plan to be there live or by livestream). Lauren, a senior, started an organization named Woman as Hero in 2009 after being surprised to encounter gender biases in her own life even today, when young women are told they can do or be anything.