General
Scaling 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 MoreHow “Play Like a Girl” Went From Epithet to Compliment
I’ve never been to a professional hockey game nor wanted to. I stay far away from sports bars. But I do resonate with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky whose pithy leadership advice is, “Don’t skate to where the hockey puck is. Skate to where the hockey puck is going.” I love the direction the hockey puck is going…
Read MoreHow to Keep Women from Leadership Parity
I led a women’s executive leadership workshop on “Women, Power, and Authentic Leadership” recently. A business school professor presented just before me, so I arrived early to observe her segment. She’s a highly skilled communicator who presented terrific content. Her elegant attire and direct but modulated self-presentation perfectly mirror how women are advised to look and…
Read More4 Ways You Can Push for Parity This Women’s Equality Day
I was savoring my grilled salmon salad recently when my lunch partner’s casual comment made me drop my fork and get serious. “They’ve asked me to be board chair at the Brooklyn Museum, I’d be the first woman in their 100-year history. But I don’t know if I can do it,” Elizabeth Sackler said. “What…
Read MoreThe World Turns on Human Connections
After a whirlwind year of creating an organization, hosting an amazing launch, and being overwhelmed with gratitude for the scores of organizations and individuals who have supported our cause, donated to it, and who want to align with Take The Lead’s mission and programs, we’ve been taking stock. Asking ourselves what works and what not…
Read MoreCan a Tampon Ad Really Empower You?
Consumer products ads have jumped on the girls and women’s empowerment bandwagon. Is this commercialization of women’s equality a good thing? On the positive side, when a company like Pantene bases an entire shampoo ad campaign on exposing sexism and starts a hashtag telling women to #ShineStrong, you know something big has shifted in the…
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