Posts Tagged ‘women’
The Fabric Of Our Lives
I grew up in rags. No, I don’t mean I lacked proper clothes. As I’ve confessed in this column before, I’ve always been something of a fashion diva. Now you’ll know why. I’m referring to the clothing business, where “rag” or the Yiddish word for it, “shmata,” is often used as a humorous slang description. My father…
Read MoreDon’t Be So Darn Nice: Why Talking About the Hard Stuff Is Even More Important Than You Thought
Issue 54 — June 15, 2018 Riffing on Dante, my friend Jill and I used to speculate on what our personal levels of hell would be. Pervasive niceness was her deepest level of hellaciousness. She described it as a place where tough or controversial issues were never discussed and she would have to be blandly agreeable at all…
Read MoreMeghan’s Veil
Meghan Markle might never become Queen of England, but she rules the world through the power of the symbols she chose for her wedding. Literally, every minute act and every tangible article in any royal wedding is imbued with symbolic meaning whether intended or not. But there is no question that this bride and groom thought…
Read MoreThe Whole World Is Getting a Spring Cleaning.
I was never much of a housekeeper. “Shmutz,” my husband lovingly calls me while he cleans up the place. I long ago decided I’d rather spend my precious time changing the world than vacuuming it. But even I have to admit spring cleaning brings a special lightness to the spirit. This spring, in particular, feels…
Read MoreNetworking When You Hate It
It’s gala season. I was getting ready to go to the Ms. Foundation’s 30th annual Gloria Awards dinner yesterday and fretting about — almost everything. What to wear. No, I can’t wear that red silk jacket that I wore the last two years again. I know everyone will be there in sparkly evening clothes and I don’t even have…
Read MoreHow to Keep Women from Leadership Parity
I once led a women’s executive leadership workshop on “Women, Power, and Authentic Leadership”. 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 More3 Things I learned this week (and one sneak preview)
Did you know that only 2% of women’s businesses crack the $1,000,000 revenue mark? I learned that this week when I had the pleasure of speaking at Kristi Hall’s 2% club mastermind group. While it’s not easy for any entrepreneur to build a business, according to a study by EY, businesses owned by men are 3.5…
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 MoreIt’s not the mountain that trips you, it’s the pebble.
My husband Alex and I just returned from a perfect vacation in the renowned Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. If you haven’t made this trip, put it on your bucket list. We swam with the giant sea turtles and iguanas, cavorted with playful sea lions, and snapped photos of the famous blue-footed boobies—it was pure heaven.…
Read MoreAre 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.