At 34, Tania Luna has already held 30 jobs. Now co-CEO at LifeLabs Learning, the author, who also co-founded Surprise Enterprises, attributes her resilience to a complicated life viewed with gratitude and surprise. Luna thought the Brooklyn homeless shelter she and her family lived in during the early 90s was a hotel. They had arrived in New York when she was five years old from Ukraine seeking asylum after the devastating Chernobyl accident in 1986.
Read MoreLinda Hirshman credits her Cleveland junior high public school teachers for helping make her who she is. The prolific author, lawyer, retired esteemed university professor and feminist thought leader says, “I had very radical teachers in my public school and when you are 12, 13 and 14, your teachers feel like a real source of truth to you.”
Read MoreThe narrative on health and wellness for women in the workplace is changing. Companies are moving away from a world where employees clock in and out, sit in grim cubicles all day, and make do with five sick days a year. A good leader knows that a healthy, thriving workforce is a productive and engaged workforce. Take the lead in employee wellness. Here are six ways to cultivate personal health in the workplace.
Read MoreI have been tempted to send end of the year emails to colleagues who routinely fail to respond to necessary emails with: “The year is almost over, can you please answer this question from July?” But I know that is not a good idea. Whether you are an entrepreneur with a small business, or a manager in a large corporation, you will want to get your records and files in order.
Read MoreYou may have heard the joke that goes like this (and you can fill in the blank): How do you know if a man (won an award, got a job promotion, attended an Ivy League school…)? Answer: Because he will tell you. Women, not so much. A new study called The Self-Promotion Gap of more than 1,000 men and women shows that 69 percent of women would rather downplay their accomplishments than talk about them.
Read MoreThe biggest lesson for women in today’s world that I believe is flush with opportunity despite persistent remnants of implicit bias, stereotype threat, and culturally learned barriers in our own minds is this: no one can break the pattern of silence as assent but us. No one can set our #dontmesswithme boundaries but us. No one is likely to speak out against patterns of gender-based abuse and violence unless we start the conversation.
Read More“Too black.” Apparently actress Gabrielle Union was fired from her position as a judge on “America’s Got Talent” because as an African-American woman, her hairstyles were deemed not appropriate or comfortable for some audiences to watch, according to reports.
Read MoreSo you don’t want to organize something that involves ugly holiday sweaters, because that is so 10 years ago. If you are in charge of creating or even contributing to the workplace end of the year event—and 82 percent of workplaces do have a holiday event—why not make sure it is memorable, safe and perhaps even advances your mission?
Read More“Remember the ladies,” future First Lady Abigail Adams implored her husband, John, in March 1776 as the Continental Congress was crafting the U.S. Constitution.
“All men would be tyrants if they could,” she wrote. “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
Read MoreI hope you had a meaningful Thanksgiving and are rolling joyfully into the rest of the holiday season. Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, when you will be besieged with fundraising appeals. But this year, with gratitude still on our mind and Take The Lead decided to have Thanking You Monday instead.
Read MoreTaylor Swift had it right. In her performance at the recent American Music Awards, where she won Artist of The Decade as well as Artist of The Year, she sang, “The Man,” with particularly fitting lyrics. “If I was the man, I’d be the man,” she sang, surrounded by a choir of young girls. Alas, she is not. And the gender gap in all music is wide.
Read More“Oh, OK, I invented Post-Its,” Michele, the Lisa Kudrow character blurts out in the 1997 movie, “Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion.” She gets found out, of course, even if she slides through an explanation involving viscosity. But most people get caught with resume and experience enhancements. Recently, U.S. State Department official Mina Chang was discovered to have lied on her resume, and with some big lies, including a fake Time magazine cover. She has resigned.
Read More
