Zoom Blah: 7 Strategies For Getting The Most Out Of Video Conference Calls

The whole concept wasn’t so bad at first; you only had to look nice from the waist up. No shoes required. Commuting time was zero. You could speak with all of your team across the globe at one time. Occasionally your family wanted to check in together, and then there were those dance parties.

But occasional Zoom time turned into who isn’t Zooming whom.

Four months into the COVID-19 crisis, with millions working remotely, the Zoom conference call has morphed into a huge physical, emotional and psychic drain. If you have Zoom Blah, you’re not alone.

Michele WeldonJuly 27, 2020Comment

Show Us All: Why Media Visuals Need To Reflect BIPOC Women

Simone Biles is on the new August cover of Vogue. Viola Davis is on the August cover of Vanity Fair. It’s a good month for visual representation of strong BIPOC women leaders in mainstream media. But it’s been a long time coming. And it’s not nearly enough.

Even as the Biles’ photo shoot was criticized for how the lighting reflected the athlete’s skin tone as photographed by Annie Liebowitz, the trend of celebrating a wider range of women leaders is positive. Davis’ cover story was the first ever by a Black photographer, Dario Calmese.

In tribute to female mayors, taking the lead

Issue 136 — July 20, 2020

The passing of Civil Rights leader and legend Congressman John Lewis made me deeply sad. A wave of great lions and lionesses of the movement for racial equality is moving on just as the country is at the crossroads. Either we’ll make the systemic change that they visualized, that they risked their very lives for, or we’ll let the elements of xenophobia take us back to pre-Rosa Parks days. As tributes to Lewis fill the media, I became aware that his career in elective office started on the Atlanta City Council.

Do More: 5 Ways to Ensure DEI Efforts Are Working in Your Organization

Two months into a cultural reckoning that reached a tipping point with the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police officers and the global protests that followed, companies, organizations, non-profits, institutions, universities and celebrities have made public mission statements of intention to address racial inequities.

An intensifying renewal and resetting of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is in the works across the country—and the world. And rightly so. But are these DEI efforts working?

Remote Possibility: 4 Tips For Preparing To WFH Forever

Millions across the country who kept their jobs or were not frontline essential workers at high risk have been working remotely since March. The transition to WFH for many has hit rough spots complicated with childcare and homeschooling and cramped spaces not set up for a 9 to 5 workday.

But it always felt as if it was temporary. That may not be the case.

While many offices are safely reopening in the coming weeks and months, with many workers and leaders facing fear and loathing about going back to the office, what if you face the forever fact of never returning to a workplace outside your home?

Is your career disrupted? How you can regroup, refresh, and rewire for success

Issue 135 — July 13, 2020

What had you planned to do in 2020?

I could hardly wait for 2020. It was going to be an epic year. The 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote. So many events were already being planned that my calendar was filled with places I wanted to go to join the celebration. It was to be the year that Take The Lead was finally poised to scale up with our strategy to achieve gender parity in leadership by 2025.

I had so many plans. Just the sound of those round numbers 2020 were enough to signal a special year.

We were about to find out just how special.

How To Support Black Businesses With Strategies, Funding, Grants

In academics, economics, business, finance, law, and practically all other spheres, Black people are under-represented. It has started a revolution of sorts as protests take place across the U.S. for equality.

Black Lives Matter is affecting the world in a profound way, bringing the plight of African Americans into the limelight. Its effects are far-reaching, and it is occurring in tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic to make it even more difficult to run a successful business, but there are strategies to fill these gaps.

She Could Be Next: Producer, Founder Drives For Race, Gender Equity

You can’t separate the need for race equity from the need for gender equity. Both movements need to work in tandem to change the world.

“Examining any institution through the lens of race and gender is essential; do not biforcate,” says Jyoti Sarda, producer of the two-part documentary, And She Could Be Next, a series that “follows a defiant movement led by women of color as they fight for a truly reflective democracy and transform politics from the ground up.”

There’s Power in Naming and Power in Knowing your Name

Issue 134— July 6, 2020

My cousin Elizabeth is making good use of this time of sheltering during the pandemic to dig into our family history. It was rooted in the small town of Birzai, Lithuania for hundreds of years until two world wars either killed them or dispersed them to many corners of the world. One of the most intriguing and yet exasperating parts of this exploration is getting the names right as spellings varied from language to language. Vinn became Vinh or Bein, Henne to Hannah, and even some in the same nuclear family some people spelled their last names differently.

So what is in a name anyway? Identity, Personhood. Justice. Say her name: Breonna Taylor. Say his name: George Floyd.

The Right Moves Now: 5 Tips For Hiring, Retaining For Gender, Racial Fairness

Gender discrimination in the workplace has been affecting women and underrepresented minorities for decades, but has become even more critical today as racial disparities across multiple systems are at the heart of global protests.

About her 2016 book, Women Matter: The Why and How of Gender Diversity in Financial Services, Daralee Barbera, co-author, tells Forbes, “A persistent obstacle is that our profession is primarily white, male, and older.”

Share Your Story: Take The Lead Wants Your Power To Change Stories

Your story matters.

Take The Lead introduces the new initiative, Power To Change Stories, to highlight your personal story of specific experiences, strategies, insights and solutions to create change where you work and where you are.

At Take The Lead, we are committed to racial and gender parity as our mission. We recognize the importance of stories especially now during the pandemic of COVID-19 and the calls to action to affect ongoing racial injustice.

7 Tips for Networking Even in a Pandemic

Issue 133 — June 29, 2020

One thing COVID-19 has done is make life easier for introverts.

If you break out in a cold sweat at the thought of networking, in the sense of walking into a large room full of people you don’t know and trying to make connections that will be useful to you in your professional life, while balancing a beverage — it might seem in first blush that at least that worry is over.

But the reality is your network is your net worth.

View Newsletter Archive

Info

Action