Power was on the menu for the 23rd Annual Ultimate Women’s Power Lunch in Chicago with national leaders encouraging the 1,200 attendees to use their power to act for change—particularly in the voting booth.
“If I have one goal it is you leave here feeling optimistic about the margin of effort, not the margin of error,” Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois said.
Read MoreVery few people could pull this off, but Halle Barry sure did.
On the steps of the U.S. Capitol recently, the iconic actress shouted, “I’m in menopause, OK?” as part of her mission to seek federal funding for the 2023 Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act.
Read MoreIt is possible to be lonely even when you are not alone.
Unfortunately, new research shows that 80% of women in white collar jobs feel lonely because of their work. That shocking number is exacerbated for women of color, as loneliness is compounded by bias and discrimination in the workplace. Nearly a third of women of color say they do not feel respected at work—compounding their sense of isolation.
Read MoreIssue 258 — May 6, 2024
Leadership lessons come from all kinds of places. Ever since I saw the 1986 movie “Crossroads” (not the later one with Britney Spears!), the metaphor of the crossroads has been in my head.
“A thin line separates the good from the great,” the old bluesman tells young Lightening Boy who is on a quest to find the original “Crossroads” song by the legendary Robert Johnson.
Read MoreJust ahead of Mother’s Day, it’s prime time to examine the changing M Factor influencing the role motherhood plays in the workplace. Some say it is changing for the better. Some say it is the same.
Others say mothering in this culture—often referred to as the Motherhood Penalty-- is worse, thanks to COVID and economic factors forcing women to take on traditional roles.
And those who voluntarily embrace the “trad wife” role newly popularized on TikTok, say that full time parenting when not working remotely or out of the house is a welcome return to the 1950s era of stay at home moms. Still some trad wives find themselves without options if they face divorce.
Read MoreAs if shaking up the world of sports coverage is not enough, new WNBA draft Caitlin Clark is embodying the gross discrepancy in pay for women for the same work as men.
According to CBS News, the former University of Iowa basketball superstar will make $76,000 in her first year with the Indiana Fever. That compares to “rookie Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 NBA draft pick last year, whose 2023-24 season salary was more than $12 million,” according to ABC News.
No worries for Clark, though, as she recently signed a $28 million deal with Nike.
Read MoreIssue 257 — April 22, 2024
I’m listening to Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, looking for inspiration for my more-or-less weekly column, “The Sum.” As in the sum of the week, what it means or what I learned about my favorite topics — women, power, and leadership — from whatever happened during the past week.
The last couple of weeks for me were all Beyonce all the time with the release and immediate race to the top of the C&W charts of her album Cowboy Carter. (How many versions of dancing to “Texas Hold ‘Em” have you seen on social media so far? I’m obsessed.)
Read MoreThe truth is on both sides of the hiring process at many career levels, the recruiter often offers misleading information about the job and perhaps the company. Potential employees often pad their resumes.
Does the employer’s white lie and candidate’s CV padding cancel each other out? Maybe each party deserves what they get because they were less than 100% honest and transparent.
In the Australian TV series, “Fisk,” that debuted in 2021, the main character, Helen Tudor-Fisk, tells some big fibs about her experience as a trial lawyer after a divorce and career upheaval in order to get hired at a low-budget law firm. The show, many report, is very funny.
Read MoreRaise your hand if you have cried at work.
My hand is up. Once early in my career when a boss was cruel in her comments to me in front of the newsroom and later in my career when a boss viciously chastised me for calling attention to a problem in the organization. Both outbursts were confined to me standing alone at the sink in the ladies’ room.
While this has been a definitively banned reaction for what seems like forever especially for women, new research shows being emotionally vulnerable in the workplace is optimal not just for employees, but for leaders and management.
Read MoreIssue 256 — April 8, 2024
Women who fear they are losing hard won rights and leadership opportunities often ask me what to do about a world in which they see their daughters having fewer voting rights, equal rights, and reproductive rights than they have had.
So when I spoke on April 3, 2024 to the San Antonio 100, I tackled that question by starting with lessons from our history, inspiration that comes from knowing their power, and challenged them to make five power moves to shape the future they want.
Read MoreThe new film, Shirley, with Regina King as U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm in her 1972 run for the presidency as the Democratic Party nomination, is a vibrant reminder of the value of male allies and mentorship for younger women.
In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, these are key lessons women can take to heart in every field and into practice at every step of the ladder from college to early career to mid-career and even the highest office in the country.
Read MoreEven if you are not a huge sports fan, it was almost impossible to miss the attention that Caitlin Clark, the 22-year-old basketball star playing for University of Iowa in NCAA March Madness, was earning including from NBA Superstar Steph Curry.
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