“Treat everybody else as if they were you.” These words gave me pause. I wonder what it would be like if we each did what this “unknown author” is advocating? Would she still have abandoned her station at the airport fast food restaurant to get a fork and share a pastry with her friend while her customers waited if she followed this adage? Would he still have sat by the window of the plane with his feet on the seat and knees in my husband\’s space? And would he have cut off the driver in back of him causing her to miss her exit in urban rush hour? Probably not. So... Read More

Let me first tell you that I don\’t like the term “networking.” For many boomer women, it conjures up negative memories of networking in the 80s, when you hurled business cards at 100 strangers, dumped the 100 cards you received in return into a drawer, and didn\’t truly connect with anyone. Networking has come a long way, baby. Think of it as relationship-building, rather than networking, because that\’s the goal: really connecting with people. Women are natural-born relationship-builders, so this is an arena where we have a serious business advantage. People do business... Read More

There\’s a line in the movie Gracie that I love. Gracie is a teenager in the 70s who is competing for a spot on the boy\’s high school varsity soccer team. In one scene, dejected and on the verge of giving up, her mother, played by Elizabeth Shue, tells her, “If you want to limit yourself, that\’s fine. But don\’t let other people do it for you.” Most of us do an impressive job of impeding our own paths with our detrimental self-talk, minimized confidence, and self-esteem doubts without any help from naysayers. Still, too often we blame those others, not ourselves,... Read More

Booths featuring products and services related to employee engagement, web-based delivery, global performance, and talent management were overflowing with conference attendees as I walked the trade show at a national conference where I was speaking. Just a few years ago the magnets were initiatives like total quality management, six sigma, diversity, work-life-balance, and customer driven. Every few years there are band wagons of “solutions” for the ills troubling companies, with contingents of experts ready to sell the latest “fix” to eager herd-minded buyers. Reinforced... Read More

“I don\’t like to be kept waiting,” he responded when asked by the travel-study professor why he delayed the entire group for a third straight day. “Next time,” the professor warned, “we won\’t hold the bus.” The following day the bus left as scheduled, returning to the hotel late into the evening from a full day of learning and exploring. It also returned to an outraged man who was left behind when, once again, he was late for the designated departure time. “That cured him for the remainder of the trip,” our travel-study professor shared... Read More

It started with a turkey. In the early days of a start-up company I once worked for, a plump turkey was a small thank you token given to employees around the holidays. The turkey-giving practice lasted maybe three years, until the growing size of the organization necessitated its change. And while enhanced benefits emerged to replace that poultry gift, I found it amazing that the missing turkey still appeared as a resentment issue five years later in employee forums. Similarly, I was astounded when I recently heard employees grumbling at a company that provided a daily complimentary hot breakfast... Read More

Once upon a time, a prince and princess lived in stressful palace, surrounded by a stressful village, inside a stressful land. They knew it was stressful because everyone said it was. Their parents, the king and queen, worked from sunrise to sunset hearing issues from their kingdom, weighing the requests, and appropriating the collective harvest to the people of their land. The people also worked from sunrise to sunset, doing their assigned tasks, completing their logs, filing their reports, and seeking an audience with the king and queen to request their needed resources. So it went, year after... Read More

The beauty of boomer women in business is their collective spirit of collaboration. Rather than being intimidated by a potential business competitor, boomer women will often seek out ways to cross-promote, pool resources, and support one another. They understand that there is enough business for all of us, and the more they work together, the greater the demand for their particular product or service. And this is a good thing…when you carefully select the women with whom you align yourself. And while there are magnificent, talented, brilliant boomer women that you\’d be smart to connect... Read More

Watching a rerun of “What Not to Wear” on The Learning Channel, I was struck by the dialogue between the individual being transformed and the cast of experts. While agreeing to follow the advice and input from these style-masters, “Joyce” was closed to the ideas presented of what she should wear, how her hair should be cut, and her make-up enhanced. Her resistance sounded familiar. It echoed reasons proclaimed by people at work who cling to their comfort zones, eager to maintain the status quo, not rock the boat, or stick with the same skills. These people are past-focused,... Read More

It was a dimly lit restaurant. Still she was dressed in pink, and while I admit it\’s hard to tell the gender of three month old babies, clothing color is a reliable clue. So, it surprised me when the waitress began playing with my granddaughter, asking “How old is he?” Twenty minutes later, that same waitress served our dinners into my daughter-in-law\’s lap, spilling the contents of her tray as she approached the table. We made light of the occurrence, assisting her with basic cleanup, but the interaction got me thinking. I\’ve met and managed too many people who... Read More