Category Archives: “Transition” Book Reviews

Summer Book Review #28: Getting to 50/50

Posted on June 13, 2013 | Leave a comment

“My husband never ran out of a personal care product,” bragged a distant aunt about a household she’d run for close to 50 years.  She’d crafted her life as a homemaker and mother who took obvious pride in the subtleties of her world.  How do you respond to such a pronouncement?   I didn’t share that I wouldn’t know if my husband lacked deodorant because I have yet to adopt that purchase responsibility despite 17 years of marriage.   Instead of responding I sat there respectfully mute while others in attendance offered praise.  Praise? Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #27: Lean In

Posted on May 31, 2013 | 2 Comments

“This doesn’t get me,” remarked Carolyn Bates, a recent Notre Dame grad, from the dressing room of a mid-western retailer.   (Fat Talk Carries a Cost, Hoffman, NYT, 5/28/2013, D4).  This exchange from ‘Fat Talk Carries a Cost‘ highlighted body-centered self-deprecating women speak.  Have you ever heard something like, “I can’t believe I ate that brownie.  I am so fat!” Or responded, “You must be joking, you are not fat.  Just look at my thighs!”   (Fat Talk, NYT, 5/28/2013, D4)    The article identified cultural norms that include all manner of negative retorts meant to maintain relationships.  This doesn’t get me was presented as positive, a pivot. Continue reading →

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Alignment and Transition

Posted on February 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

“It was nice meeting myself again,” stated the twenty-fifth respondent to the Research Jam’s online survey.    This person had served more than ten years in a corporate role before an unexpected job transition caused a new route into independent consulting.   The respondent offered a perspective on the 5th anniversary of this new journey….”the impact on my life (and my family’s life) has been overwhelmingly positive.   I have met dozens of fascinating individuals whom I likely would not have met if my head was still buried at a corporate desk. I have also learned, and continue to learn, a lot about myself.” Continue reading →

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2012 Summer Book Review Finale: What if?

Posted on September 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

“I never want to go back to the law,” shared a friend who is a law school graduate and a very accomplished public defender.  Our conversation was interrupted by a swirl of kids ages 2 through 8.   Mid-sentence we conducted an emergency rescue from a climbing structure that resembled a gangly over-sized found-art project.  Public defense?  Idealistic me was instantly mesmerized by the work and its likely impact.  Never? Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #26: Smart Women Embrace Transitions

Posted on August 30, 2012 | 1 Comment

A red-haired expatriate hippie with a beard and a business suit sat on the floor across from me in a Japanese restaurant in the middle of Sao Paulo, Brazil.   Think Jerry Garcia meets Howdy Doody.  Lincoln, a former Peace Corps volunteer, was regaling myself and a friend with stories of his escapades in Latin America.  I vaguely remember him talking about starting a business importing condoms.  He was concerned about the quality of those available in country.    It was unclear if his interest was driven by humanitarian or by personal reasons. Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #25: Meeting at the Crossroads

Posted on August 23, 2012 | 2 Comments

“I can’t say anything,” said a long-time friend as she shared with me her opinion of a decision facing a mutual friend of ours.    She was catching me up on the news of this friend whom she sees regularly.   Her silence was triggered by an issue related to a child.   The child’s parents disagreed on an educational decision.   You couldn’t possibly say anything?  I was stunned.  Shouldn’t she offer a perspective or talk our friend through some options?  I realize that I’m more confrontational than most…but silence?  Really? Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #24: Smart Women Don’t Retire They Break Free

Posted on August 16, 2012 | 2 Comments

‘It’s not easy to think about what I really want….for as long as I can remember it’s been achieve, achieve, achieve,’ I said to a friend of mine who joined me for lunch early in my transition.  The concept piqued her interest.  It engaged her.   She’s a financial services entrepreneur.  Her dream had been fashion design.  And yet she found finance and accounting.  A detour?  A revelation? A necessity? Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #23: Odd Girl Out

Posted on August 9, 2012 | 2 Comments

“I couldn’t get a job,” said my sister-in-law as she was relating her story to a sympathetic audience at a recent family event.   She sent out resumes.  She interviewed.  It didn’t go as she’d planned.  Road block.  Full stop. Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #22: The Way of Transition

Posted on August 2, 2012 | 4 Comments

“Nancy, Nancy, wake up!  NANCY!” I shouted to rouse my sister who was asleep on a chair-cum-bed in my father’s hospital room.  It was just after 7:00 am on a Sunday morning.  We had dozed off at about 3:00 am.  Cancer.   I’m not sure why I woke up when I did.  His breathing was erratic.  We held his hand.

These moments raced back at me this week Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #21: A Room of One’s Own

Posted on July 26, 2012 | 1 Comment

“Did you post about Marissa Mayer, YAHOO’s newly appointed CEO?” asked my husband late last week.   For those out of the news vortex Mayer is expecting her first child in October after assuming the role of YAHOO’s CEO July 16, 2012.  She shared the following with Fortune’s Patricia Sellers, “my maternity leave will be a few weeks long and I’ll work throughout it.” Continue reading →

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