Category Archives: Observations on Transition

Transition Requirements: Deftness Inside and Out

Posted on September 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Do you remember Lawrence Summers’ gaffe regarding women and the sciences?  He referenced a “different availability of aptitude,” in 2005 while addressing an audience as president of Harvard University.  It cost him his job.   Would it surprise you that he might have unknowingly referred to a pervasive cultural bias that most likely affects women in every field, not just the sciences?  Why stop at the fields…this bias is likely present in every transition over the arc of our lives. Continue reading →

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Failure to Act?

Posted on September 20, 2012 | 3 comments

I don’t know if anyone caught the news last week.  On September 11 a textile factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan killed 289 workers.  The factory made jeans destined for Europe.  In reading about this tragedy and why it happened I was reminded of a quote in an investigative report on Apple and its Asian manufacturer Foxconn in the New York Times in January 2012.    The series focused on the too-often fatal working conditions for employees who polished aluminum iPad cases.  The quote by MIT professor, Nicholas Ashford, was, “If it were terribly difficult to deal with aluminum dust, I would understand. But do you know how easy dust is to control? It’s called ventilation. We solved this problem over a century ago.”   Jeans?  iPads?  A profoundly sad common denominator…these tragedies were avoidable. Continue reading →

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Does transition ever end?

Posted on September 13, 2012 | 3 comments

I remember hopping into taxi cabs terrified that my broken portuguese wouldn’t suffice in communicating my desired location.  After a few lengthy and circuitous rides around Sao Paulo, Brazil I reverted to taking the local bus.  Much to the horror of my work colleagues I might add.   These taxi escapades introduced me to the colorful ribbons that dangled from the rear view mirrors of almost every cab in the city.   On each read the phrase, BonFim, and it’s originator the Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim.  Bonfim simply translated means, good end.    If ever there was a wish for transition…. Continue reading →

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The universal barriers of transition…

Posted on June 7, 2012 | 2 comments

“I wish for my son the exact same thing that I wish for my daughter,” I said in response to a question posed by an audience member at a WITI event that I spoke at last spring.   The woman asked me ‘what I hoped for’ for my daughter.  “I want them to have the confidence to follow their heart, early.”   From the get go.  No deferrals. Continue reading →

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Transition and Steve Jobs…shared learnings?

Posted on May 31, 2012 | 2 comments

Merriam Webster’s Online defines prolific as, “marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity <a prolific composer>.”  I turned to this query after completing Walter Isaacson’s, Steve Jobs (Thorndike Press, 2011).   Prolific, although not a descriptive used by Isaacson, came to mind as I finally closed the book.  Yes, I admit I read a physical version of the book despite the tech infused visionary at its core.   Prolific.  How else can you describe someone who served as the catalyst for a list that includes…the Macintosh, Pixar blockbusters like Toy Story, Apple Stores, iTunes, the iPod, the App Store, the iPad? Prolific? Continue reading →

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Transition and jobs: three routes

Posted on May 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

In early May I happened to catch a few minutes of wbur’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook.  His topic, Death At A Young Age, featured the 1987 death of five sorority sisters who were killed in an automobile accident when returning from a charity walk-a-thon.   While it might sound morbid, the conversation was anything but.   Continue reading →

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Those elusive 21st century female role models

Posted on May 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

Is anyone else entertained?  Can you recall any male executive who was held accountable amidst all of the hoopla surrounding the global financial crisis in 2008?  We had a crisis that resulted in the collapse or near collapse of large financial institutions, like Lehman Brothers or AIG; the federal bailout of financial services and large industrial companies, recall TARP and GM; downturns in the global stock market and the housing market; and widespread unemployment that reached and still remains at historic highs.    Now answer this:  is there anyone in America who can’t tell you who Ina Drew is? Continue reading →

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Transition through a techie lens

Posted on May 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

What’s your take on social media?  Earlier today I experienced social media deja vu for the first time.  Who knew?   A friend tagged a Forbes.com post on LinkedIn entitled,“The Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness)” by blogger Jessica Hagy.   The caption included a few little drawings.

https://i0.wp.com/blogs-images.forbes.com/jessicahagy/files/2012/02/IMAGE00021.jpg

The Six Enemies of Greatness ( and Happiness) by Jessica Hagy, Forbes.com 2/28/12

The drawings looked and felt like the illustrations that I’d been seeing all week in “The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter Senge.”   What can I say, the drawings spoke to me…. Continue reading →

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Transition: How do you start?

Posted on May 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

“This is an evolution not an event,” I added sincerely as I sat with a colleague on the eve of his first major downsizing.  He was the CIO of a major insurance company.  It was the early 90’s. None of us were fatigued yet by downsizing.   He was visibly worried as he sat thinking through the likely impact of a meeting scheduled for the next morning.   I was on my soapbox of ‘enlightenment through defining a problem correctly.’  I urged him to think about a broader set of actions: the message to the employees who would stay, the required behaviors of his management team in the days and months that followed, his willingness to help those who would be on the receiving end of a sobering message. Continue reading →

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Transition: Learnings and laughs one year in…

Posted on April 26, 2012 | 3 comments

I was in tears and, at the same moment, utterly surprised at my reaction.  Crying?  I was watching Iron Lady, Meryl Streep‘s Academy Award victory lap in which she portrays Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1979-1990.  The movie caught me off guard.  The twist for me came in the movie’s lens into Mrs. Thatcher’s life; the view is of her nearing dementia with life ‘highlights‘ told in retrospect.   A wave to young children who were pleading with her not to go as she sped off to the Conservative Party‘s leadership.  An aging person alone washing out her tea cup in the sink of a lovely, closeted London home.   Adult children operating on the periphery.   Why did it hit me so? Continue reading →

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