Tag Archives: women&#8217;s transition issues

Tagged career transition, Gretchen Rubin, linda rossetti, observations from a women's transition, The Happiness Project, transition, women's transition, women's transition issues

Summer Book Review #18: Dancing on the Glass Ceiling…

Posted on July 6, 2012 | 1 comment

I got a terrible feeling as I extended my hand to introduce myself. We were meeting at a hotel restaurant for breakfast. It was St. Louis or Atlanta. I can’t remember which. I was screening him for a senior role on my team during my tenure at a large IT outsourcing company. I had been coached not to make instant decisions about candidates. We chatted. ‘Let the data make the decision,’ I kept repeating to myself. For some reason I was glad we were in a crowded hotel lobby. I couldn’t put my finger on this feeling I had. Ever been there? Continue reading →

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Tagged Candy Deemer, career transition, Dancing on the glass ceiling, Eleanor Roosevelt It's Up to the Women, Jane Brody, linda rossetti, Nancy Fredericks, novofemina, optimism, transition, women's transition, women's transition issues

Summer Book Review #16: Confidence

Posted on June 21, 2012 | 5 comments

“Today is just the beginning, it’s where you go from here that matters,” said David McCullough, Jr., a high school english teacher from Wellesley, MA and a faculty commencement speaker. His words were powerful and more sophisticated than anything I heard at 18. He went on, “I urge you to do whatever you do for no other reason than you love it and you believe in its importance.” Mr. McCullough engaged my spirit with his directives…worthwhile whether you stand at commencement or in a transition somewhere post graduation. Continue reading →

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Tagged career transition, Confidence, Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End, David McCullough Jr's Commencement Speech, harvard business school, Invictus, linda rossetti, Outliers: The Story of Success, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, women's transition issues

Summer Book Review #15: How Will You Measure Your Life?

Posted on June 14, 2012 | 7 comments

I’m not a big sports fan. My 7-year-old son has taught me more about sports and team devotion in the past year than I’ve learned in my entire life. Last week, before our beloved Boston Celtics lost to the Miami Heat in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, we were listening to an interview with one of the Celtic’s big three, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. The player responded to a journalist’s question about their approach to upcoming practices and games by saying, ‘we’ll probably watch the tapes.’ Continue reading →

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Tagged Anna Fells, career transition issues, Clayton Christensen, Herminia Ibarra, How Will You Measure Your Life?, Necessary Dreams, observations from a women's transition, Summer Book Reviews, women's transition issues, Working Identity

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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Tagged barriers, career barriers, career transition issues, harvard business school, HBS, Herminia Ibarra, James P Timilty Middle School, Marina Keegan, transition barriers, WITI, women's transition, women's transition issues, Working Identity, Yale University

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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Posted in "Transition" Book Reviews, Observations on Transition

Tagged Apple Stores, career transition, Herminia Ibarra, iPad, iTunes, Kripalu, Macintosh, observations from a women's transition, Pixar, Steve Jobs, The App Store, Walter Isaacson, women's transition, women's transition issues, Working Identity

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 →

Tagged career transition issues, npr, observations from a women's transition, OnPoint, personal transition, Tom Ashbrook, Transitions Making Sense of LIfe's Changes, wbur, William Bridges, women's transition issues

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 →

Tagged AIG, Ana Fels, Babson College, Bear Stearns, career transition issues, Erin Callan, Ina Drew, Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase, Len Schlesinger, Necessary Dreams, observations from a women's transition, On-Ramps and Off-Ramps, role models, TARP, women's issues, women's transition, women's transition issues

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.

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 →

Tagged career transition, career transition issues, Fifth Discipline, Jessica Hagy, MIT, novofemina, observations from a women's transition, personal transition, Peter Senge, transition, Transitions Making Sense of LIfe's Changes, William Bridges, women's professional transition, women's transition issues, work family balance

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 →