I came across this story that a woman (Linda) posted on LinkedIn.  It goes along with a lot of my recent posts so I want to share it with you.  This is one of those stories that we like to pass on.  And generally that is what we would do. But I want to take it one (actually several) s

I came across a statement I made in an article : The successful businessman is the Hero and the driver of our society. If you are paying attention to the stock market, 2013 is proving this statement is true. I don’t know what made me do it but on January 20th I turned on CNBC.

The Woman In The Room is one year old!! For me this is a milestone and cause to celebrate! At work, how do you celebrate milestones and achievements? Are they subdued? Do you talk about doing something and then nothing really materializes? Who is responsible for or takes the le

In my last article, The Woman In the Arena, I quoted an excerpt from Teddy Roosevelt’s “Citizenship In A Republic” speech that he deliver in 1910.  When I wrote the article I looked up the entire speech and found another excerpt that has tremendous meaning for where our culture and ec

I like to express myself at work. If I had my druthers, I would start every day blaring a song that fit the mood of the day. But I was never quite able to put together a large enough sound system. So I found another method. I started digging up quotes to fit the mood and plaster

One of the traits women are most credited with is improving collaboration. We get more people to open up and participate in conversations and problem solving. The result is a more complete solution to a problem. Sounds great – in theory! The issue many women face is that coll

Have you ever been called infuriating? I have – many times – “You are the most infuriating woman I’ve ever known!” Even though it was meant to belittle me, I take it as a compliment.  My reply is simply “Thank you.” The scenarios in which I’ve been called infuriating are a

A few weeks after I got to my large construction project in the-middle-of-nowhere New Mexico, I walked into the superintendent’s area and found most of my staff deep in discussion about a process. A functional manager within the company distributed the process dictating - It must be

I tell women to learn their company’s operating and management systems as a foundation for building a success career. But most women (and men) have never been taught how to think in terms of systems or how to map out processes so my advice may seem daunting. If you took the initia

Have you ever heard a manager say “If I have to get down in the weeds then what do I need you for?” I’ve heard it many times. Why do they say that? Is it just to make you feel inferior – incapable of doing your job? When I hear a manager say this, my first thought is that he d

When you are a woman entering a traditionally male role you will be focused on your relationships with your male peers and supervisors. But you also need to focus on your relationships with your female co-workers in traditional jobs. You may assume that the women in the office will

We are told that to rise to the top 1% you have to be very aggressive…cutthroat even. A week ago two billionaires –Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman - went at each other live on CNBC. It was re-aired several times, billed as the “Clash of the Titans” or “The Battle of the Billionaires”.

Every working woman needs to watch Hillary testify before the Senate and House of Representatives on the Benghazi attack because she epitomizes working from the Purple Zone. Given our political climate, there is no doubt that some congressional members were posturing and trying to di

I came up with the concept of Swamp Wars about two years ago. It stemmed from my work experiences and for a while I thought it was unique to my industry because we have so many classic Alligator Slayers. But as I wrote this series of articles (Swamp Wars and The Rachel Letter) the nat

In the season 3 finale and the season 4 premier of Friends, Ross and Rachel decide to get back together. But Rachel has one condition – she writes Ross a long letter in which she describes everything that went wrong with the relationship and Ross has to accept full responsibility. R

When we discuss women advancing their careers we cannot assume that all women have the same challenges.  Our challenges are defined by who we are and the culture of our work environment I introduced the Purple Zone, as an evolution beyond thinking of men and women in terms of pink and

Last week Meghan Casserly of Forbes published an article – Every Man You Work With Thinks You Want to Sleep With Him. This article raised some eyebrows. Is this true? Do the men we work with look at us sexually even though we have platonic relationships? And is it true that it doe

Women discuss their work and family conflicts but we often forget this is not just a female issue. The reality is that men today have many of the same family and life conflicts as their female co-workers. How many of your male coworkers and managers are divorced or have a working wif

When women entered the male dominated workplace we were confident we had the fortitude to climb the corporate ladder with our kids and family life slung over our shoulder. We knew we were great multi-taskers and time managers. So, there should be nothing barring us from climbing the c

One of the biggest critiques we hear is that unlike our male colleagues, we don’t self-promote enough. We are told we need to let our managers know what we accomplish because that is what our male colleagues do and unless we do what men do, we can’t compete with them. But this advic