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

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 noticed years that singers have their biggest hits when they sing songs that they pick or write themselves, not what the industry tells them to sing? They do best when they connect with a song to express who they really are. When I think about this Garth Brooks

I never really liked my tag line “Empowering Women for Success in the Male-Dominated Workplace.” To me it sounds kind of blah-blah, boring typical professional language. I always felt it was missing something – that it wasn’t exactly hitting the mark of what I needed to say, but I

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

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 read a book by Chrystia Freeland called Plutocrats – The Rise Of The New Global Super-Rich And The Fall Of Everyone Else. I was interested in the subject because I saw parallels to my Swamp War articles and several ideas I had swimming around in my head. What are Plutocrats? T

I came across a letter that I want to share with women. This letter is VERY Blue Zone and meant to inspire the overwhelmingly male managers within the company to achieve the 2013 financial goals. I am curious as to women’s reaction to this letter. Does it inspire you? This is th

I haven’t been able to write while I helped my mother during her declining health. At her funeral some family members noted that she was a woman ahead of her times – she was very independent and went after what she wanted. My mother pursued a nursing career and didn’t marry until la

While talking to several women about their work experiences I realized that I forgot to list my top female balancing characteristic – Discipline.  I grew up learning that female discipline is one of the most important foundations of society and civilization.  The balancing male charac

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

Last week while I was in that semiconscious state of falling asleep with the TV on, I heard the TV characters talking about Odysseus and how he was the classic hero. The characters went on to discuss how humans love heroes. Then one character questioned the other “What do heroes alw

When women entered the workplace in the 1970’s there was so much talk about women doing it all and the conflict of having a career and raising a family. Growing up in that era, it seemed we had such a short time to get it all done. We grew up hearing about working 30 years and retir

When I saw the American swimmers video of Call Me Maybe I had to laugh at my first thought – They are such girls!! Wait!! I am saying that about Olympic swimmers?!! I remember back in the 70’s and 80’s when we questioned the true gender of the Eastern European swimmers. The conspi