by Dot Callihan | Jan 18, 2018 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
When women need career advice our first instinct is to look on the internet. This is what I did a few years ago. I successfully broke through a barrier that read, “No Women Past This Point” and I knew I could go further. I just needed help to get there. After a few...
by Dot Callihan | Dec 22, 2017 | Dealing With The Ugly Stuff, Thinking Like Empowered Women
If you haven’t figured it out from reading my articles, I believe in women standing up for themselves. I believe women can stand up to anybody and to institutional power. After thinking about why I feel so strongly about this, I realized I learned this powerful...
by Dot Callihan | Dec 20, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
Have you ever noticed that people become really successful when they stop doing what other people say they should do and start doing things their way? There is something attractive and empowering about a person who is truly authentic. I think a lot of it has to do...
by Dot Callihan | Dec 13, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
When we think of female physicians, we think of specialties such as pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family practice and veterinary. Anyone with older parents may also add geriatric medicine to the list of the medical professions women choose to go into. If you...
by Dot Callihan | Dec 12, 2017 | Dealing With The Ugly Stuff, Thinking Like Empowered Women
The current narrative says that all unwanted sexual attention and harassment is based in power. It isn’t. Sometimes it is simply about sex. I’ve never had unwanted attention from or been sexually harassed or abused by any man I work for. One senior manager may have...
by Dot Callihan | Dec 8, 2017 | Dealing With The Ugly Stuff, Thinking Like Empowered Women
After reading an article I got in a comment battle with another woman over how women should respond to sexual harassment and assault. She was very focused on offering empathy and sitting up all night with a woman who has been hurt. To her offering empathy and...
by Dot Callihan | Dec 4, 2017 | Acting As Empowered Women, Thinking Like Empowered Women
The true secret to success is being yourself – your true authentic self, full of strengths, weakness and quirks. We all gladly embrace our strengths. We love to show them off. But we should also be proud of our weaknesses and quirks because through them we find real...
by Dot Callihan | Dec 1, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women, Understanding The Male-Dominated Workplace
Women have a HUGE misperception about the male-dominated workplace that has done incredible damage to our efforts to advance. Women work from a narrative that says men want to climb to the top so they can have power over others. Many women believe men aspire to...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 29, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
When we talk about how women influence the male-dominated workplace we often say that women create balance. But that isn’t very impactful and it doesn’t portray the full power of women. When we think of women balancing men we equate it to men going too far and women...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 28, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
What value do women, bring to the workplace? For centuries the accepted answer was “None.” Even today most of us can still only give a vague answer. We hear that companies with more women perform better but we can’t specifically state why that is. Without a clear...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 22, 2017 | Dealing With The Ugly Stuff, Thinking Like Empowered Women, Understanding The Male-Dominated Workplace
There are some industry cultures that endorse a drinking culture – frequently getting together after work to drink. Coming from one such industry I understand how it normalizes alcoholism and creates problems for women. Many women and women’s organization encourage...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 21, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
A lot of women tell me I am strong. My usual response is to screw up my face because I don’t think I am any different from many women I know. Actually, I’m more restrained than them because after I left New Jersey I learned that many people don’t...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 17, 2017 | Understanding The Male-Dominated Workplace
We have a lot of impressions of what the professional office was like in the 1960’s and 1970’s. But our impressions probably miss one important characteristic – its civility. When I began working in 1982 I was the first female engineer in a very traditional office. ...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 15, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
America loves the story of the self-made man – the man who started his life in abject poverty and rose to the pinnacle of wealth and success. It is story of extremes, drive and determination. And it seems to be an almost exclusively male story. I went through the...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 13, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
There is an old fallacy that change happens from the top down. It says that in order for a company to institute a new initiative the first must-do step is: Get CEO buy-in! The CEO then gets the buy-in of senior management. Senior management then directs the...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 12, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
I keep reading about how gender bias holds women back. But gender bias has never been a topic I’ve given a second thought to. Given my career that seems pretty odd. When I start a new job or project, I recognize that most of the men I work with never had a female...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 9, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women
Growing up women learn to say “No” to unacceptable behavior. But people don’t always listen. That’s because we are just saying “No” and not using the Power of “No.” Just saying “No” leaves the door open for negotiation. Does she really mean it? Let me see. Maybe...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 7, 2017 | Acting As Empowered Women, Thinking Like Empowered Women
When I began my career my male colleagues didn’t know how a female engineer would be different from a male engineer. They soon discovered the difference – “She can write!” At first I laughed because engineers are notoriously bad writers so it wasn’t difficult to do...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 3, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women, Understanding The Male-Dominated Workplace
A few weeks ago while working with the TV on, I heard a commentator relay a rumor that Tillerson, McMaster and Mattis had a “suicide pact” and if one left they would all leave. I found myself yelling at the TV – “You guys don’t know what you are talking about. No one...
by Dot Callihan | Nov 2, 2017 | Thinking Like Empowered Women, Understanding The Male-Dominated Workplace
I remember when it was rare to be a woman in the workplace who wasn’t a secretary or in HR. I began my engineering career in the Air Force on a base with 5,000 airmen. When I arrived you could count the number of female officers on one hand and the senior...
