Tag: women

  • Swamp Wars – The Battle for Status

    Last week while I was in that semiconscious state of falling asleep with the TV on, I heard the TV pundits talking about Odysseus and how he was the classic hero.  The pundits went on to discuss how humans love heroes.  Then one pundit questioned the other “What do heroes always need?”  The answer was: “Problems.  We have to have problems so we can have heroes.”  That’s when I bolted upright and said out loud – “That’s what I always talk about!”Alligator

    Years ago, I wrote my version of the male-dominated workplace Odysseus – the Great American Alligator Slayer.  He is our traditional hero.  He is strong, dominating and intimidating.  In most companies he is found in Operations departments – the “make it happen” departments.  Whenever the workplace is up to its waist in alligators (problems) he is who we turn to – he slays the alligators and makes the problems go away.  We can count on him to always comes through!!

    But in recent years, our classic hero has been challenged for his top status.  In my article Baby Boomer Men – Status Driven, I discussed that there are now 3 additional groups of men – Planners, Geeks/Nerds and Intellectual Elites – who each believe they are worthy of the top rung on the status ladder.  They want to redefine which male characteristics determine a Hero.

    Since I already named two of the groups Great American Alligator Slayers and Swamp Drainers, I decided to have a little fun and call this new battle for status “Swamp Wars.” (more…)

  • 50 Years To Work – More Than Enough Time to Have It All

    When women entered the workplace in the 1970’s there was a lot of 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 retiring with a pension.  The retirement age was 60.  Life expectancy for men was 68 and for women 76.

    Today life expectancy is 78 for men and 82 for women.  My mother is 89.  Baby boomers who were raised expecting to retire by 60 are now retiring at 65 and 67.  Baby boomers who are younger than 55, can now expect their full retirement age (based on Social Security) to be 70…at least.

    Wow – 50 years – that’s a long time to work!

    That’s also long enough to have it all!!  Without having to do it all at once! (more…)

  • Olympic Women – You’ve Come A Long Way Baby!

    When I first 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 conspiracy – were they women who were shot so full of hormones that they are now men OR were they men who were made into “women”?  In either case, it showed how we thought back then – that women have to be turned into men in order to rise to the top. (more…)

  • In A Crisis, Why Women Need To Take Charge

    www.123rf - 54332571
    www.123rf – 54332571

    I built my career being the person who turned around failing operations and projects.  My jobs were really hard work and extremely stressful.  It wasn’t until I wrote my article on men and work hours that I really started questioning why I (and the other women in the office) stayed in there and kept working while the men eventually gave up and left.  In my article I wrote that men have a limit on the number of hours they really work and the amount of stress they could handle.

    After doing a little research I learned that my experiences reflect how men and women handle stress differently. (more…)

  • Balancing Work and Family – Conflict For All

    Soccer Mom with KidsWomen 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 work conflicts as their female co-workers. How many of your male co-workers and managers are divorced or have a working wife? Or have a stay at home wife who still expects her husband to share equally in raising the kids? Probably most of them.

    The difference with men is that they don’t talk about having to leave work for family responsibilities – they just do it – they just take off from work. Women however, talk about their conflicts.  So men mask how often they leave for family responsibilities and women don’t. (more…)

  • Men And Work Hours – It’s All About Image

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    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 corporate ladder to success.

    But as we started climbing the ladder, we didn’t count on the changes men were making in workplace demands.  Since the workplace is where men go to establish their status, they stopped valuing getting work done quickly and efficiently so you didn’t have to stay late. According to the new values, only expendable employees went home after 8 hours and worked a mere 40 hours per week. (more…)

  • How To Seize Recognition As A Woman

    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 advice like so much of what we are told doesn’t work for us.  Why?  Because we are not men!  Self-promoting in order to gain recognition is a male approach.  We need to gain recognition using a female approach! (more…)

  • Stay Out Of The Blue Zone

    When women entered the workplace it was very male.  We assumed that the way men conducted business was the right way, it was the best way.  We had to fit into their way of doing things – after all that IS how business is done.

    That is the mistake women made – thinking that we had to play by men’s rules.  We were led to believe that we have to go into the Blue Zone in order to succeed in business.  As I keep saying in my articles, even today we are still told we have to act like men, engage men like men in order to climb the corporate ladder. (more…)

  • The Cult of True Womanhood

    Did you ever wonder where all this “women are weak, timid and lack self-confidence” stuff came from?  We often think of the 1950’s and the visions of the idealistic stay at home mother in her apron and pearls but it actually goes back to the period from 1820 – 1860.  This was an age when the Cult of True Womanhood thrived. (more…)

  • How To Respond To An Inappropriate Comment

    A reader wrote to me about a job interview in which the male interviewers made inappropriate comments. It brings up the question – what should we do in this situation? Our initial instinct is to get angry and tell them off but more often than not we don’t call them on it at all.  How do we find the appropriate response that makes us feel proud of ourselves? (more…)

  • Understanding Baby Boomer Men And Their Drive For Status

    Baby boomer men make up most of the senior management ranks. As a baby boomer myself, I grew up with these men and know what they were taught. We were raised with a societal framework that shaped our expectations for our lives.

    It is important, especially for younger generations, to understand baby boomers because they have driven our society and businesses to where we are now – driven to achieve status above all else.         (more…)

  • Risk Intelligence

    I was watching the Dylan Ratigan show and he was interviewing Dylan Evans who wrote a book called Risk Intelligence.  Ladies, you need to understand this concept!  We are told that we don’t exhibit enough self-confidence at work.  Well, what Mr. Evans proves is that those who have all the answers, who project that they know what to do, are…ready for this…usually wrong!

    Wow, doesn’t it make you feel good to know that?! (more…)

  • Understanding Why Being A Manager Became So Important

    There is a great divide between managers and the average worker which is once again gaining attention.  Have you ever wondered how this came about, why there is so much animosity between the two?

    The following is an explanation that I read nearly 25 years ago.  What I find so interesting is that at the time this was written, there was a belief that companies were moving past these attitudes – that we were “developing a new theory of management suitable for a new era.”  But as we look at the issues in Wisconsin, the 99ers versus Wall Street and accusations of class warfare, you might wonder what happened to the new theory of management.

    Have we moved beyond this theory or is the split even more entrenched than ever? (more…)