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How savvy are you about office politics?

How savvy are you about office politics?

 

playing office politics wellPolitical savvy is critical for career success and the good news is that you don’t need to lose your integrity in the process.

Political savvy involves developing relationships and a sensitivity to the culture of the organization.

This can be accomplished over time with the use of keen observation and listening skills.

Using Lisa Mainiero’s work as a guide, I have identified four stages for development of political savvy. (more…)

Women, High Heels, and L.E.A.D.

Women, High Heels, and L.E.A.D.

women leadersI’d like to see business women celebrate Women’s History Month by taking the L.E.A.D. and embracing their inner Sofia Vergara.

There’s more to her than meets the eye.  

She’s been the top-earning actress on television for three years running and is a wildly successful entrepreneur who embraces herself, including her own beauty, her 40s, her health as a thyroid cancer survivor, her previous status as a single mother, her multiple endorsement deals from corporations that reflect her life—and she does it all with swagger. She represents a new face in business leadership. Multiple studies have found that personality traits formerly thought of as “feminine” are now seen as preferred leadership features in business. (more…)

Gender equality:  what’s it gonna take to make people pay attention?

Gender equality: what’s it gonna take to make people pay attention?

 

gender equalityThe national movement that’s begun in sports to hold domestic violence abusers accountable is both gratifying and long overdue.

I live in South Carolina, which for too long, has been one of the worst states for violence against women. State government is currently on a (hopeful) path to enact some meaningful legislation.

Interest and action in South Carolina were spurred by a tremendous series by the Post and Courier—articles were graphic and full of hard-hitting (no pun intended) domestic violence statistics. The movement in sports, especially the NFL, in addressing domestic violence finally took off after the horrific video of Ray Rice punching his fiance went viral. (more…)

IWD 2015:  women & men partner to make action happen

IWD 2015: women & men partner to make action happen

women making their voice heard“In 2015, ‘awareness’ is out—action is in” — reads a TIME post for International Women’s DayAgreed, it is time for more action around gender equality. It’s also time for more awareness. And more women!

Action, attention, and awareness keep men and women focused on the issues. Being under the microscope is good because without it progress slows, even stops.

And without it, South Carolina politicians will continue feeling free to think women are *sigh* lesser cuts of meat.”

I work to challenge stereotypes and gender bias, and see three ways for women and like-minded men to make action and awareness of diversity and inclusion happen in 2015: (more…)

CEOs:  Make it a point to include girls in the old boy’s club

CEOs: Make it a point to include girls in the old boy’s club

women  and the old boy's clubWhether it’s Hollywood movie studios and their paucity of female directors, the tech industry and their alarming exodus of frustrated women, or the stifling male fraternity culture that dominates Wall Street, women continue to be marginalized in the business world, excluded from the old boy’s club.

The vast majority of CEOs responding to a McKinsey survey noted that hiring females is essential to “getting the best brains.”

Sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it?

Despite increasing awareness of this issue, meaningful change remains agonizingly slow—less than 20 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and on average, they earn just 77 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.   (more…)