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Never Belittle Yourself

Vered — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:31:44 -0600

Which I think many women tend to do unconsciously. I am now very good at being straightforward about what I do, and whenever I hear someone talk about what they do apologetically, i.e. explaining it's a "small firm, BUT..", I cringe.

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Limits

Heres a Gem — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:15:22 -0600

My Husband has been my best source for business advice, he just has that *knack*.

One of the first, and most important lessons I learned from him is to know your limits. Don't be afraid to acknowledge your weak points as well as your strong points. If you try to do it all, you will fail. Delegate. Since then I have been painfully aware of people who bite off more than they can chew, attempt to handle things that are not their strong points. Not only does it too often result in failure, but their strengths don't get a chance to shine.

Not only has this acknowledgement worked well for us in business (both our own work and choosing who to work with), it has helped our marriage as well. We are able to acknowledge when to step down and let the other take the lead; our personal strengths shine and our relationship thrives.

Best advice

Mata H — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:35:44 -0600

In my bold young days, a boss told me once in an evaluation session that I was an ace at what I did and usually a few steps ahead of others in a meeting about my area of expetise -- and then he paused and said --"But we are not paying you to be RIGHT, we are paying you to be EFFECTIVE - to move an idea through an organization."

It stopped me dead in my tracks and changed the whole way I approachd my job. And my life. We are not on this planet to be right -- we ar here to be effective. (IMO)

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Update

Leslie Madsen Brooks — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:51:22 -0600

Since I wrote this post, the Center for American Progress has released a report on the leaky pipeline for women in science.

Leslie

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Research and Academia
My blogs: The Clutter Museum, Museum Blogging, and The Multicultural Toybox

I think the lack of

Placings — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:45:38 -0600

I think the lack of effective communication skills is not just in our scientists but our graduates in general :) I was traveling through Europe last year for over 3 months (via Eurail pass) and I asked a professor sitting next to me why the quality of graduates in Europe seem to be so high and their research and rapid advancement so prominent and he replied by telling me Americans are still winning Nobel Prizes, lol.

Go figure.

Disheartened teachers

aspergers2mom — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:40:27 -0500

Elise http://asd2mom.spaces.live.com

My father still teaches social studies to middle school children. He gets frustrated and disheartened because of misbehaving kids, administrative problems and parents who think its your job alone to turn their children into functioing adults. But I think the thing that frustrates him the most is the relentless state testing. There is no time to teach children how to think. The hallmark of American education used to be the ability to analyse and think outside the box. It's where our great inventors and progress came from. Today our system promotes robotic like thought with no deviation. So I can see teacher disenchantment. Truthfully as much as I feel for my father I think its my children and others like them that are the real loosers. I also think it does not bode well for the future.

women in academia esp. can't have it all

aleph0 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:51:13 -0500

So true--I live this reality of the conflict between following career and keeping family intact everyday. My spouse is older and tenured in a city where there are just a few jobs in my field and where competition is especially fierce (it's a globally attractive major city). Publications and teaching are not enough to get me tenure without the mobility to seize opportunities in academia where they lie. At my level the opportunities lie at liberal arts colleges in small towns in the US probably. In the end my family will win and I will end up teaching high school with Ivy league degrees and prestigious PhD. I never knew that marrying would bring this dilemma. Now that there is a child thrown into the mix we are stepping backwards as if the 1970s feminist revolution never happened. Older, wiser, and totally jaded.

women in academia esp. can't have it all

aleph0 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:51:10 -0500

women in academia esp. can't have it all

aleph0 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:51:09 -0500

Just another media hype..

JCK — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:21:33 -0500

I'm so sick of these B.S. stories put out by the media. In fact, it is OFTEN very difficult to tell the difference these days between ABC news and E Entertainment. I think your points are well thought out, and your delving into the statistics to counter their claim cracked me up. Unfortunately, I do think there are a lot of young girls who would follow Lindsay Lohan's move. The culture today is truly lacking in positive role models for young girls and girls are saturated by the sexual images of who they "should be" by the media. It is truly terrifying.

JCK of Motherscribe

http://motherscribe.blogspot.com

Sounds like wishful thinking

JChandler — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:23:14 -0500

By even throwing out the stories the way the media is maybe some were hoping to start that trend. :) Wishful thinking. I think your points were good ones, this appears to be nothing but trash news and that always gets the eyes watching.

As a support worker and counsellor I have worked with women who have made those choices out of desperation, but they are not representative of the majority of career women.

As for the stripping industry itself, no little girl says "Daddy I want to be a stripper when I grow up." So, anyone who supposedly "chooses" it as a profession, already had issues that need to be addressed beyond their bank accounts. There are always alternatives.

You hit the nail on the head...

anotherjen — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:59:09 -0500

A couple of women taking jobs as strippers to beat the recession, do not a trend make. It's so typical of the media to latch on to this idea that women are all so desperate for money that they will do something that they wouldn't ordinarily do (i.e. strip) in order to make a quick buck. I'm pretty sure that if a woman isn't comfortable with the idea of putting her body on display, it doesn't matter how much she needs the money, she won't strip (just to be clear, I don't have a problem with women making money stripping -- to each their own). This isn't a trend.

Besides, what about the growing evidence that the recession is hitting men harder than women? Who exactly is paying for all these "new strippers"?

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Lindsey should talk to Elizabeth Berkley

Kim Pearson — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:45:05 -0500

"Showgirls" wasn't exactly a genius career move.

You have neatly demonstrated why it's so important to bring the ability to critically evaluate the data presented in a story. It seems as it the journalists let the racy content get in the way of the basic reasoning needed to evaluate the claims being made. Then again, had they thought it through, it probably wouldn't have been a story at all.

Although i will say that going topless in Maine in February makes about as much sense to me as the people who plunge into icy ocean waters on New Years.

KimBlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

Not sure about that study

mashadutoit — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:50:12 -0500

That study probably reveals more about the extent to which women and girls have to be explicitly aware of gender than about their need for role models. I'm reminded of my fellow students - in the days of apartheid and whites only schools - blithely saying that they dont consider race to be important, and therefore they are not racist. If you are white, you can afford to be un-aware of racial issues.

Maybe if you are female, you are more aware of women who act outside of their supposed gender roles...

I cant say I have a role model. But I do have a special place in my heart for strong women who excel in any of the fields that I am interested in. As you say, they often dont fit the "role model" idea in my mind because of differences in the way they conduct their personal lives - or maybe their personalities are so differnt from mine I would not want to emulate them.

But it is still very important to me to know about people like Patti Smith, Leni Riefenstahl, Kathe Kollwitz, Katherine Hepburn, Helen Suzman. And the fact that they are women does matter. It matters to me.

Are You a Mom Who is Employed or an Employee Who is a Mom?

Crimson Wife — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:52:13 -0500

Ms. Hass seems to be getting annoyed that her interviewees consider themselves moms first and CEO's or whatever second. I feel sorry for kids whose moms do NOT feel that way. It's all fine and good to take pride in one's professional accomplishments. But they're not what's REALLY important once children enter the picture. Assuming that the women being interviewed by Ms. Hass are telling her the truth about their priorities, they ought to be applauded not criticized for it.