BlogHer - leadership - Comments

When when when!? ;)

Jill Miller Zimon — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:32:39 -0500

Are you running and where? Evil grin!

I'm really good at giving unsolicited advice but lucky for you and others, there's a TON of good info on the Internet and more and more entities that are helping women - all along the ideological spectrum - run.

Good luck! And thanks.

Jill Writes Like She Talks

Good for you!

fittothefinish — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:57:22 -0500

Women are underrepresented in all levels of government offices. Whether conservative or liberal, women should be encouraged by your decision to run for a seat on your city council. I know I am.

Diane

lost 150 pounds and talks about it at:

www.fittothefinish.com/blog

Leadership

Cathy Bryant — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:48:05 -0600

Thanks for your kind words, Maria.

Blessings!

Cathy Bryant

www.wordvessel.blogspot.com

Great Examples of Leadership

conversationswithmoms — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:20:43 -0600

These are all great examples of leadership. I like the way you compared them to the bible.

Maria Melo

http://www.conversationswithmoms.com

re: Dating

Bill Cammack — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:16:30 -0500

Viqi, I agree with the first part of this section you wrote, but not the second:

In dating terms, Obama's ease with looking directly at McCain
says he's The Man. He's large and in charge, as they say. Not
intimidated. If McCain were a woman, she'd know this guy might want a
piece of her. I mean, was worthy of her respect.
But
unfortunately, McCain was having none of Obama's commanding eye
contact. McCain seemed to avoid The Man's glances like The Plague. So
in hypnoworld, Obama never had a chance of weakening McCain's resolve.
He'd have gone home alone, McCain-less.

The first part is exactly what I was saying, which is that if you're "The Man", you dictate what goes on around you. If YOU choose to ignore someone, they get ignored. If YOU choose to engage someone in conversation or otherwise, they become engaged. You're going to do what YOU want to do when YOU want to do it. :D

The reason I disagree with the second part is that by NOT being "The Man" in that situation, McCain doesn't GET to "have none of Obama's commanding eye contact". McCain is still seen as deferring to Obama by not "meeting him" or "backing Obama off of him".

Not looking at Obama is like when small babies cover their eyes and think that YOU can't see THEM. It doesn't work for your own self esteem, and it doesn't work when third parties view your interaction. Basically, you're hiding in plain sight, YOU know "you don't want none", and everyone can see you hiding.

I suppose you could also argue that since McCain looked so few times at Obama that he never SAW how Obama was looking at him. Well, what was he going to do about it anyway? Nothing. So "hiding" may have been the best option. It would have been worse to try to face Obama down and LOSE than hide and have people WONDER what would have happened.

The other thing is.. In a debate, you have to remain in your location. In a boxing situation, or even a dating situation, there are no "stand over there" rules. What would have happened from McCain "ignoring" Obama is that would have been carte blanche for Obama to move forward and be even more physically intimidating, which would have lost McCain the fight either by stoppage or by the judges' cards for "ring generalship" or as far as a debate "command of the stage".

So, IMO, there's no way to spin "trying to ignore someone by not looking at them" favorably in this situation, because people don't want you trying that same tactic WHEN IT COUNTS.

~ Bill
I blog at billcammack.com

Body Language Never Tells Lies

Viqi French — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:29:24 -0500

Interestingly, I blogged my observation of the body language of both candidates. I did so with a touch of humor (e.g., equating it to what's taught in the dating and hypnosis worlds), but landed on the same conclusion: McCain appeared too disconnected or angry to command authority over Obama.

If interested, pop over and give it a read:

http://fiercelystrategic.blogspot.com/2008/09/presidential-debate-boxing-and-body.html

Viqi French

Writer-Publicist

Command is Important

Bill Cammack — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:08:06 -0500

That's all very fancy, that "body language" stuff about where feet are pointing and all that. :) The bottom line is that people are either going to feel comfortable around other people or intimidated by other people. If someone can't look someone in the eye that they're in a conversation with or in close physical proximity to, the indication is intimidation or deference.

Obviously, that's not going to play well when you're attempting to be elected to the most powerful position in the world. Americans want their leaders to carry themselves as leaders.

~ Bill
I blog at billcammack.com

Thanks for Sharing The Globalization Issue

Elana Centor — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:39:19 -0500

Yes, body language is completely different in various cultures and alas ) I was talking from a U.S. Centric position. I would love for people to share some body language signals from other other cultures.

elana
Blogher Contributing Editor,Business&CareersFunnyBusiness

Is globalization affecting body language?

Kim Pearson — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:35:32 -0500

Hi Elana,

Thanks for this post.

I was taught that in Asian cultures, it's rude to look someone in the eye. However, Westerners often misinterpeted the averted gazes of Asian business people as a sign of dishonesty. I wonder whether some of these practices are changing as a result of increased cross-cultural contact due to globalization?

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

Update 2

Michellesamom — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 12:08:55 -0500

New and interesting articles keep popping up! There is another update on my blog:

http://michellesamom.blogspot.com/2008/09/does-anyone-actually-believe-t...

Update!

Michellesamom — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:43:56 -0500

In light of today's events, I have updated this post on my blog.

http://michellesamom.blogspot.com/2008/09/does-anyone-actually-believe-t...

Well I've never tried goggles, that's for sure.

Denise — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:11:21 -0500

What do I do when I have a headache - depends. If I'm at my desk working, I'll whine about it (out loud and on twitter) and sit here and suffer through.

If I've logged off for the day, I'll whine about it and lay in bed with a book.

And after about 2 hours of whining about it, wherever I am, I'll throw down some advil and whine some more.

I'm a joy to live with. And work with. And twitter with.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

It is dizzying

Elana Centor — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:35:08 -0600

And sometimes I feel the biggest hurdle is with women ourselves. Morra, I was so disheartened by the republican woman at the John McCain event this week who called Hillary "that bitch" to which everyone laughed ( it is one of my pet peeves and it is a soap box issue for me...I would really like women to understand that calling each other bitches only creates stereotypes that are not aligned with leadership. I have no problem criticizing a manager who is doing a bad job but I would like to see a more intentional effort to use gender neutral language to do it. CAlling a woman a bitch is simply not acceptable in the business arena.
Having said that, Mary it is very good news that some sectors of the business community are recognzing that women's strengths are good for business.
elana
Blogher Contributing Editor,Business&CareersFunnyBusiness

Meanwhile MITSloan publishes a counter direction of leadership

Mary Clare Hunt — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:22:21 -0600

MITSloan put out a white paper on the Collaboration for Systematic Change. It was taking the problem of Climate Change and looking at what styles will be needed to make change happen globally. What I found interesting is that the women's inherent communication style, that provides an open forum for everyone to speak, is now a cherish and REQUIRED style for these discussions.

"The labyrinth"

Morra Aarons Mele — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:45:08 -0600

Thanks for your piece Elana.

I just read a great book on women in (business) leadership, called "Through the Labyrinth" by Eagly and Carli.

They use the metaphor of a labyrinth to replace the oh so familiar glass ceiling. To me, the labyrinth captures the nuances of the "double bind" concept perfectly.

Our society has matured beyond the glass ceiling. Women can assume positions of power. But getting there is like navigating through a labyrinth. Complicated, exhausting, confusing.