Posts

Me Too? (Or not me?)

Several years ago, I developed and led a professional development program for women within my then-employer. Utilizing internal and external speakers, we hosted a series of “courses” to help women leverage existing strengths, set goals and pathways to achieving those, and find their voice in our male-dominant American leadership structure. The very first class was on building your career scaffolding. To this day, I can remember the presenter’s words almost verbatim. It was far more than mentors and coaches. Instead, she encouraged us to look at those relationships as a two-way street, asking questions like “who are the people who will speak up for you when you are not in the room?” and pointing us to really analyze the end-goal. “Are the people currently praising you telling the same story you would tell?”   “Are the folks who say they have your back actually aware of your personal goals, or is the praise they offer supporting their own endgame?” These are all valuable, certain...
Post a Comment
Read more

The weird, the wild, the wackadoodle…

 and for me – a new self-descriptor phrase I really wish I’d coined: “the fashion agnostic!” I’m not gonna lie. I love me a good pair of Crocs. The wilder and brighter the better, though I’m also a fan of green, brown, or other nature hues, too. In 2007 I took my then-9-year-old daughter to France for two weeks. Crocs had just become a “thing” and she was decked out in a brand-new pair of the prettiest, perfect Carolina blue ever. I’ll never forget the looks, as head after head turned sideways to gape at her Croc-covered footsies. Many times I was stopped and asked, “What ARE those!” Within days (it seemed) after returning, my rapidly-approaching middle-schooler had moved on to Rainbows and Crocs were no longer cool. We’re long past both at this point and my daughter is her own adult. This makes it all the more delightful to be a 50-something Mom, in which fashion agnosticism reaches near-sport level enthusiasm! I can (and do) wear my bright yellow duck-feet Crocs everywhere!...
Post a Comment
Read more

Whose Hand Are You Holding?

I had the BEST conversations this morning, still with me, still making me smile. And all as a result of the barrage of negative news yesterday. Breakfast with friends, which started as a shell-shocked face-palm grief-stricken god-help-us-all gathering, but turned into a beautiful symphony of emotional uplift, laughter and kindness, support and - well - love. See - here's the thing.... when people come together to talk and listen and be in common space together, we rise above the reposts and retweets and repeated INCESSANTLY nastiness that is currently called "news". (I mean really - how many times do you need to rehear something like this?!) We build ties that can't be broken. We lift up those who need lifting. Like the ocean, we become that tide that won't be held back by power and greed. This past year, really two years now, most people I speak with are feeling intensely the divide. Pitted against friend and neighbor, spouse and family member, community an...
Post a Comment
Read more