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As a woman in a male-dominated field, entertaining clients and building relationships through social contact are vital activities, though not always straightforward. For example, as an executive coach who specializes in working with professional women, I have yet to meet a woman who has the interest or time to take a client golfing, a long held networking tradition for men.

Women who want to develop relationships during office hours, through activities traditionally associated with male-dominated fields, such as drinking or at sporting events, are rare in my experience. Equally, women don’t tend to enjoy impromptu after-work drinks that go on late into the night. Most women can engage in after-work drinks now and again if given enough forewarning. However, impromptu get-togethers can be difficult for women with families, or even for women who just happen to value their own social lives and time away from work.

Maggie Berry, Director of womenintechnology.org, agrees. She indicated that, for her members, some of the key draws for her events were the focused attention on career development and the advance marketing that allowed women to plan to attend. She explained, “One of the comments I hear is that women can’t just spontaneously decide to go to the pub after work. They have different interests and responsibilities. If you know your team is going out on a Tuesday, you can plan around that. A woman can get the appropriate childcare and make transport arrangements ahead of time. Our members like to network, but like to set time aside specifically for it, rather than having to make themselves available all the time.”

If you avoid socializing completely, you will not be privy to political discussions, strengthening relationships or hearing about career opportunities that are almost always first discussed informally. Furthermore, you will send out the message that you are an outsider with no interest in becoming an insider. That being said, most women recognize that they need to make time to socialize with clients and colleagues on work trips or dinner out, which, while it has its obvious benefits, also has potential pitfalls. In addition to taking up what precious little time working women have, there is the danger of sending mixed messages to clients or colleagues—especially in settings where alcohol is involved.

This is a potential time to shine, as people promote those with whom they feel comfortable and who will make a good impression on their clients. Tread carefully, though, because if you get it wrong, you can backtrack your career considerably. Breakfast, lunch and coffee meetings are unlikely to be misconstrued, and have the additional advantage of being less likely to make you feel obliged to order alcohol with the meal. For example, you can invent a deadline back at the office if need be.

With dinner, you end the evening when you want to go home, which can be harder to negotiate your way out of if your dinner companions pressure you to stay. During the day, you can always say you have a meeting at the office, which is a more socially acceptable way of curtailing the evening than saying you just want to go home. So network please, but in a way that suits you, whether it be with groups that allow you to plan in advance or with meals at times that suit you. Just make sure you do it in a way that is respected, but can’t be misconstrued.

Be sure to visit our site, WomensMedia to get Expert Advice for Business Women.

Or on our website, WomensMedia you should read:

How to Succeed in a Male-Dominated Profession or

Business Women Can Play in the Boys’ Club or

Communicating With Men at Work .

For quick updates for Business Women you should follow NancyFClark on twitter here.

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by Sharon Michaels (Read about her here.)

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Whether you are building an online marketing team, own a storefront with employees, or organize a monthly professional networking group, your leadership skills can often mean the difference between success and failure.

What are the traits of a great leader?

Interestingly enough, in 1954 Raymond Cattell developed a Leadership Potential Equation. This equation was based on the common basic qualities of the top military leaders of World War II. In fact, this equation is still used today as a guide for defining the traits of effective leadership. Here are a few traits from Raymond Cattell’s Leadership Potential Equation:

1. Self-confidence – Self-assuredness, self-confidence and resiliency are common and important traits among top leaders. They trust their own judgment and instincts and do not necessarily need the approval of others to make well thought out decisions.

2. Healthy energy – A leader is well aware that good health is a prerequisite to good leadership. With leadership comes the need to take care of oneself in mind, body and spirit. Healthy energy begins in a healthy body.

3. Enthusiasm – People want to follow positive, energetic, upbeat, optimistic leaders. They want their leader to enthusiastically look for and focus on solutions to day-to-day challenges.

4. Knowledge – A powerful leader should know what she’s talking about. There’s nothing worse than a leader who doesn’t walk her talk. The most charismatic leaders lead by example.

5. Emotional stability – Good leaders handle stress, anger, frustration and disappointment in positive and empowering ways. Emotional maturity is a must for effective leadership.

6.  Empathy – Personal power and recognition must take a back seat to the well being of the team. Empathy builds trust. Without a leader who is trustworthy, there is no team.

7. Charisma – A charismatic leader can rally a team to be and achieve their best. A leader with charisma can paint a vision of the future that her team will want to build upon and aim toward.

8. Goal oriented – Leadership means knowing how to set group goals—goals that will motivate and excite the team to grow and thrive personally and professionally.

I doubt if anyone is born a great leader. It is how a person handles the circumstances they are given that often determines true leadership qualities. Looking through these traits, how do you rank yourself as a leader? Remember, you can learn to lead.

Listen to today’s podcast here.

Be sure to visit our site, WomensMedia to get Expert Advice for Business Women.

On our website, WomensMedia you should read these excellent articles:

7 Steps to the Best Leadership Style and

Leadership Skills: Boost Your Business Acumen! and

5 Things Leaders Must Do to Stop the Gossip Mill

For quick updates for Business Women you should follow NancyFClark on twitter here, or SharonMichaels here.

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by Suzanne Doyle-Morris (Read about her here.)

(Listen to it here.)

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Have you ever stayed up late or worked weekends on a report or project only to see the credit go to the person who presented it all? Well, that used to be me. I started to notice this tendency in college, and then in my first jobs and then again when I earned my Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, looking at the experiences of women in male dominated fields. And eventually, rather than continue to be victimized, I realized I had to learn one of the key lessons that very successful women know (the lesson I want to talk to you about today) — and that is how to use public speaking to get ahead in your career.

While stereotypes abound about ‘the chatty woman,’ the truth is that it is mostly men who present at conferences, who chair meetings and who lead presentations. Nowhere is this more true than in fields that already suffer from a dearth of women. Speaking in public is one of the most common fears, and certainly one that can be debilitating to a burgeoning career. It can sound daunting initially, but you don’t have to start with speaking to an audience of thousands. In fact, most women begin to add public speaking to their careers by leading meetings and giving presentations.

Listen to today’s podcast here.

Or on our website, WomensMedia you should read:

Business Women Can Play in the Boys’ Club or Communicating With Men at Work

For quick updates for Business Women you should follow NancyFClark on twitter here.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, http://www.womensmedia.com/ to get Expert Advice for Business Women.

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Starting out in rocket science and computer technology, I was often the only woman in the room.

That’s another way of saying, the stereotype others had of me didn’t fit with the group, I was well aware of these assumptions.

I’ll bet you’ve had the feeling—at one time or another—that people have stuck a stereotype or label on you that made you out to be less than you are.

You may have felt like an outsider to their groups.

In their minds they could be thinking:

• She’s not important,
• She’s not educated,
• She’s not capable,
• She’s not assertive,
• it could even be, “Oh, she’s a mother.” and further questions might end right there.

You can see how this limits the opportunities a person is willing to offer you. In my Business Tip of the Week, I discuss how you can prepare ahead to cancel these negative, incorrect, stereotypes.

Listen to today’s podcast here.

Or on our website, WomensMedia, you may want to read What Keeps Women from Reaching the Top?

For quick business updates you should follow me on twitter here.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

Here are some of the questions about the gender pay gap that we’ve been receiving at WomensMedia. (N- add the numbers when posting)

If A Woman Chooses Full-Time Employment, Does She Earn The Same As A Man?

Do Women Earn Less Because They Work Less?

If A Woman Earns A College Degree, Does She Earn The Same As A Man With The Same Degree?

If A Woman Negotiates Her Salary, Will She Earn The Same As A Man?

If A Woman Moves Into A Typically Male Occupation, Does She Earn The Same As A Man?

You may be surprised to hear what research has shown.

Listen to Gender Pay Gap Is Real

Listen to The Gender Pay Gap Is Not OK

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

If you’ve suspected that happy people get better work evaluations and higher pay, then you’re right. A 15-year study in Australia showed this is true. Happiness has wide ranging effects. According to Professor Martin Seligman (author of Authentic Happiness), “…it turns out that adults and children who are put into a good mood select higher goals, perform better, and persist longer on a variety of laboratory tasks, such as solving anagrams.” Ah, that means happiness improves motivation as well. More Good News.

Did you ever expect to hear the words “scientific” and “happiness” in the same sentence? I didn’t, but now I’m happy about it. I’ll be telling you about the 3 Big Happiness Myths and the 12 small tasks you can do to increase your Happiness Level. You do want to be happier, don’t you?

(Listen to it here.)

Finally, and dramatically, public perception has changed!

Five years ago, anyone could say, “ A woman or an African American man cannot be elected President,” and it would be assumed to be true. Now, even though Hillary Clinton did not win, we can picture either type of candidate having a viable chance in the future. Imagine the change: Race or gender no longer eliminates you from becoming President of the United States!

This perception is percolating down into our business world with the outstanding performance of a number of female CEO’s. We have seen that a woman can successfully grow a small company into a major player, such as Meg Whitman did with eBay. She formed a fledgling Internet idea into a company with revenue of 8.46 billion dollars a year. She now has her eye on another arena—politics.

The Rules are Changing

You no longer have to dress like a man or act like a man to reach upper management—the level that was forbidden by the glass ceiling. You can act in a style that’s comfortable to you as long as you show others they can have confidence in you. My Tip of the Week shows you how to do this.

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

I’m not going to try to guess what type of project you’re wrestling with. Do you have more than one? You probably do. Today, I’ll talk about a way to organize—and simplify—a project that doesn’t involve managing other employees. The Group Project will be covered as another topic.

Think of 1 project you want to do. What if I said to you, “Right now, write a list of what needs to be done to perform this project beautifully?”  Would you sit in front of your computer with your fingers paralyzed, perched over the keys? If so, you may have the Perfectionist’s Dilemma—you may be expecting to see a neat, perfectly arranged document appearing on your screen. Don’t worry—in this case, you’re normal.

Wouldn’t you feel better if I directed you to type up a very rough draft of what needs to be done? And I’d promise that no one else will be able to look at it. Is the paralysis gone?  And wouldn’t all this be more doable if I gave you Five Easy Steps to follow? Good! Here are the Five Easy Steps.

Be sure to visit our website, www.WomensMedia.com, for Expert Advice for Working Women.

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

If you own the company and feel like making coffee, running the copier, and wiping smudges off windows, go ahead with the busywork. But if you work for others and you’re concerned that they may not view you as Leadership Material, drop these tasks as soon as you can.

In my Tip of the Week, I tell you how to bundle a Delegation Package that will save you time and will help develop a lower level employee while you’re at it!

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

A report by Catalyst, a New York-based research group, shows that gender-based stereotyping is undermining women’s capacity to lead, holding women back from leadership positions in the workplace. Catalyst’s summation is that both men and women are acting on the stereotypes that women take care, and men take charge.

What are the male stereotypes and what are the female stereotypes, and are they that different? And what can you do? This week I got carried away and have 2 Tips of the Week.