One Minute of Focus Is A Minute Well Spent   

There’s one word I’m not going to use, because I’ll lose most of you at the start. Well, I guess I have to give you a hint: This is not about meditation. This is about something that Jon Kabat-Zinn, a stress management medical doctor and author, calls mindfulness.   

If stress bombards you too long and too hard, you end up in a hospital, and that’s not where you want to be. Listen to my one minute solution to reducing stress.    

 

 Reduce Stress With Mindfulness : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What You Should Add To Your Resume To Be CEO-Ready
 
 
Is 40 Years Too Long To Wait?
 
There sure aren’t many women in the corner offices, or in the next level down either.  Recent research by Catalyst shows that 84% of these offices in major U.S. companies are occupied by men. At the rate women are moving up, it will take 40 years before we see equality. That’s too long for me. Is that too long for you?
 
What Can We Do About It?   

There are 2 things women need to do to have a CEO-ready resume—and they’re not impossible. Take a few minutes to learn what you need.    

 

 Looking For Female Leadership At The Top Of Companies? [7:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Nature vs Nurture Is A Hot-Button Topic!
 
 
We women know that we’re different from men, but (and here come the disclaimers), make no mistake, we’re not all alike!  And some men are very good with so-called feminine traits, such as emotional sensitivity and multitasking, among others.  And as I said in a previous podcast, a big part of why we’re different might be attributed to pressures other than genetics.  
 
As for the current business world, it’s been structured in a manner that’s most comfortable for men. And the men have done a good job. Thank you! But the business world is changing:  Women are trying to fit in and other economies are coming into play with creative ideas. Our current business climate needs to weather the storm—with flexibility, cultural and emotional sensitivity, and speed. This is a perfect fit if business decides to make it easy to assimilate the traits—or talents, as I like to say—women have to offer. Here are the talents most often attributed to women.
 

 

 Nature vs Nurture – Women and Men: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Why Are Smart Women Deferring To Men?
 
 
I’m sure every woman has noticed this here and there at work:  A smart woman deferring to a man who is not entirely correct—and she knows it—and he doesn’t—but he’s speaking with confidence and a loud voice. It always makes me wonder why she’s deferring to him by not speaking up.
 
My Tip of the Week teaches you how to stop deferring to men, and how to do it without ruffling any feathers.
 

 

 Communicating With Authority, Or Deferring To Men? [5:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

How To Change “I Speak Like A Girl” to “I Know What I’m Talking About”   

Perhaps you’re that rare woman who proved immune to the nature-nurture pressures to Speak Like A Girl. Chances are you succumbed and now are realizing how much you want to pull yourself up to the I Know What I’m Talking About status. These pressures show up in a variety of communication differences between men and women. Deborah Tannen in You Don’t Understand explains that men use “report talk” to give information that enhances their power while women tend to use “rapport talk” to give information that helps build relationships. Women usually come out ahead in relationship-building communication—and that’s okay. What’s not okay is how we lose out sounding like a leader or an expert. We’re giving away our power in business. Take these steps to let others know: I Know What I’m Talking About.      

 

 Powerful Communication For Women [5:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Meetings And Other Time Drains At Work   

In a previous podcast, Work-Life Balance —Creating Boundaries For You To Follow, I talked about the priorities you have in your career and your personal life and the boundaries that you will follow. Today I’ll discuss the boundaries you can put in place for your fellow workers to follow. Now, won’t that be nice!  

 

 Work-Life Balance Rules For Others To Follow [5:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Women Are Secretaries And Men Are CEO’s?   

One of the situations that motivates me to keep on bloggin’ is that most working women are not promoted above mid-management positions. This is not what you would expect when 6 out of 10 college diplomas are awarded to women and half our workforce is now female. My goal is to convince each woman to think about why this is happening and to decide this won’t happen to her, and that she’ll do her best to alert other women.   

My topic involves the types of jobs we usually see doled out to women. 

 

 Are Jobs Stereotyped? [6:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Show Me A Woman Who Doesn’t Feel Guilty And I’ll Show You A Man   

Erica Jong hit the truth button with her guilt quote above. Of course, it’s probably not 100% true. There must be some men who feel as much guilt as women feel every day. But then, maybe not. That’s a research topic our government should look into.  For the guys who may be reading this, and may be asking, “What kind of things do women find to feel guilty about?” here are a few of the frequent culprits:     

• I shouldn’t have eaten that cookie.  

• I feel bad leaving Bobby with a babysitter.  

• I didn’t make the bed.  

• I didn’t have time to put in a load of laundry before work.  

• My sales report was only 42 pages this month.  

• And there was a typo.  

• My inlaws are coming to dinner and I have no idea what I’m going to fix and I’m stuck in a boring management meeting and I’m wishing I would have asked my husband to pick up steaks on his way home and one of those gooey chocolate cakes (now I feel extra guilt for that thought)…  

  Now listen to what you can do about this. I’ll give you 2 tips this week!     

 

 Why Is Guilt A Female Problem? [5:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Money Facts You Should Know About The Gender Pay Gap   

  Do women make less money? They sure do. Let’s gather our facts together here. We’re not even going to consider part-time work—that would make the gender pay gap look even bleaker! Comparing full time working women with full time working men, we find that the women are paid 80 cents for every dollar men are paid even in the same occupations. Are you content with this? Are you going to be a good girl and say, “Thank you for the diminished returns?” Are you going to say, “But what can I do? I need this job. I want them to like me.” Or, are you going to begin making sure this no longer happens to you? I see it as my privilege to tell you two strategies that have worked for women in our WomensMedia network. 

 

 Be A Woman Who Makes As Much As A Man [6:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Save Time By Reducing Multitasking 
 
 
OK, so we can run on a treadmill, while reading our email . . . and talk on the phone at the same time. And if we see someone—at the edge of our peripheral vision—about to do something dangerous, we can take action. Somehow women evolved with a heightened ability to juggle attention. 

As Martha Stewart might ask, “Is this a Good Thing?”  My answer is, “Not always.”  The American Psychological Association reports that new studies reveal the hidden costs of multitasking. There is a time loss when switching from one task to another, and the amount of time increases with the complexity of the task. If one of those tasks is fairly new, your time loss is much greater when you’re multitasking. See how you can reduce the multitasking time loss. 

 

 Multitasking: A Gift Or A Curse? [6:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download