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 To Brag Or Not To Brag: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s not bragging if you can back it up.
—Muhammad Ali

Ali can get away with bragging but we women can’t. We must walk a fine line between informative self-promotion and outright bragging. Most of us have been raised on the little girl admonitions, “It’s not nice to brag!” and “Who does she think she is?”  As long as these sayings are still playing in your mental background, you’ll feel uncomfortable when you know you’re bragging. And when you’re uncomfortable, other people focus on your discomfort. You don’t want that! The secret I can tell you is how to promote yourself just short of bragging. And that’s something you probably do want.

You need to self-promote—even if you’re not interviewing for a job. As you meet people they’re going to form split-second impressions of you. If you’re a woman, that may tend toward the sister, wife, mother, girlfriend, low-level employee, or helper images. Remember this and craft something in the beginning of a conversation that sets them in the right direction. I’ll tell you 2 simple ways to craft it in the tips of the week.

Meanwhile, for the guys who tell me they read this blog, women are not impressed the same way men are. For instance, men are often impressed when another man mentions his car by brand. Or, as I saw, a man left his Ferrari keys on the table during an entire dinner. For women, this type of display is too blatant. We don’t feel we should do it; we won’t allow other women to easily do it; and we see through it when men do it. You know, maybe we should ease up. Or not. On the other hand, women, if you’re talking only to men, you can take it up a notch without worry. Mention the private jet business trip you took, even if it was ages ago, and watch the men’s heads swivel around. Same thing with the 6-figure and 7-figure contracts your company is involved with. It will earn you respect. Just don’t try it with women.

Here’s my Women in Business Tip of the Week. Actually, there’s two this week!

Tip 1:
Rather than saying, “I have …,” or “I can do …,” the secret is finding an item in the conversation that relates to your accomplishment. Then start with something like, “I learned X when I was faced with a problem at IBM. I had to…”  Talking about what you learned or experienced keeps you just short of bragging—right where you want to be.

Tip 2:
You know how comfortable you feel when you’re telling someone about a memorable vacation you took? I want you to take a piece of paper, right now, and jot down a list of items from your life or career that are memorable, including a few that are impressive. I want you to craft what Peggy Klaus calls a “bragalogue.”  Pretend you’re writing a screenplay that only includes the good parts. OK, throw in a couple missteps to show your humility (we still are expected to be somewhat humble) and to show your sense of humor. This is now Your Story—a story you enjoy talking about.

Now, get out there and tell Your Story!

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

Website, WomensMedia, by Simon and Pedersen, Communicating With Men at Work

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

See our related article: How to Get Out of Your Own Way —5 Strategies for Thinking Outside the Box

Enjoy Some Risk-Taking—It’s Good For Business

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by Nancy F Clark (Follow me on Twitter)
Partnering with Forbes: Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter

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It’s better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong
than to agonize at length and be right too late.
—Marilyn Moats Kennedy

Much as I’d like to say the large-scale Hagberg survey shows all Good News for women in business, I can’t lie to you. I talked about the areas where women are doing well in my blog posting, Proof That Women Make Great Managers —Studies Show Areas Where Women Excel.

Where aren’t they doing well? Risk-taking. Some risk-taking can help a business tap new markets and surge ahead of the pack. Of course, sometimes there’s a good reason for avoiding risk. Risk aversion is an important talent if you’re herding children away from the edge of a cliff, for example. But business is a different story.

Are there women who take risks as well as the best of the men? Yep, and often you’ll find them at the head of companies. That tells you something.

The Hagberg study indicates that women—in a quest to be thorough—want all the data before making big decisions. This decision-making style, which may have helped a woman reach middle management, may discourage her from taking career-advancing, high-risk assignments. It may also discourage others from thinking of her as CEO material.

Taking risks and accepting the consequences is a required skill in corporate America’s top echelons. But hey, don’t despair. This is a skill that can be learned. Which brings me to my tip of the week.

Tip:  Nancy Clark’s 5 Steps of Risk-Taking

This tip is for you—unless you’re the type of woman who readily jumps on a motorcycle and has broken at least one arm and one leg doing something risky.

1.  Go with your gut.
Trust your instincts whenever you get the feeling that something could be a good business move.

2.  Give it the Pro & Con Test.
You know, draw a vertical line on a paper and quickly list the pluses and minuses to the move. Notice the word “quickly.” This is not a time for you to try for perfection. Tell yourself that no one is 100% right all the time and tell yourself that time is a valuable factor to consider in business.

3.  Move the bar up.
When you analyze your Pro & Con List, notice where you’d normally draw the line that causes you to say, “Nah, this is probably a No-Go.” What happens if you raise the bar 10%? 20%? If you’re normally a risk-averse person, better raise the bar 30%. All you need to do is decide what percentage is right for you.

4.  Gain buy-in from the right people.
Enlist the best people to work with you in implementing your idea.

5.  Handle the consequences professionally.
If you’re right, that’s a great business move. Handle your public relations and let others know of your success.

If you’re wrong, it’s not the end of the world. The end of the world would be if you did nothing. Formulate your statement along the lines of, “With hindsight being 20/20, I can now see that I overestimated sales to the X group.” or “I can see that the direction we should now head in is X.”

And start watching the guys! Yes, I said it. Watch when a guy lets a mistake slide off his back. At 5 pm it’s forgotten—and that’s a good model to follow!

Now get out there and learn to enjoy taking a few more risks!

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

See our related article: How to Get Out of Your Own Way —5 Strategies for Thinking Outside the Box

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Studies Show Areas Where Women Excel

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by Nancy F Clark (Follow me on Twitter)
Partnering with Forbes: Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter

Comprehensive management studies are showing women outscoring men in many categories. Of course, my first questions are: Which categories? And why hasn’t this translated into the top two tiers of management?

Business Week reports, “Twenty-five years after women first started pouring into the labor force–and trying to be more like men in every way, from wearing power suits to picking up golf clubs–new research is showing that men ought to be the ones doing more of the imitating.”  The studies show that women executives, when rated by their peers, their employees, and their bosses, score higher than their male counterparts on a wide variety of measures—from producing high-quality work to goal-setting to mentoring employees.

Contrary to stereotypes, women outperformed men in intellectual areas, such as recognizing trends, generating new ideas and getting results.

The Hagberg Consulting Group conducts in-depth performance evaluations of senior managers for its diverse clients, including technology, health care, financial-service, and consumer-goods companies. Of the 425 high-level executives evaluated, each by about 25 people, women execs outperformed men. In fact, women managers consistently rated higher than their male counterparts on 37 of 47 critical management qualities such as leadership, social skills, problem-solving and decision-making.

Several other studies showed similar patterns. Personnel Decisions International, a consulting firm in Minneapolis, looked at a large sample—58,000 managers—and found that women outranked men in 20 of 23 areas.

In a five-year study, Lawrence Pfaff, a Michigan management consultant, examined evaluations from 2,482 executives from a variety of companies and found that women outperformed men on 17 of 20 measures. You may not be surprised that women excelled in coaching, teamwork, empowering employees, but they excelled in decisiveness and planning as well. So, “Women Can’t Make Decisions” has been proven untrue. Which adage is next?

Adds Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, ”Women get high ratings on exactly those skills needed to succeed in the global Information Age, where teamwork and partnering are so important.”

Head of IBM’s Global Services Div., Douglas Elix, says that instead of being motivated by self-interest, women are more driven by what they can do for the company.

Now for the Big Question: Why don’t we see more women in the top two tiers? One of the reasons is that more women need to venture out of the human resources and the publicity departments, which rarely provide top-level chair fillers—men or women.

Another reason is the result of backward-thinking stereotypes that make you want to bang your head on the desk, as evidenced by the following research. Robert Kabacoff of Management Research Group has just finished a study showing how CEOs and corporate boards view upper management, and he found a clear double standard. Male CEOs and senior vice-presidents got high marks from their bosses when they were forceful and assertive and lower scores if they were cooperative and empathic. The opposite was true for women: Female CEOs got downgraded for being assertive and got better scores when they were cooperative. Kabacoff’s conclusion? ”At the highest levels, bosses are still evaluating people in the most stereotypical ways.”  Banging your head on the desk is not going to help. What we need is more men like IBM’s Douglas Elix who are hiring and promoting women—and talking about it!

Tip: Don’t try to be so perfect! The Hagberg study indicates that women, in a quest to be thorough, want all the data before making big decisions. This style may have helped women reach middle management, but may discourage them from taking career-advancing, high-risk assignments. Take a tip from the men:  Speed can often be more important than perfection. It’s a hard idea to swallow, isn’t it? But you know it’s true.

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

See our related article: Women and Leadership: The Delicate Balancing Act

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Stop Believing These 3 Myths

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by Nancy F Clark (Follow me on Twitter)
Partnering with Forbes: Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter

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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.

Recent scientific reports show your happiness level is something that can be increased with a minimum amount of effort. Don’t you want to be happier? Don’t you think others like to be around happy people? Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California (author of The How of Happiness) has conducted happiness research with thousands of men and women. The Good News is that a full 40% of your happiness level is completely within your control. You may have received Unhappy Genes and suffered Unfortunate Life Circumstances, but you still get a clean 40% at your command. And the tasks you can do are surprisingly easy.

Before I talk about these tasks, let’s get the 3 Big Happiness Myths out of the way.

Myth #1: Happiness is something that you find, like Shangri-la. This is not true, so don’t wait around for this magical occurrence.

Myth #2: Our circumstances determine our happiness. This is not true, so don’t think, “IF only this would happen, THEN I’d be happy.” I think this is a trap everyone falls into at some time.

Myth #3: You either have it or you don’t. Not true either. I’ve already told you that you’ve got 40% to develop. You can make improvements.

Let’s get to the 12 tasks that Professor Lyubomirsky says will help you. She has an instant aversion to overly sweet sounding ideas, as I do. But, when she pushed herself to write gratitude letters to colleagues, she was surprised with the positive effect on others and on herself. So give yourself a little push. These are simple tasks. You don’t need to try all 12 of them. You could start out by selecting 4 that sound most appealing to you. Later, you can get around to other 8 and astound yourself with the results. Let me know about these astounding results. While you’re at it, get a copy of The How of Happiness and take its personal inventory and recommendations.

Here are the 12 simple tasks.

1. Express gratitude — You can tell others or you can write down 5 every evening for a week.
2. Cultivate optimism — Keep a journal of Your Best Possible Future. I’ll talk more about this in my Tip of the Week.
3. Avoid overthinking and social comparison — Cut down on how often you rethink your problems and compare yourself to others. Cut down on thoughts, such as, “I wish I wouldn’t have said that! I should have said …”
4. Practice acts of kindness — This is one of those overly sweet sounding ideas that I’m surprised I’ve become addicted to doing at least once a day. And scientists now have proof that “pay it forward” is something that usually happens. It’s saccharine, but true. I agree with Robert Wright (author of Non-Zero, another book you should get) that altruism is built into our genes. It’s helped our survival. As Martha Stewart would say, “It’s a good thing.”  Nah, I can’t get that sweet.
5. Nurture relationships — Spend time and energy in cultivating and enjoying a relationship, or healing an ailing relationship.
6. Develop strategies for coping — Practice ways to handle or get over stress, hardship, or trauma.
7. Learn to forgive — Write a letter in which you try to let go of anger or resentment of someone. It is necessary to write it, but not necessary to mail it.
8. Do more activities that truly engage you — I call these “flow activities” that you find challenging and absorbing. You know you’re in flow when you lose track of time. If you’re interested in this topic, you absolutely have to read the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
9. Savor life’s joys — Pay close attention and replay life’s momentary pleasures and wonders, through thinking, writing, drawing, or sharing with another.
10. Commit to your goals — Pick one, or several of your goals and devote time and effort to pursuing them.
11. Practice religion and spirituality — Devote thought and energy to whichever form is comfortable for you.
12. Take care of your body — Engage in physical activity, meditating, smiling, and laughing.

So, pick your Top 4 and devote attention to them. Later, pick up the other 8 and see how high you can raise your Happiness Level. Who could object to that?

My Business Tip of the Week deals with Task #2 Cultivating Optimism.

Here it is.

Business Tip of the Week:

This will not take much of your time. It will take 20 minutes tonight and 20 minutes for each of the next 3 nights. Research at two universities (by Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, and by Professor Laura King) has shown this small investment of time can make a significant difference in your life.

Select a blank notebook and begin writing a journal of Your Best Possible Future. Be sure to cover each area of your life—I mean, your future life. Picture yourself in the future, after everything has gone as well as it could. You’ve worked hard and accomplished your life goals. For instance, Julie Anne could say, “I can imagine myself married with 2 children, working in the Internet field, spending summer vacations in Montana with my family, meditating and exercising on a regular schedule, planning social outings, organizing art exhibitions, and performing the saxophone with The Big Sky Cowgirls.”

Remember, scientists have shown us we can increase our happiness, optimism, and our motivation. Spending 4 nights on this exercise will make a difference, and devoting another night, maybe once a month, will improve it even more. How much of an improvement in Your Best Possible Future do you want to see? Make it happen. It’s within your control!

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

See our related article: 10 Tips from Gretchen Rubin on How to Be Happy at Work

Even Though Your Boss Says It’s Not The Perfect Time (It never is!)

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Nancy F Clark  (Follow me on Twitter)

You’d probably love it if your boss walked up to you today and said, “I’ve decided to give you a raise, effectively immediately.” Don’t hold your breath. No one wants to spend any more money than they have to. So, you’re going to have to ask for a raise. Here’s my advice on how to do this. First, do your homework on what you should expect in the way of compensation. Be sure to consult Internet salary websites, such as Salary.com or Salary Center on Monster.com.  In the U.S. women are paid 77 cents for every dollar men make.  If you set your sites on what men are paid and expect the same, you probably won’t be disappointed.  Don’t mention gender or need—keep the salary negotiation to what you bring to the business.

Make a list of your special skills and your accomplishments—especially recent ones.  Make an appointment with your boss to “talk about something of importance to you.”

And because I know this is a stressful time for you, I’ve included a script for you to have handy for a salary negotiation where your boss presents an obstacle.  Memorize it. You probably won’t have to recite it verbatim, but it will give you an extra boost of confidence to know you’ve got a script if you need it.

Tip: A Script for Stressful Times

I’m pleased to be working for this company, and I know the company is benefiting by my ___. (List 3 things, for example: client contacts, special project, marketing, etc.) I am looking for a salary of  __ dollars.

Now your boss presents an obstacle. (budget, timing, skills, etc.)

Have your individual X, Y, Z’s figured out ahead of time. Then, rather than dispute the obstacle, say,  “I understand your situation. The number I have in mind is X. The value I bring to the position is Y. And the benefit to the company will be Z.”

It’s up to you to read your boss, and at the same time, be fully confident you are deserving of this raise. If you truly believe you need to back down or accept a little less, set a time (3 mos., 6 mos.) when you can revisit this question about the salary you have in mind.

Further Reading:

See this related article on the WomensMedia site:
Gender Wage Gap: Are you paid as much as a man if he had your job?
by Evelyn Murphy with E.J. Graff

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Is She Too Strong? Too Pushy?

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Instead of a lawsuit, I say shine a spotlight on double standards in the workplace.

People will decide what’s not acceptable behavior.

Public opinion brings rapid change, and that’s what we anticipate.

—Nancy Clark

In the Harvard Business Review, Nancy Nichols writes, “Women who attempt to fit themselves into a managerial role by acting like men . . . are forced to behave in a sexually dissonant way. They risk being characterized as ‘too aggressive,’ or worse, just plain ‘bitchy.’ Yet women who act like ladies, speaking indirectly and showing concern for others, risk being seen as ‘ineffective.’”

Women have been caught in a double bind. We’re not part of the #1 team in business—the men’s team. That’s the situation we have today. Let’s not bemoan it—that won’t give us progress. Let’s analyze it and see where we can carve away a few more steps. Kathleen Hall Jamieson tells us, “Binds draw their power from their capacity to simplify complexity. Faced with a complicated situation or behavior, the human tendency is to split apart and dichotomize its elements. So we contrast good and bad, strong and weak, for and against, true and false, and in so doing assume that a person can’t be both at once—or somewhere in between. Such distinctions are often useful. But when this tendency drives us to see life’s options or the choices available to women as polarities and irreconcilable opposites, those differences become troublesome.” Jamieson points out that over the years women have found new options to exercise, so don’t think of yourself as permanently shackled. She states, “Put simply, over time women have learned to turn potatoes into vichyssoise.”

When I’m asked about this problem, I say, “When you see double standards for men and women in action, all you need to do is bring attention to the matter—without anger. Most people will make their own judgment that this is unfair treatment. Those who don’t are not ready to change—this week.”

I don’t promote more laws and more lawsuits as the best way to proceed. Public opinion is ready to change en masse. Instead of a lawsuit, put a spotlight on double standards. Let people decide if this is acceptable behavior. Today we’re seeing that fathers and mothers are worried about sending their daughters out into a workplace that will disappoint them, year after year, with inequities.

Debra Meyerson of Stanford University tells us that if you want to make an effort to change the use of double standards, you have to speak up. For instance, “Jack and Mary both have clients who like them. Jack is arrogant and all you do is laugh about it. But Mary is not nearly as arrogant, yet you criticize her when she does any self-promoting. Why does he get higher marks at promotion time? Doesn’t this look like we’re using double standards? Is this fair?”

Try This: Over the next week, look for instances of double standards being used for men and women in your workplace. Point out the problem without anger if possible. It’s very likely you can enlist a man to second this opinion. Honest, they’re out there ready to help!

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A related article:
WomensMedia, by Debra Meyerson, Gender in Business—Speak Up About Double Standards

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How To Make The Jump From Manager To Leader

by Nancy F. Clark (Follow her on Twitter)
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Named one of Forbes: Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter

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“The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.”

—Faye Wattleton

What do you think it takes to move from a manager to a leader in your field? Conventional wisdom lets us believe that working hard at our assigned tasks is what’s required, but there’s a difference between being a manager and being a leader. Take a look at the table by Ellig and Morin’s below. Which category better represents how you’re operating today?

Are you a manager or a leader?

Manager	Leader
Delegates and investigates issues	Stops “the buck” passing
Listens to the trumpet	Sounds the trumpet
Implements strategies	Creates the vision
Uses resources	Provides resources
Sails the ship	Sets the course
Supports new ideas	Invents, innovates
Evaluates quality	Sets standards
Makes many decisions	Makes few decisions
Builds alliances	Builds trust and integrity
Supports and walks the talk	Articulates the message
Interacts with people	Knows his/her people
Lets people know him/her	Lets people think they know him/her
Gets and delivers feedback	Sets criteria for feedback
Refines current way of doing things	Consistently searches for a better way to do things
Is committed	Is passionately committed

Chances are most of you will see that you’re currently operating at the manager level. There’s nothing wrong with that . . . unless you thought you were aiming to be a leader. There are steps you can take to rise to this higher level. I’ll give you my three easy steps. Consider each step as adding a garment to your daily wardrobe that you’ll be wearing to work from now on.

Step 1:  Pin down your goals and values and communicate them to others. (My tip this week is related to this.)

Step 2:  Be a visionary with new ideas—don’t accept things as they’ve always been done. Inspire others with your ideas and enthusiasm. Encourage them to speak up with their ideas and the problems they see at work. Let others know you’ll hear them out and will consider their suggestions when you make decisions. But, when you make your decisions, you’ll proceed directly to Step 3 below.

Step 3:  Be bold and assume “the buck stops here” mantle, knowing full well that this means you may have a few dissenters. You should expect this and stop trying to make everyone happy!

Here’s my tip of the week.

Tip:

Many of you have told me you appreciate it when I give you a script to work with. Here’s one for you to use when talking with higher ups in your company.

I like working for this company and my goal is to reach the leadership level in X (marketing, etc.). I would appreciate it if you consider me for any new projects, teams, or studies that deal with this.

(Now if you want to carry this conversation to a higher plane—as a leader would—add the following.)

If you’re interested, I have an idea for a survey which would provide information to benefit the company. Would you like me to email it to you and then we could meet to discuss it?

You get the idea. If you want to be a leader, add these 3 pieces of advice to your working “wardrobe.”

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

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Further Reading:

WomensMedia, by Rebecca Hourston, The 3 Most Self-Destructive Behaviors and How to Change Them

WomensMedia, by Natalie R. Manor, Leadership & Confidence
—Many Women Are Competent, but Lack Confidence

Organize A Project With Five Easy Steps

by Nancy F. Clark (Follow her on Twitter)
Named one of Forbes: Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter

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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.

1. Define the Goal – What’s the end product you want to achieve? What’s the goal date? Give yourself a little leeway by establishing an Almost Goal Date. This is the date you’ll aim for—knowing you’ll have a few extra days for polishing or basking in your early success.

2. Outline the Big Steps — Leave space below each one for step # 3. Put an End Date on each of the Big Steps.

3. Outline the Little Steps that are contained in each of the Big Steps above.

4. Keep a Running File on everything. Save information in computer files or paper files in case you’ll be doing a similar project another time, or in case you want to document your success in the workplace. Yes, you do want to do that!

5. Put the Next Step on your To-Do List each day. Refer to my tips on writing your To-Do List. Remember each one has an action included.

Those are the Five Easy Steps. Now, here’s my Business Tip of the Week.

Business Tip of the Week:

You know that Running File I mentioned as part of #4 above? Well, you can use that for 2 purposes that will benefit you in the long run. First, you may need to do this same project another time. Of course, it will be because people realized you did such a great job the first time! Think about how much easier it will be the second time. You’ll have your outline, timeline, and the necessary backup materials in your Running File for that project. Easy! Now the second reason is that you may want look forward to the day that you can give—ah, delegate—this project to someone else. That’s what leaders do! And leaders also have a responsibility to see that their delegates are organized and productive. Well, you’ve already performed a big part of your future responsibility.

Doesn’t that make you think leaders have it easy? I hope you get the opportunity to see that it’s true!

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

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

Website, WomensMedia, by Dianne Schilling, How to Run a Successful Meeting: Tips from Women Leaders

Blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, by Nancy Clark, Time Management: You Can Organize Your Desk With These Easy Steps! or listen to it here.

Website, WomensMedia, by Stacey Hanke, Communicating with Impact and Influence

Today is Better than Yesterday – The Glass Ceiling is History

by Nancy F. Clark (Follow her on Twitter)
Named one of Forbes: Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter

 

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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: Carol Bartz of Yahoo, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, Ellen Kullman of DuPont, Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods, Ursula Burns of Xerox, as well as Angela Braly of WellPoint one of our largest Fortune 500 companies.

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 Business Tip of the Week shows you how to do this.

The Glass Ceiling Effect

Some of you may be wondering, “How strong was that glass ceiling?” With nearly half the U.S. workforce female, it only allowed 15% of the upper management desks to be occupied by women. So, assuming as I do, that women and men are equally competent in their abilities, we would be seeing 50% of those desks occupied by women if the glass ceiling had not existed.

This glass ceiling effect took place over and over again at review time. There’s a little bit of subjective thinking in a review, in the manager’s mind, that pushes a competent worker over the threshold into a higher level position. It goes like this, “She’s doing a good job . . . but she doesn’t look like upper management material in our company.” Well, that’s true. She probably doesn’t appear as confident or as imposing. She probably talks about her business worries—men work harder to not expose any weakness. And she probably doesn’t look like the current upper managers, 85% of whom are men.

What Must You Do?

Individually, we have to remove gender bias—along with racial and ethnic bias—from our subjective promotion criteria. I need to emphasize here that it doesn’t matter if the reviewing manager is male or female. We’ve been comparing our employees to men at the top. So, it’s up to each of us to do our part to conduct unbiased reviews—making sure the glass ceiling stays in the past.

5 Steps for Moving Up

Here’s what you can do to speed your ascent into the realm of upper management.

1. Believe that the glass ceiling is obsolete and that it won’t affect you. You know, act as if there’s no sexism left in business. Remember that others who still hold that belief are hanging onto a passé dogma.

1. Make a point of showing you’re a decision maker. You can solicit input, but assume your role as the final decision maker on projects. You must overturn that erroneous stereotype that women are indecisive. Management studies show female managers are good at making decisions.

1. Force yourself to be more of a risk taker. Women are more risk averse than men, and sometimes miss business opportunities. So, up your risk taking by 15%, 20%, or whatever takes you slightly out of your 100% safety zone.

1. Speak up when others will notice—remember, you’re now a player. Act like one.

1. Get help at home—help with the cleaning, help with the children, help with your elders—don’t assume you have to do it all. You’ll still have moments when you feel overwhelmed with your “other life duties,” but try not to complain at work. Your superiors might decide you can’t take on higher assignments.

My Business Tip of the Week asks you to join me in prodding companies to do the right thing. Here it is.

Business Tip of the Week:

See to it that the statistics for your company are published. The Internet is a good place. The purpose of these stats is to highlight your company’s positive role in shattering the glass ceiling, such as:  “Five years ago, 11% of the top 2 tiers of our company were female. This year we’ve progressed to 15% and we’re looking forward to progressing next year as well.” A public record of this is an incentive to do even better next year. And I’m all for incentives, because they work!

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

Now that the glass ceiling is history, make your move—with confidence.

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

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Website, WomensMedia, by Hilary M. Lips, Women and Leadership: The Delicate Balancing Act See solutions that smooth the way for women leaders.

Blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, by Stacey Hanke, Communication and Vocal Power —Using Your Voice to Convey Confidence or listen to it here.

Podcast (always about 5 minutes), Working in Heels, by Nancy Clark, Gender Stereotypes Hold Women Back—Those Little Put-Downs Really Do Add Up!

Here’s How You Can Stop Procrastination Fast!

by Nancy F. Clark (Follow her on Twitter)
Named one of Forbes: Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter

 

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Here’s one of my favorite quotes. It’s by Marsha Evans.

You can have unbelievable intelligence, you can have connections, you can have opportunities fall out of the sky. But in the end, hard work is the true, enduring characteristic of successful people.

Do you need help overcoming procrastination? Are you late with business projects—are you late meeting arrival times? Here’s what works for a lot of people. It’s called the Reverse Calendar method. I first started using this technique when I needed to drive somewhere and arrive on time. I’ll admit, I was arriving late for lots of things, things you wouldn’t want to be late for. My kids were even getting annoyed. When it reached the critical stage, I was forced to plan ahead: What time do I need to be at my presentation? What do I need to pick up on the way? What do I need to drop off on the way? And what if I hit a little traffic?

You know how it goes for driving. You pick your arrival time at your destination and add a little time cushion in case traffic isn’t cooperating. And here’s a tip, if you’re expecting a stressful day, do what I’ve started doing (now that I’m a reformed procrastinator), I add another time cushion that will relieve stress because when I arrive early, I can read something fun or something informative before going in. I take that along with me as an incentive. It’s my non-food reward. Hmmm, I bet the candy advertisers don’t want to hear that, but I guess the book-selling advertisers will support my thinking.

Well, we’ve taken care of driving, but we need to talk about those business projects that are occupying the worry section of your brain.

For a business project, you need to break it down into Discreet Steps, the smaller the better. Sometimes it’s a little step that fouls up your schedule, such as: Contact James about X.

Write down the date when the project needs to be completed. And now give yourself a cushion of a day or two, and write the date of this deadline as your Optimal Project Deadline. Won’t you feel good when you meet this deadline?

For each small step, write down how long it will take you to complete. Obviously, it’s called the reverse calendar method because you work backwards from this deadline, writing on your calendar when you’ll do each step that you’ve outlined. Scheduling the exact amount of time at the exact time of day, will do a lot toward overcoming procrastination—that is, if you obey your calendar. But, you’re going to do that, because you’re no longer a procrastinator! Ah, positive thinking feels good—Wayne Dyer was right.

My Women in Business Tip of the Week gives you an added bonus for your project. Now here it is.

Women in Business Tip of the Week:

Pick a project you need to tackle. Write down the name of this project to ensure that it’s the only one you’re going to think about right now. Give it a jazzy name, just for fun, or for more positive thinking! Follow the Reverse Calendar procedure, pick your Optimal Project Deadline, break the project into Discreet Steps, and schedule them (in pencil at this point) at exact days and times on your calendar.

Now here’s where I’m adding something that I believe will make your project turn out even better—a project bonus. I’m advising you to add an extra step to your list. You decide where to put this extra step—where it’ll make the most difference in whether your project is good or whether it’s great. For some projects, this will be at the beginning where time for creative thinking could pay off. For example, that creative thinking could lead you to run a quick survey to bolster your information. For other projects, this will be at the end where having another set of eyeballs doing the proofreading is important.

Add that bonus in. Doesn’t it feel good? You have a head start, and you know you have work to do. Now, get out there and do it!