I was kicking butt, taking names, and changing diapers. Still, even when I logged back on at night or had live email exchanges with the other three women as early at 6am (a regular occurrence), I couldn’t shake the feeling that people viewed me as less committed. The comment, while innocuous, felt like confirmation of what I had feared.
Read MoreFull disclosure: This was not the blog that I had planned for this week.
I’m typically a believer that when life gives you limes, you make margaritas. What I’ve learned this week is that when you’re a career coach, when life gives you a busy week you write a blog about it.
This past week I was overwhelmed by everything on my to-do list.
Adding insult to injury this past weekend was Passover and we were hosting a Seder. If you’re not familiar with this Jewish tradition, all you have to know is that it’s a lot of work (like Thanksgiving-dinner-level preparation). And if you’re observant, like I am, it’s not just preparing for dinner and buying some matzah. There is a whole ceremony around “cleaning your house.”
Let me be clear: you haven’t seen Spring Cleaning until you’ve seen someone clean their house for Passover.
Read MoreThis past week I went to London and New York for work. While I was away, my son crawled for the first time. Once upon a time that would have crushed me—but it didn’t. That's because I’ve learned mom guilt doesn’t fit in a FAA-compliant carry-on bag. Here are my four tips—ditching mom guilt included—for taking on work travel as mom.
Read MoreThings go wrong at work.
When they do—if you’re like many of the women I work with, coach, or know personally—you probably apologize and say, “I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”
Learning from your mistakes is one of the best ways to upskill yourself. That’s why how you handle those missteps when they happen is so important. While apologizing can be an almost automatic reaction, it’s often the wrong reaction.
Friends don’t let friends make bad situations worse. You will mess up again at work. When that happens, I will not allow you to say “sorry” before considering these three things.
Read MoreEarly in my career I got a great piece of advice: getting good at anything is like training to fly a plane. You need to clock a certain number of flying hours to get from First Officer to Captain.
Here’s the problem: often when it comes time for women to ask big or negotiate they just haven’t put in the flying hours. That makes asking for that raise or promotion feel even more nerve wracking.
While these conversations can be hard, there’s no need to assume the brace position: you are not going to crash and burn. Nearly a decade into my sales career and tens of millions of dollars later, I’ve put in the flying hours for you--including a few botched takeoffs and rough landings.
Here are my 5 hacks to act like a Captain and successfully land that plane at your desired destination.
Read MoreWhen it comes to women in the workplace, it’s not all lean-in-circles and mentorships. For every Sheryl-Sanberg-type there is a Regina George; and as Regina so perfectly personifies, women can do outrageous things when they feel intimidated or threatened by other women.
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