Everyday Bliss For Women In Leadership

Breast cancer survivor Kris Hart, right, vice president of global brand management at (casino operator) Harrah’s Entertainment, was still breastfeeding when she found out she had breast cancer. In this month’s Pink Magazine email, Taylor Mallory interviews Kris. Here are a couple of relevant highlights:

Hart’s Advice for Breast Cancer Newbies

1. DO take a breath and come up with a plan. The cancer has probably been in you for years, so you can wait a week.

2. DON’T make emotional decisions about your care. Get all the info you can before you make a decision.

3. DO surround yourself with people who don’t make you feel like a victim.

4. DON’T be afraid to ask for support. Your friends and family want to help.

Hart also adds her greatest challenge dealing with chemo:

"I have always had an innate sense of organization in my head. Since the chemo, and even now as it’s still in my system, I’m fuzzy. I can’t retain things, and I’m not as quick as I used to be. I can’t remember names as readily as I could. That’s really frustrating."

Maryam’s Note: Kris Hart, if you’re out there reading this, please check out the energy therapies (no drugs, no needles, no hassle, easy to learn and practice) like ETHOS, EFT and ZPoint to help "get your brain back". This involves the energy in your body, not in a box or machine. You’re using the natural energy an acupuncturist manipulates by putting needles in the body, only with the new energy therapies, you only tap on the acupoints, hold them gently and breathe, or use the energy solely in your mind. No gadgets or drugs needed!

Anyone dealing with fuzziness like this can regains clarity by practicing a couple of simple exercises to synch the hemispheres of your brain back up. Go to my page on that here:

http://maryamwebster.com/stressrelief

Do every exercise on the page, especially the Cross Crawl. This highlights part of the Bliss Coaching Process that is laid out in full in my book, Everyday Bliss For Busy Women.

PINK asks: How can colleagues help when a co-worker has cancer?

Kris Hart: "Be specific about how you want to help. Everyone says, "I’m here for you." But very few people will ever take you up on that. So say, "I’d like to bring dinner for you on Wednesday." Also recognize it’s not only the physical victim but the whole family that needs support. Someone called my husband to go have drinks. He was thrilled to get away too."

Maryam’s Note: I’ll second the "be specific" part. When Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in the 90’s she deteriorated rapidly, and the community troups were marshalled to provide friendly visits for she and Dad. The best visit they had was after dinner one Tuesday evening from Bill Hall, a buddy of Dad’s from Rotary Club. Though Bill offered, Mom refused to let him go into the kitchen and get her usual offering of lemonade and cookies - it was important for HER to "do for" visitors as long as she was able.

Bill visited with the family for awhile, drank his lemonade and nibbled his cookies, chatting easily on a variety of topics. The ease with which he carried on conversation soon put Mom and Dad at ease. They reported during this time feeling pressed to entertain people and alleviate their discomfort with Mom’s cancering*, which only caused them to feel more stressed and tense after friendly visits than not. Bill’s visit was a welcome exception, doubly so because of what he did next.

After a polite amount of time had passed, Bill said to Dad: "Charlie, get your coat. You’re coming out bowling with me and the boys, and I won’t take no for an answer." Dad didn’t bowl, but he was too much of a gentleman to refuse such a public invitation. He went, had an excellent time, and Bill managed to wheedle him into coming to the "boys night out" from then on. It got him out of the house, Mom had a peaceful evening once a week to do as she liked, and Dad had a place to blow off steam and "be a regular fellow" as he put it. That’s important, and it was the best present a friend could have given him at this sensitive and crucial point in his life.

It doesn’t have to be a whole-hog fancy evening, any level of attention and caring is good. Just be there.

You can find out more and subscribe to Pink Magazine for Women Professionals here: http://www.pinkmagazine.com/index.html

Pink is about women having money and worldly power too - what activist and author Naomi Wolf calls "the last taboo". Canted towards C-level professional and executive women, Pink provides gathering opportunities at locations around America to help women network and excel in business.

* Cancering - Using the word "Cancering" creates a gerund, or non-finite verb form out of the noun, cancer. When you add the "-ing" to a word that is so definite, so negatively final, it transforms the disease into a process which can have a positive end - the disease process ends, but you go on. This is a form that I take from the teachings of Master NLP Health Coach, Suzi Smith, who reports that this simple linguistic change brings empowerment back into the equation for those living with this disease process.

Hi there. If you’re interested in taking yourself and your employees or clients to the next level and the many after that, you really do need to check out The Certified Energy Coach Program. We are now SUPERPOWERED with the brand new and completely free to the public Ethos Method, which is like no self-help or therapeutic change method you’ve ever seen before. You owe it to yourself and your clients to come check us out!

http://certifiedenergycoach.org

My colleagues Nina Price, Sabrina Reich and I welcome you to the wonderful world of Energy Coaching and look forward to getting to know you on this fast-paced and informative class. Bring all your questions about the CEC Program, Energy Coaching as a profession, its use in leadership and business or any others you might have.

Here’s your connection information for our series of free intro classes:

MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW:

Thursday, August 28th at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm UK
Wednesday Sept. 3rd at 5pm PT / 8pm ET / 9:30/10am Thurs. AUS
Monday, Sept. 8th at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm UK

Bridgeline Number:  712-421-6384
Conference Access Code: 4695712#

You’ll be welcomed to our call center when you get on the line. Though we welcome dialogue in the class,  if you’re in a busy place, please do use your phone’s  mute button. On this bridgeline, press 6 to both mute
and un-mute your phone.

Looking forward to sharing the power of ETHOS and the amazing changes of The Certified Energy Coach Program
with you!

Warmly,
Maryam Webster
Director, The Energy Coach Institute
and Certified Energy Coach Program®
http://certifiedenergycoach.org

As  business demographics face shifts in North America and Europe, many women are moving up in rank from middle management to executive leadership positions. The baby boom executives are nearing or already in retirement. Smart companies are focusing on internal promotion rather than external recruitment. Promoting from within can have great advantages for the company, while sometimes leaving the new leader and their team with gaps in their knowledge and process. 

Whether you are currently in a leadership role or ready to become the leader, if you work in a group, manage a team, multi-task in your department, oversee projects, deal with multi-national contractors or adjudicate between colleagues, you need Leadership Coaching. You may be a brilliant negotiator, financial whiz or a technical genius. But do you have what it takes to manage other high-level employees? Particularly if you’re coming up from middle management to fill slots left by retiring executives as is currently happening in the American workforce.

Get Leadership Coaching, Below

"There is going to be a real premium for companies to try to retain talent," says Mark Marcon, an analyst with Robert. W. Baird. "And the talent out there to replace the people retiring is going to be scarcer and scarcer."

As a result, companies will have to rely on younger people to take on management roles, says Gary Burnison, Korn/Ferry’s chief operating officer. And they will have to identify candidates who might have been overlooked in past years. "What we see is a war for talent," Burnison says. "Despite all the technological innovations of the past century, a simple truth remains: people make businesses successful."

Leadership coaches aren’t just for executives who are struggling to get the job done. Those overlooked middle-managers, in fact, might be prime candidates.

Leadership coaches often work with managers who have been highly successful, but see barriers preventing them from reaching the C-suite. Some are technical whizzes who don’t have the interpersonal skills to manage a large staff.

In other cases, coaches are called in when there has been turnover on an executive team, and the senior officers need to get to know each other. Leadership coaches can help a new CEO adjust to his or her position, or aid a board trying to develop a succession plan.

Do you realize what opportunities are now opening up for women in business? Barring the women’s work movement during WWII, we have never had such corporate opportunities like this before. And yet, many of us are blocked from achieving the positions and opportunities that they see in their own companies.

Why?

What I see commonly in the women I coach is perception of the invisible "glass ceiling" barrier preventing their upward momentum. While we know much of the glass ceiling is perceptual, some of it is actual. Barring real covert discrimination however, persevere without exception and believe deeply in yourself.

Leadership Coaching For You

If you are a woman in middle management and  leadership positions are opening up that you would really like to acquire, don’t allow this to stop you. Here are some coaching tips to help pull you forward:

1) If nothing stood in your way, no glass ceiling, no discrimination, no derailment - what could you accomplish?

Hint: Using only the skills and talents you already have, where you sit at present.

2) If you are short political savvy or knowledge of corporate culture, how can you acquire it in the swiftest, most comprehensive way possible?

Hint: This is the time for corporate mentorship. If you don’t already have a senior mentor in your company, now is the time to cultivate one.

3) If your communications, people management or interpersonal skills are off, or you have personal barriers to leadership success, get leadership coaching while you’re still working in lower or middle management. It is imperative when such opportunities as executive retirement open up spaces for others to advance, that your skillset be in place.

Hint: If you’re a woman in management looking for leadership coaching with cutting edge blockage removal tools, see who I coach here.

Thanks to Gina for a timely tip on the Mirasou Winery offering for Women Entrepreneurs:

Mirassou has been a longtime supporter of women-owned businesses over the past three years. Since obtaining capital is the No. 1 obstacle women face in starting their own businesses, Mirassou has created the "Make Your Dreams Come True with Mirassou" contest which provides $50,000 in seed money to help start a "Dream" business.

• Submit your application by December 15, 2007 for the chance to win $50,000 or a Talbots Shopping Spree!

The "Make Your Dreams Come True with Mirassou" contest is open to women who aspire to open a new business. To enter, applicants must submit a personal essay of 500 words or less describing themselves and why they think they would make a successful entrepreneur. A preliminary business plan will also be required and should include: 1) a description of the new business, 2) the consumer appeal to the new business, and 3) a plan to implement the new business.

Have you found this? Because we have such different ways of processing and working together, experimentation is rife, ideas flow and merge and new forms are created.  Lucy Ward and John Carvel of the London newspaper, The Guardian, found this to be the case:

“ Teams of workers come up with the most innovative ideas if they are made up of even proportions of men and women, according to researchers. A study published yesterday by the London Business School found that professional teams with an equal gender split were much more likely to experiment, share knowledge and fulfil tasks, regardless of whether the team leader was a man or a woman.

An even mix allowed "a psychological safe communication climate" and self-confidence among members, which in turn provided fertile ground for innovation, says the report from the school’s Lehman Brothers Centre for Women in Business. ”

If you’re gender segregating your teams, now might be the time to integrate.

Read the whole article here

Come, join me tomorrow at the Pink Magazine Conference for Women Executives at the San Francisco Marriott in San Francisco, CA  - October 26th, 2007!  If you show up, seek me out! I’ll be greeting people as they arrive. Here is our wonderful lineup of speakers:

MODERATOR Marie C. Wilson, founder and president, The White House Project Marie Wilson founded The White House Project in recognition of the need to build a truly representative democracy – one where women lead alongside men. The White House Project has since led groundbreaking initiatives toward that goal. Wilson is also author of Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World (Penguin, 2006).

 

Karen Ferguson, president of North American operations, Resources Global Professionals In 1996 Karen Ferguson helped found Resources Global Professionals, today a professional services firm with more than 3,900 employees. Ferguson helps manage the company’s global growth and leads business development and services for the firm’s U.S. operations. She also supports the Financial Women’s Association and the Jersey Battered Women’s Service.

Stephanie Gallo, director of marketing, Gallo Family Vineyards Twin Valley Stephanie Gallo is the granddaughter of Ernest Gallo, who along with his brother founded E&J Gallo Winery in 1933. Today she leads all marketing for Gallo Family Vineyards Twin Valley, a $1.8 billion company. She started in the sales department of Romano Brothers Beverage Co., but after completing her master’s degree devoted herself to the family business.

 

Mellody Hobson, president, Ariel Capital Management The subject of PINK’s June.July 2007 cover profile, Mellody Hobson is responsible for management and strategic planning for Ariel Capital Management and was recently elected chairman of the Ariel Mutual Funds board of trustees. She is a contributor on ABC’s Good Morning America and serves on multiple boards, including those of DreamWorks Animation, Estée Lauder and Starbucks.

 

Karen Quintos, VP and general manager, services for the small business segment, Dell Inc. Karen Quintos is responsible for revenue and operating performance for Dell, which she joined in 2000 as director of the Demand/Supply organization in Dell Americas Operations. In 2001, she became vice president of supply chain management and in 2002 assumed a role on the Americas team. Quintos has served on several nonprofit boards.

 

Joanne Smith, SVP, in-flight service and global product development, Delta Air Lines Joanne Smith leads more than 11,000 flight attendants, supervisors and administrative personnel worldwide for Delta Air Lines. Smith previously served as VP of marketing and as president of Song, the airline’s low-fare air service. Prior to joining Delta, Smith was VP of marketing and planning for DHL Airways Inc. in Chicago.