If it’s not about accommodating the women, then what is it?
Fixing the glass ceiling isn’t about accommodating women. It’s about engaging the workforce.
There are many schools of thought when it comes to the glass ceiling. I’ve encountered opinions that vary from “you go girl!” to “pick a new battle… that one’s been won” to “we’ve given you equality and now you want favour?” What I find interesting is the view that the gender diversity issue is something that caters to women at the expense of men. People have said that when parents choose to have children, they shouldn’t expect the government or their companies to have to look after them.
While I agree with that last statement, that viewpoint tells me that people still have an antiquated and limited view of what it means to have women in the workforce. It tells me that some people are still living in the past and haven’t adjusted their thinking to the new realities of the world we live in today.
Read More»How to handle hidden and unfair bias
Powerful women are often in the news, but the topic of interest seems to be their image instead of their message. It’s tiring listening to it, and for the women themselves, I can only imagine how annoying it must be.
That’s overt judgement, but what about the stuff that happens under the surface and behind the scenes? Are you aware that as a woman leader you’re often the victim of hidden prejudice? Are you aware as a man that you may be making these judgements and you don’t even realize it?
Read More»What games did you play as a child?
This ‘what games’ question is one of my favourites to ask when people are stuck trying to figure out their natural gifts and talents. You see, as children we typically know who we are and what we want to do. We haven’t yet (hopefully) been molded and cajoled by the well-intentioned people in our lives into being what they think we should be and into doing what they think we should do.
Our underlying personality patterns are part of the hardwiring of our brains. As kids, these traits can show up at a very early age. You don’t need to be a parent to notice that some kids are just able to talk non-stop about anything and everything, and other children are more quiet and barely say a peep.
These can be clues as to whether a child has a preference for introversion or extraversion, and can be critical pieces of information when it comes to successful parenting.
Read More»The future starts at an early age
- By Dawn Frail
- In Blog, Insights, Leadership Development
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I recently finished reading the book, The Confidence Gap, by Russ Harris, again. Its advice needs to be shared with all women, girls and parents.
Rule 1: The actions of confidence come first; the feelings of confidence come later.
In 2013, we’re trying to figure out how to make a dent in the problem of the low numbers of women in corporate senior leadership positions. One theory of how to fix the problem is to increase the level of confidence in women, and especially in young girls. The theory is that the more confidence we have, the more likely we are to compete, take necessary risks, and build skills and careers that are prone to advancement.
Read More»One size doesn’t fit all
Leaders come in all shapes and sizes, and all personality types. And leadership development comes in all flavours as well. I recently read an article about Wal-Mart using military-style tactics when training their leaders. The article talked about a 16-week boot-camp-type experience designed to “overwhelm” and “frustrate” and it “breaks you down so it can build you back up again.”
When I think of these adventure-type training experiences, I wonder to myself, how many Introverts are there out there who, like me, detest these Extravert-type events? Is it just me who doesn’t like to be forced to climb rocks, go whitewater rafting or fall into the arms of my teammates below?
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