Women & Men, Career, Life & Their Choices
Tips and Observations, Inspired By “Makers: Women Who Make America”
Watching a recent PBS broadcast “Makers: Women Who Make America” was a moving experience for me. Whew, I didn’t realize how much time had gone by. Many of the stories and events described in the telecast happened in my lifetime, while I was busy experiencing much of what was discussed. The timeline of events revealed seeds of the change, the catalysts that altered roles of men and women in business and in life.
A bit of trivia was revealed in a look back to Ellen DeGeneres’ first performance on “The Tonight Show”: Did you know she was the first female comedian invited to sit on the couch and talk to Johnny? Was that even obvious to us at the time? In contrast to that, I learned that women today are ambivalent about the women’s movement in spite of the enormous difference it has made in their lives. Many of their mothers marched on Fifth Avenue in New York, read Ms. magazine, supported the first female politician from Colorado ever elected to Congress (Patricia Schroeder) applauded the appointment of the first woman to the Supreme Court (Sandra Day O’Connor) and helped to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. This next generation grew up thinking that their mothers’ efforts were unnecessarily emphasized and overly dramatic.
As you read this sequel to my last post, Tips for Career Success, please stay with me. While it may seem like I am speaking to women, there are tips and suggestions here that benefit all of us – a workforce within a community and in a world working together.
We all get so many messages – how to be, what to do, how to have the right career or not and how to be OK with it, whom to like and whom not to like – and sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we are one group of people, living on one planet, and that we would be better off if we considered ourselves equal. Maybe even the expression “having it all” is overly used. Who wouldn’t want to have everything but knows they can’t? Peter Pan pointed this out to Wendy: “Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.”Choices
We all have the capability of making choices in our lives and in our careers. However, as my dad once told me when I was grappling with a decision to take a job or not, “You have to put food on the table.” Many, if not most times, our work decisions are driven by our needs, and so they don’t always feel like choices. Consider, though, if the reason you are working is to provide a better life for you and your family, there is reason for you to feel proud. You can choose to make the best of it by selecting good childcare, deciding how to best spend your free time and letting go of the things that don’t matter as much. The most important thing to remember is something one of my mentors once told me: “Don’t measure your life or your life choices with someone else’s yardstick.”
Being at the right place at the right time and being prepared
A lot of the time, becoming promoted within an organization to a higher level or a position with greater salary and more responsibility is about being at the right place at the right time and being prepared. If it is a career you desire versus only income to fulfill your needs, your focus and your priorities may need to change slightly. Think about people you admire who have the job that you aspire to. Then do a Google search to learn about their career path and the skills they possess. Is it degrees or published works or companies they have managed? Whatever it is, they were on a journey to where they are now, and they are where they are now because they were available and known at the time. How can you help yourself with this? LinkedIn Friends
OK, I don’t think I need to tell you this, but in advertising we say people need to hear or see something seven times before they remember it. LinkedIn is for business career people. There are many other social network websites out there, and many of them are very useful for exchanging photos of your family with friends and for product or service marketing and shopping. But when it comes to career networks, LinkedIn is your medium of choice. Recently, I read that companies are doing their own recruiting using LinkedIn and that recruiters rely on it as a main source of information. What does this mean? Your up-to-date profile and professional photo (not the one with the puppy, unless you are a veterinarian) should be displayed there. Then, every once in awhile, touch base with one of the admired individuals in your network. Drop them a line to say, “Let’s catch up.” You never know where that will lead.
And I will leave you with one last tip about “one world.” President George Bush in his 1990 State of the Union Address said, “We have within our reach the promise of a renewed America. We can find meaning and reward by serving some higher purpose than ourselves, a shining purpose, and the illumination of a Thousand Points of Light. And it is expressed by all who know the irresistible force of a child’s hand, of a friend who stands by you and stays there, a volunteer’s generous gesture, an idea that is simply right.”
Community Service
Serving community organizations in a leadership capacity can help the community where you live to prosper and grow. And it can be rewarding to you personally. Wherever I have lived, one of the first things I did to learn more about the community was seek an organization that needed some help. I was fortunate enough to meet Sandra Day O’Connor in 2003 while she was still in the Supreme Court. We spoke about the book she had just published on her life, “Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest.” The book was about her journey in the legal profession but also about her commitment to the community of ranchers where she grew up. As demanding as her job was, when she was home, she continued to help the lives of those in her own state.
Over the years, I have held leadership roles in organizations as diverse as Junior Achievement, high school partnership committees, the American Red Cross and the Sister Cities International program. So many times over the course of my career, I have connected with others not based on my title, or even my profession, but based on the shared stories of service in these organizations. I encourage you to find the time for this. Your children or your mentees, if you have them, need to see the role model that you are not just as a parent but also as a member of the community where you live. And you will be the ultimate winner.
Now, I have just succeeded in breaking my rule of threes: “Only make three points, because people can easily remember things in threes.” I break it a lot. But four is close. I’d like to hear your professional advice, and I’d like to know what you think of “Makers: Women Who Make America.” Come on guys, you too. Have we made progress? What have we yet to do? What stories can you share?
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