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Philanthropy. A retirement goal.

“There could be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others.” -President George H. W. Bush   Most of my adult life, whenever I was feeling sad, or feeling hopeless, I would volunteer somewhere. It could be as simple as researching and making a donation to a cause I cared READ MORE

Becoming free is the answer!

  For we Gen X women, the name Liz Carpenter is not a name we recognize, but we should. She was the OG of a woman’s advocate, and the first of so many things. Her story from a small town in Texas, to the Press Secretary for Ladybird Johnson (who, frankly was also a very READ MORE

How You Know It’s Time

I’m not sure if you can relate, but for about 28+ years, I did jobs I didn’t really like to please people I liked less, all chasing money and society’s expectations. Then one day, sticking in there didn’t make sense anymore. My 51-year-old husband died in front of his office at work. Those months following READ MORE

Who Are Gen X Women?

Before cellphones, there were folded notes. We passed these along during class, under our seats, sometimes attached to a pen so it had more weight to toss, or even kicked along the floor. This was our secret language. The language of the MTV generation of girls. We proudly wore our IZOD Lacoste shirts, our Calvin READ MORE

Bad habits need breaking

Effective women leaders disarm their bad habits, and learn strategies and processes to “place” themselves correctly for success. This week I was talking with a fellow senior manager of a federal agency that was struggling with his female technical experts and how effective they were being in getting information from a technical to a non-technical READ MORE

Is a great executive leader a learned skill or experience?

A great Executive Leader often goes unnoticed until they are gone and the full impact of what they brought to the organization is felt. It is in that space that one begins to understand that the secret to their success is in their ability to lead rather than direct. Leading means helping others in the READ MORE

My year off taught me unexpected lessons

It started as a low grumble. An unsettling feeling that it all wasn’t worth what I was giving anymore. I complained about it so often now. Leaving meetings late into the evening. Crawling into bed too wound up to fall asleep right away. Exciting conversations about things on the horizon. So much to solve. So READ MORE

Yielding is the greatest skill

Receiving is not a trait that the average executive woman is used to.  Reports, assignments and other duties are receivables, but receiving is the yielding of control, the yielding of judgment and the suspending of expectations.  For the woman executive, this is an especially difficult exercise, as we have spent a career in proving our READ MORE