Category Archives: Speaker Articles
Taking a Seat at the Table: How I Learned to Use My Voice to Champion Diversity and Inclusion Programs
By Samantha Santiago, Claims Strategy Director, Liberty Mutual Insurance A proven asset to all companies, diversity of thought is the idea that our thinking is shaped by our culture, background, experiences and personalities. It is also about different work styles and approaches. In short, each of our unique perspectives is our currency—we all have what it takes. Yet as a young female executive, I did not bring my authentic self … [ more ]
How to Network Effectively in Our Hyper-Connected World
If you’re like most people trying to use social media to network, you probably think the number of followers or connections you have matters. But instead of obsessing over breaking 200, 500, 1,000, “you should be paying attention to what’s going on in your network and how you’re connecting with posts, content, likes, retweets and mentions,” says J. Kelly Hoey, a networking expert and author of Build Your Dream Network. … [ more ]
Three Things Men Do in Meetings That You Should Do, Too
If you’re being passed over for promotions by people less qualified than you or not getting jobs you can’t believe you didn’t get, part of the problem could be your self-presentation. “From the way you walk into a room to the tone of your voice, there are nonverbal ways of communicating that you are or aren’t manager material,” says Ruth Sherman, CEO and celebrity speech and media coach and author … [ more ]
Anita Hill on What It Will Take to End Sexual Harassment
It’s been 26 years since Anita Hill raised awareness of sexual harassment with her televised testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee. A national conversation about the problem ensued, as did a fuller understanding of its pervasiveness and unlawfulness. Charges of sexual harassment filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission jumped 50 percent just the year after Hill spoke out. So is she surprised by recent disclosures about Uber and … [ more ]
Women in Retirement: Are You Part of the 60 Percent?
By Lisa Kottler, Senior Vice President, Retirement Services, NFP Last November, at the Texas Conference for Women, we surveyed attendees about their retirement savings and found that almost a whopping 60 percent weren’t socking away enough. In fact, many weren’t even sure if they were going in the right direction. One person responded, “I don’t know if I’m on track, and that’s the worst part.”
Life Lessons from NFL Official #53 (the Only One Who Wears Mascara)
Many female firsts are lifetime dreams come true. But some are more a matter of chance, the happenstance of finding something you’re good at when barriers are coming down. The latter was the case for Sarah Thomas, the first woman to be an NFL official. “I was working as a paralegal when my older brother said one day that he was going to a football officials’ meeting,” she recalls. “I … [ more ]
How She Got There: Micho Spring’s Path to Becoming Chair of Global Corporate Practice and New England for Weber Shandwick
Take a young woman coming of age in the 60s, when many careers were closed to her gender. Mix in political awareness from having fled communist Cuba as a child and add courage and flexibility from forging a new life with her family in New York. What you get: a college dropout, a 31-year-old deputy mayor of Boston, a top executive at one of the largest communications firms in the … [ more ]
5 Things You Need to Know Before Starting Your Own Business
Planoly is Brandy Pham’s first tech startup, but not her first venture. That’s probably why the app for Instagram users already has almost half a million accounts since launching last year. “I’m still on a learning curve, but I definitely applied what I had figured out the hard way when starting a jewelry line,” says Pham, whose rings and necklaces were available at stores such as Henri Bendel and Anthropologie. … [ more ]
Office Politics: When Bosses Behave Badly
Power may not always corrupt, but it sure can bring out the egomaniac in some managers. That’s what industrial and organizational psychologist Amy Cooper Hakim found while doing research to update her book (which was originally written by her grandmother), Working with Difficult People: Handling the Ten Types of Problem People Without Losing Your Mind. Of the 10 kinds of bad bosses you might encounter (yes, there are that many!), … [ more ]
Use Social Media to Raise Your Value at Work
You have your reasons if you don’t post on social media for work. Maybe you’re too busy. Or you wouldn’t know which platform to use—or what to post. Perhaps no one in your industry who is important is following you. Or you’re a private person and you want to keep it that way. Whatever your rationale, personal branding expert Jennefer Witter wants you to know that you’re missing out on … [ more ]
Stand Out as Manager Material
Pop quiz: What separates the smart and hardworking from the smart and hardworking in leadership roles? Answer: Executive presence, which entails exuding confidence, more so for women than for men, the Center for Talent Innovation has found. Of course, the lack of executive presence, and so confidence, perceived or otherwise, isn’t the only reason there are so few women at the C-level of corporations. “Company policies and practices and gender … [ more ]
Oscar Nods for Hidden Figures Are a Win for Women, Diversity and STEM
By Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Chief Diversity Officer, IBM Riding a number of successful weeks at the box office, Hidden Figures was up for three Oscars last week: for best picture, best supporting actress and best adapted screenplay. Though the movie didn’t snag any golden statuettes, the nominations are a win for the film’s director, actors, producers, writers and crew —and for women, diversity and STEM.
How Women Can Get Ahead in Technology
What’s really holding women back in technology? You may have read about the “pipeline problem”—girls don’t study science, technology, engineering or math in equal numbers to boys—but that’s a red herring, says Gina Helfrich, founder and organizer of Feminist Hack ATX. “The biggest obstacle, in my opinion, is poor retention numbers,” Helfrich says. “Research shows that more than half of women in technology leave the field by mid-career.”
Yes, You Can Become a Natural at Public Speaking
Seeing Patty Chang Anker speak at the Conference for Women, you would never guess that she still occasionally gets performance anxiety. “There have been times when I was in the bathroom before going on stage and felt like I didn’t want to come out,” says Anker, laughing. “Woolly mouth? Pounding heart? Dizziness? I’ve had them all.”
Three Beliefs That Are Ruining Your Work-Life Balance
The first eight years of her marriage, Tiffany Dufu had a beautiful home to go along with her brilliant career raising money to advance women and girls. She did most of the work around the house, but being Type A, she was okay with that. “It was my dirty secret,” says Dufu, now chief leadership officer at Levo, a professional network for Millennials, and a launch team member of Leanin.org. … [ more ]
Kara Swisher on Taking Risks and Having No Regrets
If there’s one thing you notice right off the bat about Kara Swisher, it’s that the executive editor of Recode does not mince words. It could be because she doesn’t have time to run circles around her meaning, but the more she speaks her mind, the more you realize that the tech journalist is simply a straight shooter. Yet Swisher is as insightful as she is direct, and the … [ more ]
How to Create Video Ads That Go Viral
By Nicole Story, Vice President of Creative, Poo~Pourri As creative director of Poo~Pourri’s new production company, Number Two Productions, I write and direct our digital video ads. Each gets millions of views, likes and shares on platforms like YouTube and Facebook. In fact, our videos have more than 250 million total views, and counting. When people learn that I write Poo~Pourri ads, they often ask, “How do you create videos … [ more ]
‘Teach Yourself and Figure It Out’
By Nicole Story, Vice President of Creative, Poo~Pourri Seven years ago, I was living in my parents’ garage. With an advertising degree from the University of Texas and no job prospects, I was the quintessential definition of a millennial who graduated at the height of the recession. But this wasn’t the first time I’d faced a setback in my young life, and I had developed a mantra to help me … [ more ]
The Costly Mistake You May Be Making as a Boss
When you’re busy and under pressure, you might speak tersely, forget to smile and skip other niceties when interacting with your team. You think it’s obvious that you’re just trying to get things done, but your direct reports probably feel differently. “Most rude bosses don’t know how they’re coming across because they don’t intend to treat their employees poorly,” says Christine Porath, a professor of management at Georgetown University and … [ more ]