Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment!

March is the month to honor the history of women in the U.S. Read this excerpt from the NWHP blog:

Although women now outnumber men in American colleges nationwide, the reversal of the gender gap is a very recent phenomenon. The fight to learn was a valiant struggle waged by many tenacious women—across years and across cultures—in our country. After the American Revolution, the notion of education as a safeguard for democracy created opportunities for girls to gain a basic education—based largely on the premise that, as mothers, they would nurture not only the bodies but also the minds of (male) citizens and leaders. The concept that educating women meant educating mothers endured in America for many years, at all levels of education.

For those of you with daughters and nieces and other women you mentor this history lesson is valuable to share.

Also register for the IW Telecon on March 28th at 11:30 a.m. EST with special guest Marsha Sampson Johnson. As a retired senior executive from Southern Company, Marsha claims to have had the rare privilege of seeing – up close – the good, the bad, and the ugly of workplace dynamics. Her goal is to help others more skillfully and more confidently respond to those dynamics. She advanced at Southern Company over 25 years from a starting position of management development analyst in human resources to human resources management, then to customer operations and on to executive management which required a lot of hard work and focus. Join our conversation with Marsha!

If you missed the Inspiring Women interview with Anne Stevens, CEO SA IT Services last week…here’s the link to listen to the audio. Anne was an inspirational treat!

Martha Forlines and Thad Green

Anne Stevens is no stranger to taking the helm at very large, successful companies and has been featured on Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women” list four times.

She went from being the first female executive VP of Ford Motor Company to COO before retiring as one of the highest-ranking women in the automotive field. Next, she made a career switch to technology, as CEO of Carpenter Technology to her current role as CEO of SA IT Services, a leading national technology company. She currently serves on Lockheed Martin’s Board of Directors.

Anne is married and is also a mother and grandmother. Want to learn how she made it all work? Register for our call on February 20th as Anne shares her leadership journey!

Also, thanks to so many of you that responded to me about our “Highly Sensitive Person” BLOG. We will revisit that topic in the next week.

Martha Forlines and Thad Green

I ask you this question because I had lunch before the holidays with a colleague of mine that told me about a series of books about “highly sensitive” people, as she thought she might fit that description. (In DISC terms she’s a high “S” and is steady, patient and service oriented.) I immediately looked up this body of work about “HSP’s” and ordered one of the books entitled Making Work Work for the Highly Sensitive Person, by Barrie Jaeger.

Now I’m not talking about feeling like you are highly sensitive in a toxic work environment…I think a lot of people would feel like something was wrong with them in an environment like that. The author talks about those that feel overly sensitive in more normal work environments.

Here’s a few questions to consider about the HSP persona:
1. I often accommodate the needs of others at the expense of my own needs.
2. I am often tempted to withdraw or actually do withdraw, rather than deal with conflict.
3. At times I take on more that I can realistically do because everything sounds so interesting.
4. I cry when I’m angry/overwhelmed/stressed more easily than others.
5. I am excessively aware of others’ feelings.

If you think you “might” fall some of these descriptions, let me know. I’m interested in the workplace challenges you face on a day to day basis. If the information above does not describe you, pay close attention to those you work with and see if you recognize these tendencies with some of your co-workers.

Martha Forlines

P.S. If you missed my interview with Patrice Dickey last week, the audio is posted at www.inspiringwomenbook.com/audio !

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL YOU INSPIRING WOMEN!

Join Martha as she interviews Patrice Dickey to kick off our Inspiring Women teleconferences this year. Patrice owned her own successful public relations firm before becoming a Certified Wellness & Life Success Coach, Registered Yoga Teacher, and multi-award winning inspirational author and speaker. She helps people recognize the best in themselves and generate authentic positive forward movement in their lives. Her energy is contagious and her knowledge is deep.

Register today to save you a good “seat”. We welcome your feedback on this call!

Martha Forlines and Thad Green

I joined a number of women and men on December 1st to watch the TEDxWOMEN live streaming at Bauder College in downtown Atlanta. I want to share a few of the powerful nuggets from this event…

1. “Women can make a huge difference to turn the global economy around“. Pat Mitchell, President & CEO, The Paley Center for Media

2. “It takes a lot of courage to be resilient.” Pat Mitchell, President & CEO, The Paley Center for Media

3. “When we change the way we see ourselves…the rest of the world will follow.” Gayle Lemmon, author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

4. “If you are feeling helpless…help someone.” Morley, singer songwriter

5. Regarding enslaved young girls into prostitution rings globally – “…all of us have to do something – engagement does make a difference. Education is the number one priority for these young girls to lead productive lives.” Nicholas Kristof, author of Half the Sky

6. “Girls suffer from loss of self-esteem as adolescence. They then leave college taking lower paying jobs than the boys. Girls impose a psychological glass ceiling on themselves…they need help with their “inner resume”.” Rachel Simmons – author of Odd Girl Out

7. “Emotional connection drives everything we do. Technology enables us to connect more easily.” Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker, artist, founder of The Webby Awards and co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

To watch video of more of these powerful messages and get inspired click here.

We will not have an Inspiring Women Teleconference this month, and will continue them in January, 2012!

Enjoy your holiday festivities throughout December.

Martha and Thad