Posted on Wed, Jul 04, 2012 @ 08:57 PM
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Posted on Wed, Jun 27, 2012 @ 08:51 PM
“When I’m dancing, that’s what I’m doing.” - Merce Cunningham
How perfect! I recently was exposed to the philosophy and technique of modern dance master Merce Cunningham, and this quote of his grabbed my attention. The suggestion that everything else fades into the background and that he’s immersed and fully present in what he’s doing is instructive for all of us …
Being present when you’re communicating actually involves you and another party – the audience, of course. Being present as a speaker means being willing to “listen dynamically,” with all five senses, to your audience so you can respond, adapt, be relevant, and stay in the moment. And ultimately connect. It means clearing your head of all other noise, including your own ego, in order to be there for and with them.
Rather than thinking about your exact words, all the specific material you want to cover, whether you’re forgetting something, and whether or not you’re going to actually survive (ha, I caught you!), envision being engaged and being present with a person or a group of people. Envision yourself with them; talking to them, maybe even literally talking with them, but definitely not at them. Envision yourself seeing them, sensing their level of receptiveness … without allowing it to be personal and about you (caught you again!). And if that doesn’t help, then at least envision yourself being present enough that you’re open to changing tacks if necessary – e.g. inviting Q&A earlier than planned, turning off the PowerPoint and telling a story, breaking up your talk and asking the audience to reflect back to you what they’re hearing and understanding.
So that when you’re communicating to people – which is, by definition, a two-way street – that’s what you’re doing. And then let everything else fade away …
Link to original post:
http://smartmouthtalks.blogspot.com/2011/07/presence.htmlBeth's Bio:
SmartMouth Communications Founder and Principal
Beth Noymer Levine is a Communications Coach who is emerging as one of the country’s leading voices on how to prepare and deliver speeches and presentations that actually work for both the audience and the speaker. Her coaching raises awareness around the unconscious tendency of speakers to be egocentric versus audience-centric and encourages clients to find their voices and their messages in a simple and logical way. Ms. Levine works with athletes and politicians, as well as with executives and other high-profile leaders.
Posted on Wed, Jun 20, 2012 @ 08:37 PM
Whether we like it or not, women will always have a more difficult time advancing in the workplace. Any ambitious woman will have to deal with one or more of the various stereotypes about powerful women outlined recently in
Forbes Magazine here. Whether it’s against an individual or a group, a man or a woman, you’ll inevitably butt heads at work. Here’s how to deal with an interpersonal problem at work with poise and tact.
- If someone’s behavior is bothering you, don’t simply backbite.
While this is usually the first thing that many of us will resort to, hold yourself back from gossiping about this person, especially if you are gossiping with someone else at work. Whether or not this person’s behavior is completely out of line, it’ll make you look even worse if it’s discovered that you are maliciously trying to character assassinate with others in the office, even if everyone agrees with you. At the end of the day, no one likes a gossip.
- Don’t ever resort to cheap shots.
It’s just as easy to gossip as it is to find various ways to launch personal insults, whether directly at the problem co-worker, or behind her back. If you are going to complain to an authority, don’t ever make it personal or catty. For example, if the problem is that a supervisor is treating you unfairly, don’t bring up completely unrelated material, like how she was saying or doing inappropriate things at the company happy hour.
- Try to resolve the problem with the person question, just between the two of you.
If you have a serious problem with someone, don’t be a coward and just whine about it to others. Confront the person in question as kindly and straightforwardly as possible. Explain why this person’s behavior is making you uncomfortable or is compromising your ability to perform your job. Don’t make it about the person’s character; rather, emphasize the behavior that is bothering you. When you emphasize behavior, this leaves room open for compromise and behavioral change.
- If the problem is extreme, file a formal complaint with HR.
If you’ve tried talking to this person privately, and the behavior doesn’t change, consider filling a formal complaint with HR. If the behavior is any form of harassment, sexual or otherwise, go straight to HR. Before filing a complaint, read your company handbook thoroughly and make your written complaint based on the rules that the person may be violating. This will make it easier for HR to take an appropriate action to end the behavior.
Hopefully, your workplace has been mostly conflict-free. But almost invariably there will be one problem person who will make working a living hell. Don’t let it continue. Don’t let someone walk all over you. At the same time, proceed as professionally as possible, so that you will be respected by everyone in the office regardless of what ends up happening. Good luck!
By-line:
Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about
online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com
Posted on Wed, Jun 13, 2012 @ 08:24 PM
My very good friend Marci Calantonio uses these words over and over when we talk. So when we hear things over and over we learn it and it becomes part of our vocabulary; or I hope so.
What does accountability, responsibility and setting healthy boundaries mean to you?
For me these words simply mean, do what you mean and mean what you do.
I believe it all starts with SELF.
How can we be accountable and responsible to someone else if we can’t be accountable to ourselves?
How do we become accountable and responsible to ourselves?
By setting healthy boundaries.
In the dictionary the meaning of accountable states, “subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.”
Have your YES’s be YES and your NO’s be NO….
How many times have you been asked to do something and your first instinct is to say NO, but then you start to feel guilty or bad and you end up saying YES. Your authentic self wanted to say NO and your mindful self stated YES. Now you have conflict going on between your truth (heart) and your mind.
Are you being accountable to yourself?
If the answer is YES then WONDERFUL and if the answer is probably not, then how do we get to this place of accountability and responsibility?
By being TRUE to OURSELVES; by going deep within and nurturing that part of us that has lived out of truth to who we truly are, by changing our core beliefs (our tapes).
To knowing that in that gap where our truth lies is where peace comes from. The place where we know all is good with the world and we can walk tall in confidence and in total commitment to ourselves. Setting healthy boundaries is key to accountability and responsibility.
Remember, may the possibilities of today excite you!
Nancy Shields has a passion to create a better world by connecting and inspiring women! She is the creator of www.makeGirlfriends.com, a social networking site designed for women to meet.share.inspire one another through the adventure we call life! Nancy's inspiration came 3 years ago when she discovered that her husband was having an affair. She had two choices; become a victim or turn a negative into a positive. So she positively packed her bags and landed in the farthest state she could choose, California. Once home, Nancy vividly recalls a conversation she had with a girlfriend about the nightmare of dating. The concept of MakeGirlfriends.com was born and in action. "It really works!", says Nancy. Here, women can connect with other “girlfriends”, because without our “girlfriends” in life, it can get tough out there! Nancy encourages women to share their inspirational stories on the homepage called “YOUR VOICE”. You never know how many lives you will touch by sharing your story...she can be reached via email at nancy@makegirlfriends.com.
Posted on Wed, Jun 06, 2012 @ 08:12 PM
Infographic by College.com
Posted on Sun, Jun 03, 2012 @ 01:54 PM
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Deloitte, 555 Mission Street, San Francisco
The Friends of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women in cooperation with the UC Davis Graduate School of Management invite you to participate in an engaging conversation to highlight the current positive trends and identify proactive initiatives for the future.
“The world that you want to live in and that you need to live in needs you to create it; needs you to create it. It needs your input. The world needs to hear what you have to say. The last word has not been spoken...The last word has not been spoken." - Beah Richards
The landscape for women in corporate leadership is evolving. While the “numbers” according to studies done on a national level by Catalyst and UC Davis for California, have shown that the representation of women in senior leadership positions has stalled in recent years, the national and global conversation is heating up.
With women graduating with advanced degrees in record numbers, there is a drive on the part of the younger generations of women to seek more expansive opportunities. We are also seeing the growing economic contribution and clout of women as both earners and consumers.
These trends are significant for global and local economies and with both positive and stagnant trends it is important to stay focused on the positive steps that still need to be and can be taken to move the agenda along at a more rapid pace.
The evening’s panel of both female and male experts will address the following questions:
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What is really happening in the numbers?
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What does this mean for our economies and why is it important?
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What are some companies and agencies currently doing to promote gender equity?
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How can we, as individual women and men, corporations and leaders, encourage the continued advancement of women and offer support to our current and our future women leaders?
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The goal of the event is to inform, inspire and empower people - women and men - across industries and across generations to more purposefully and successfully advance women to increase the voices of women at the leadership tables in the public and private sectors.
The conversation will not stop with the panel as we will ask all event participants to engage and interact in developing solutions. This is an inclusive conversation that invites active collaboration.
After the panel presents, each table will engage in a facilitated conversation about concrete next steps that can be taken and visionary ideas for the future. The results of these conversations will be compiled into a “Call To Action” paper that will be available to all the participants via the Friends website to be used as the foundation for further conversations, events and research.
To answer the "call" on June 6th, please register through the following link.
Posted on Wed, May 30, 2012 @ 07:52 PM
Hello Girlfriends – A bond of a woman is a strong thing and so often jeopardized by men. So many times in life we make incredible friendships while unattached and once we find 
an attachment then those friendships fizzle out; partly because we want to spend time with our new relationships and partly because we don’t make the time. Don’t tell me you spend so much time that you don’t even have one day a week for your girlfriends?
Why do we feel we must have either a man/woman relationship or a girlfriend/girlfriend relationship – is it either or? Why can’t we have both? Sometimes relationships get possessive and controlling. The idea of I’m in y our life and no one else should exist comes to play. I’m writing from experience here, when I was married I made no time for girlfriends and used up all my time for my husband. This is not at all healthy; it’s good to spend some time away from each other. Well, once the marriage ended, I had no husband and I was fortunate enough to make friends quickly but I had no one from my past to talk to.
We think that this only happens to teenagers – but it actually happens to adults as well.
I’m sure many of you reading this can relate.
Our girlfriends will be there when the men in our lives are not. They are the ones that will hold your hand and dry a tear. I can only think of balance in our lives. I’m sure there is a way to balance both female and male relationships. The best practice is to be up front with our significant others and let them k now how important your girlfriends in your life are. Let him know you find it important that you stay connected and continue to do things with them as you pursue your relationship with your man. Sometimes we have to explain that it’s not because we love them less but that we will be better women for them with the help of our friends!
Nonetheless, it’s called communication – The Beatles had it right with their hit song, “With a Little Help From My Friends.”
Remember, may the possibilities of today excite us all!
Nancy Shields has a passion to create a better world by connecting and inspiring women! She is the creator of www.makeGirlfriends.com, a social networking site designed for women to meet.share.inspire one another through the adventure we call life! Nancy's inspiration came 3 years ago when she discovered that her husband was having an affair. She had two choices; become a victim or turn a negative into a positive. So she positively packed her bags and landed in the farthest state she could choose, California. Once home, Nancy vividly recalls a conversation she had with a girlfriend about the nightmare of dating. The concept of MakeGirlfriends.com was born and in action. "It really works!", says Nancy. Here, women can connect with other “girlfriends”, because without our “girlfriends” in life, it can get tough out there! Nancy encourages women to share their inspirational stories on the homepage called “YOUR VOICE”. You never know how many lives you will touch by sharing your story...she can be reached via email at nancy@makegirlfriends.com.
Posted on Fri, May 25, 2012 @ 07:47 PM
In writing this post for my business school prospective students, it became clear to me that students are really interviewing as if for any team-based enterprise. So the tips below work for any coveted appointment, whether a seat in next autumn’s business school class, or for your dream company. Since most of you have already passed the interview test several times over in job-land, remember, you are already more than halfway there.
Whether it’s for work or for school, the goal of the interviewer is to figure out what kind of a person you are in the flesh. Not only that, they want to know how you will fit in. It’s partly about being likeable, but most of all, it’s being able to contribute. Consider the following:
1. The interviewer wants to know how you will be as a learning team member
Are the other members of the team going to be excited because of your industry or academic perspective? Will you be able to add something from a global perspective? From a business success or failure? The interviewer is looking for someone who is going to pull her own weight and make the team stronger.
You’ve got 30 minutes to show your stuff. Your interviewer is channeling those three or four other group members, those who have earned their way into a very competitive school or company, and want to know what you bring to the table.
2. Create a portrait through vignettes
You’ve got to tell stories. I like to think of these stories as vignettes – brief scenes, as in a movie. According to Wikipedia, a vignette is a “short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting.” You are telling stories that give a “flash” impression of you. Another definition of vignette is a portrait; you are filling out the portrait of yourself that you began with your essays.
What kind of stories are you going to tell? Tell them, with specific examples, how you will work smoothly together, how you will help them with their thinking about a problem, tell them how you will help them succeed. Tell them in a way as if you were talking to your three or four classmates – be open and genuine, as if your interviewer were channeling the people who will be your family for the next year.
3. Make it Stick
Stanford business school professor Chip Heath and his brother, Dan, a fellow at Duke’s Fuqua Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, wrote a book called Made to Stick. This book, about how ideas gain traction, made it very clear that people have to “get” your message. And what’s the biggest recommendation? Tell stories. Tell stories that are concrete, with a real problem and a real solution. And who is the hero? You.
4. Stay humble
Granted, you are telling stories about why you are great. (P.S. You are!) But don’t overdo it. You’ve done some great things, and you can add to the party, but your classmates will be turned off if you show up like you are too cool for school. UC Berkeley comes out and says that they their students possess confidence without attitude. I think they are onto something. Great companies such as Zappos includes “Be Humble” as one of its 10 core values.
So tell them sticky stories (without being arrogant) about what you will bring to your classmates and teammates. They want to hear about the real you from you. Promise.
–Betsy Massar, Founder, Master Admissions
www.masteradmissions.com
More tips and exercises are available at the just released! Admitted: An Interactive Workbook for Getting Into a Top MBA Program.
Posted on Wed, May 16, 2012 @ 07:37 PM
Via MBA@UNC
MBA Online &
Women 2.0
Posted on Tue, May 08, 2012 @ 07:25 PM
We’re addicted to narrative. We want to know what he said, why she said it, and what they meant when they said it. That’s fine to get tied up in the web of language. It happens. But is that the point? Are we ever really satisfied when we get the answers to our questions? Probably not. At least not for long. I wonder if we’re asking the right question. Maybe it’s not about what they said but how we feel. What did this exchange bring up in you? Did you suddenly feel threatened, your stomach harden, your throat clenched? Did you suddenly feel like kid again, ashamed for something you weren’t supposed to do? Did you suddenly get sad, angry, or cold? What happened to you?Everything is an aspect of process. Even ‘suddenly’ isn’t really all that sudden. Your personal narrative is changing all the time. You are actually someone else in any given moment. Look in to this. How are you feeling? Where are you feeling it? Can you drop the story and take in the body? Can you engage the senses and let the mind pause? What is the raw emotion? Can you let it pass though you?Children teach us so much. Take away a child’s favorite toy during playtime and they’ll kick, scream, and turn purple. They need to express. But then its over. The child is on to something else, a new toy, a game with a friend, singing in the car seat. It passes. It’s not about the story ~ a feeling was born, it had to be released and then the child could move on.If feeling your emotions is hard for you ~ try doing this alone. Then later you can explore this with someone you love. Be curious about what your body is saying or needing. Just feel what you feel. This is how you build emotional intelligence, which is a necessary gateway to intuition. Feel it ~ the story is gone. What’s happening within you is now. Be here now.
About the Author:
Denmo is the founder and CEO of
Earthbody, an organic day spa for healing in Hayes Valley. She also formulates Earthbody Organics, a therapeutic line of bodycare inspired by the principles of Ayurveda. Denmo is a successful entrepreneur, highly sought healer, wellness educator, playwright, poet, and performer. Denmo leads a team of healers and the Integral Workshop programs of Anatomy of Healing© and Posture of Joy© yearly. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Naropa University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University. She is a graduate of the World School of Holistic Healing, Mount Madonna Institute’s School of Ayurveda, and San Francisco School of Massage. A licensed Bodywork Therapist and Meditation Instructor through Dharma Ocean, Denmo has spent years exploring somatic practices in retreat, community, and business.