Posted by Megan Bergtholdt on Wed, Apr 14, 2010
Thought we'd share what looks to be like a fun networking how-to event next week in San Francisco. Here are the details:
Posted by Shradha Balakrishnan on Wed, Mar 17, 2010
A guest post by Pat Obuchowski:
"Networking puts eyes and ears in places where you yourself can't look and can't listen."
~Max Messmer
A client of mine was laid off after 15 years with the same company. One of her first realizations was that she wished she had networked more during that time to stay in contact with people she met in her industry and to make new contacts. This would have proved invaluable to her when she started to look for new work.
What is it about networking that's not working for you? I'm talking about the old fashioned face to face contact, not social networking, which is a whole other topic.
We continue to hear that networking is the number one way to find the job we're looking for, earn the business we want, find the resources we need, and to make the connections we need as human beings. Well, why aren't we all stars at networking?
I always thought networking had the meaning of working hard to grab as many people as you can in your net. Kind of like fishing for tuna. The more the better. I thought it was an odd word to use.
Dictionary.com defines networking as: a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest.
Isn't that a much more effortless way of looking at it? Oh, it's supportive. That means that I can also help other people. And by the way, that is the best approach to take. Magic words asking someone "How can I help you?"
Oh, it's a system. There is an order, a schema. Now, that I can work with. I need a plan to work in a system. I can do that.
Oh, it's sharing information and services. It's not about going in and being desperate to make the one right connection (although it is about making connections). I have lots of information and great services to share. And, oh, it's about sharing. I just have to find that common point and we're off!
Oh, we have a common interest. Of course. That is what would draw a group of people to any networking event. All I have to do is find the common interest.
They are there for the same reason as I am. To find a supportive system of sharing information and services among individual and groups having a common interest. Knowing we're there for the same reason sure does make it a lot easier.
Now having a different perspective on networking, here are a few things that I have found to work for networking at events.
1. Just do it. I was really fearful of networking when I started my business eight years ago, but now I consider myself a pretty good networker. I still feel the GULP and I still do it anyway. I remind myself that most of these people are here for the same reason I am.
2. Be specific. Have your 15-30 second elevator speech ready. Use a networking event as a playground for testing out your elevator speech. Use it and see how it lands. Try it several times and if necessary revise it.
3. Future contact. I remember that in all likelihood if this isn't an industry event or a regular networking event, I will never see most of these people again...unless I want to. This idea frees me up to do things such as test my elevator speech, or a new marketing phrase I want to set up, or to do a survey of something.
4. Ask the other person, "How can I help you?" These are the magic words and I have found that most often, people don't know what to ask, but they do love being asked. You just must be prepared to help them if they do ask you for something specific.
5. Keep your promises. If you say you're going to do something, e.g., make a connection, give a referral, send an article, be sure you do it. There is nothing worse than breaking a promise to start off a relationship.
"The successful networkers I know, the ones receiving tons of referrals and feeling truly happy about themselves, continually put the other person's needs ahead of their own." ~Bob Burg
Expect a call from me soon. I'm networking.
About Pat Obuchowski:
Pat Obuchowski is CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer) of inVisionaria, a Leadership and Team coaching organization. She currently serves as a Global Board Director for the International Coach Federation, the largest professional coaching association in the World.Web: www.inVisionaria.com
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/patobuchowski
*Image: Spectrum by Lumax Art
Posted by Shradha Balakrishnan on Wed, Jul 22, 2009
A guest post by Caitlin Smith:
Figuring out what your future career will be can seem like a daunting task, but it can also be very fulfilling at the same time. Once you hone into the particular field which you want to pursue, even if it’s more than one, you can devote more time and energy towards building up your expertise as are related to this industry. However, you can only truly discover your place in a career field through experience, so finding the perfect entrance level position can be hard and requires a great amount of patience, even taking a job that is not as closely related as you would have liked.
Deciding on a field of business is not easy but relates back to what you enjoy doing. Many career-building sites serve to help you by clumping together many job postings for individual fields. However, if you have completely no idea what you want to do with your life, you may want to focus on what makes you happy in life, because that is the way to discover a job that you will enjoy. If you like writing, then look for something in that field, even if it something like writing proposals or grants. If you enjoy sports, keep an eye out for internships in the sports world that offer you the opportunity to move up within the company. Relating your job back to your degree is also important in determining what you will be best suited for. Obviously you knew what you wanted to do in college, so this should help in tightening the sphere which you have created.
However, many in the business world did not base their decisions on college degrees, but took an internship in college that they thought they would enjoy and ended up staying within that field. Gaining experience through internships is a good way to get your foot in the door at a specific company and can help boost your resume. If you are past the time of internships or cannot afford to not get paid for work, then you should try to take a small internship which only requires a few hours a week and get a job in the customer service field temporarily. The more jobs you experience early on, the more well rounded your resume will be, which will allow you the flexibility to try a myriad of positions and businesses. However, in the end, it really comes down to what it is that you enjoy doing, and as long as you can see yourself enjoying a specific job 20 years in the future, you will be able to enjoy your time there.
This post was contributed by Caitlin Smith, who writes about the accredited online colleges. She welcomes your feedback at CaitlinSmith1117 at gmail.com
Posted by Megan Bergtholdt on Wed, Jun 24, 2009
FWL has the privelege of having Lori Goler, director of HR at Facebook, speak on the topic of transitioning careers and industries. Lori speaks from experience, having started her career at Walt Disney Company focusing on strategy and business planning for their consumer products businesses.
In the spirit of encouraging mentoring among women, we'll also be featuring a silent auction where you'll be able to bid on time with a prominent local business woman. Hope to see you there!
RSVP HERE!
RSVP HERE!
About Lori Goler, Keynote Speaker
Lori Goler is the Director of Human Resources and is responsible for all aspects of Facebook's people strategy including growing, developing and retaining the Facebook team. Lori joined Facebook following five years at eBay, where she led consumer marketing with responsibility for marketing strategy, brand management, advertising, and consumer promotions. While there, she also served as General Manager of the eBay Stores business. Lori was a founding member of the executive team at babystyle.com where she led operations and merchandising. In that role, she led the roll-out of babystyle.com which became a leading online retailer in the category. Lori started her career at The Walt Disney Company focused on strategy and business planning for the consumer products businesses. Lori holds a bachelor's degree from Yale University, a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and a master's degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government.
Posted by Megan Bergtholdt on Tue, Jun 23, 2009
A guest post by Amanda Huang:
I was asked by younger women who have been trained in science and technology about the pros and cons of finding work in industry and government. The definition of sciences is physical sciences, such as life science, biochemistry, chemistry and such; the social sciences are not in the discussion here. More and more women are in the sciences and technology field and they need thoughtful plans to explore their own career paths. Hope this note will provide some insights and be helpful in determining the better approach for their career development.
The primary alternatives for a female scientist or engineer besides academia are industry or government. For much of the recent history, scientists have had two options, academia and applied science. While basic sciences have been viewed as pure and noble, untainted by the prospect of profits; the industrial has been seen as the refuge for those who could not make it in academia.
In fact, industry and government positions have many advantages over those in academia. In general, it does not require a post doc experience from candidates. Women in industry can start working for better salaries sooner, which help their lifetime earnings in long term financial planning.
On average, industry and government positions require fewer work hours than do those in academia.
Women in industry and government are more able to focus on scientific research than their counter parts in academia. The disadvantage is that work gets done has to be done by them personally because there is no support from students. Another issue is that scientists must work on whatever that management thinks is important. After all, the commercial application of the research overrides other concerns in industry or government.
Another trade off for women in industry and government is that they lack the job security that tenured professors have.
Discrimination, bias and isolation are also challenges for women in industry and government, particularly in more male dominated areas. Women who end up supervising men may have an even more difficult time.
Not having a problem with women in engineering is quite different from treating them the same as men. For the woman who needs to feed both the creative and technical sides of herself, there are not a lot of options. Women fare better in groups that have formal hiring and promotion practices. A network based organization offers many routes to be successful.
We are living in the world that is progressing yet women in science and technology do face many challenges in their professional lives. Making deliberate and authentic decisions will help young women in science and technology to be successful in their chosen careers.
About Amanda Huang
Amanda Huang has been living in Toronto, Canada for the past two years, where she is a business plan provider and a part time clerk with TD Waterhouse. Her specialty is Business Communication in Energy, Investment banking, Material, Government policy and University and Medical Imaging.
Amanda Huang started her career with Air Products as a design engineer, then sales and marketing. She enjoyed long productive business relationships when she worked for Air Products.
Amanda Huang taught an ELS class in the United States after she finished her master degree in Management and Administration Sciences from the University of Texas at Dallas. She lived in Boulder, Colorado; Austin, Texas and Denver, Colorado for 4 years doing research projects while teaching English.
She has applied her experience and skills in Business to Business with her cross functional analysis and business intelligence ability with Fugro Airborne Surveys Corporation Canada.
Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn.
Posted by Megan Bergtholdt on Tue, Jun 16, 2009
A guest post by Maryanne Colter:
A commonly used phrase in job interviews and resumes is ‘strong communication skills', but what does this really mean? The phrase is usually used in the context of being able to speak and write well. According to Dr. Vicky Gordon, who recently completed her research on 20 CEOs from the world's most admired companies, those are not cutting it anymore.
Leaders must be able to communicate "authentically" and those on the receiving end don't consider just being "talked at" authentic communication; they want to be engaged in the process. According to Dr. Vicky, in this age of massive amounts of information, one-way communication is not likely to be interpreted as credible or trustworthy. The information generation has introduced a very healthy bit of skepticism about taking for granted the truth of what is said by those at the top of the Org-chart.
There are many components to engaging in authentic communication and the one that seems the most obvious is often the one left out: the skill of listening.
New meets old: The Talking Stick Approach
There is an old Native American tradition of using a ‘talking stick'. This can be a stick, any other object, or even just a thought you hold in your mind as you practice listening (and yes, good listening must be ‘practiced' just like anything else). The tradition goes that the person holding the stick speaks first and everyone else must repeat what the speaker said, not verbatim, but in the listeners own words until the speaker feels that the listeners' words accurately reflect what she said. The speaker can say, "No, I don't think you really heard me" and tries again to express her thoughts or concerns. She keeps the stick and the process repeats until she feels everyone ‘got it'.
People often hear more than what you said
One amazing thing that comes from this approach is what people really hear! When expressing opinions and positions, the listeners will often hear more than the words being spoken. They will often respond with things like, "I am hearing you are not flexible about this" or "I am hearing how sad you are about this". The speaker is now on the hook to acknowledge if what the listener said is true.
Practical uses
If you are say... going through a messy divorce or wrestling with an especially contentious business issue (or perhaps you happen to be the chief negotiator for peace in the Middle East) you may want to go through this entire process. The reality is not many of us have the time, but you can benefit from the idea.
Next time someone is talking in a meeting, listen as if you had to repeat back what she said. Notice how many times your mind drifts to something else or you start planning how you are going to respond (and how would you...could you... respond if you haven't heard the whole thing?). Just catch yourself and come back to listening. Check what you thought you ‘heard' in the form of a non-confrontational question, like "How much flexibility do you have about this issue?"
When you can get through a meeting without drifting, add "excellent listening skills" to your application for promotion.
About Maryanne Colter
Maryanne Colter is a business consultant and certified coach. She has 20 years consulting experience primarily in the fashion and footwear industry with such noted companies as Nike, Levi Strauss, and K-Swiss. She began her consulting career on the technical side of Information Technology and quickly realized that soft skills were of equal importance to the success of IT projects so expanded her practice to train and coach technical teams in personal development and communication skills. She has recently formed a partnership with three other strong women leaders to help clients manage the technical changes impacting the Health Care Industry. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois, certified as an Integral Coach from New Ventures West, and is currently working on a Masters in Business Ethics at Loyola University in Chicago.
Posted by Megan Bergtholdt on Fri, Apr 10, 2009
Did you attend the recent FWL event "Why Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide"? Looking for advice on how to increase your salary or up your benefits? One of FWL's featured leaders and the facilitator of the FWL Leadership Development Program, Jo Miller, addresses how to earn equal compensation in her monthly Q&A forum hosted by Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.
We've noted Jo's five steps to maximizing your compensation and career advancement below, but feel free to read her full posting here.
- Find a position in a division of the business that is growing, not shrinking or stagnant.
- Ensure that you are hired into a division that is a revenue center, not a cost center. For example, seek out jobs in areas like product management or sales rather than in finance, operations, or human resources.
- Look for a role that allows you to demonstrate the link between your work effort and business results, and make those results visible to senior-level leaders. For instance, if you work in marketing, measure return on investment (ROI) of your marketing programs and present results/metrics to senior leaders.
- Ensure that you report to a manager who likes and mentors you, and whose manager does the same for them. That way, everyone's careers advance faster.
- Seek opportunities to work on high-profile projects that demonstrate your leadership capabilities and challenge you to grow.
Have any other tips on how to grow your salary or benefits? Let us know in the comments.
Posted by Megan Bergtholdt on Mon, Mar 30, 2009
I was just reading through the most recent email I've received from Forte Foundation and stumbled across a great little podcast on dealmaking and negotiation. Future Women Leaders recently held an event called "Why Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide", so the topic naturally piqued my interest. The podcast features two women, Stacy Sonnenberg of Goldman Sachs and Susan Fleming Cabrera, who has a rich past in the financial services industry. The two discuss research on women and negotiation and how to improve upon your existing negotiation skills.
Check out the podcast here, and let us know what tips or tricks you've found useful in negotiating for a higher salary, that corner office, or even just working from home a few days a month.
Posted by Megan Bergtholdt on Tue, Mar 24, 2009
One of FWL's featured leaders and the facilitator of the FWL 
Leadership Development Program, Jo Miller, participates in a monthly Q&A forum hosted by Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. What I really like is that the questions are relevant and Jo's answers are very actionable, so I take a lot away from each of her columns.
We've summarized a recent column on recession proofing your career below, but feel free to read Jo's full posting here.
Question: I am concerned about the economic
downturn affecting my industry. What are steps I can take now to
minimize the effects on my career?
Jo Miller answers:
Take the three following steps:
Step 1: Identify your personal brand.
Identify what you want your name to be synonymous with and aim to
carve out a reputation for yourself as the go-to person in that area of
focus. Select projects and roles that reinforce the brand and make your
accomplishments visible.
Step 2: Analyze your network.
You can learn to navigate your profession or industry with savvy by
understanding the dynamics of the network that surrounds you. Start by
listing or mapping out your existing professional network by
identifying all the different groups of which you are a part.
Now identify the gaps: who are the key people you would like to
include in your network? Who can connect you with opportunities,
resources, and information, and to whom you can provide the same?
Step 3: Create your strategic networking plan.
After reviewing your existing network, and noticing the gaps, create a plan to build a broad network of authentic relationships.
Masterful networkers do this with the knowledge that they will never
need to seek out a job again: it will find them. This is the
recession-proof career.
Jo Miller is CEO of Women's Leadership Coaching Inc. which offers women's leadership seminars and coaching programs. Submit questions to "Ask Jo" and you may see them answered in an upcoming edition!
Posted by Xuan Thu Pham on Tue, Mar 10, 2009
This week, I interviewed Penelope Trunk, CEO of Brazen Careerist as our guest for the Women's Leadership Blog. With a plethora of tips and advices for people at the intersection of work and life on the Internet, it is interesting to come across someone who adds her own little twist. Her say-it-like-it-is style and delight in sharing her life experiences and thoughts catalyzes an open dialogue in the Web community, particularly for those in Generation Y.
Listen to the interview below:
A short bio on Penelope:
She is the founder of 3 startups -- most recently, Brazen Careerist,
a web service to help companies find candidates. Her career advice
appears in more than 200 newspapers and magazines including Time magazine, San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe. In a review of this blog, Business Week and called Penelope's writing "poetic."