Work – Page 10 – mardihumphreys.com

Pardon the Manterruption

Manterrupting – When a man unnecessarily interrupts a woman who is talking. Example: Last week during a meeting, I was making a point. One of the men at the table jumped in with his opinion. He seemed to think he was doing me a favor by adding to my narrative. I wasn’t finished making my point and he steered the conversation in a direction I didn’t intend to go. He made it all about him because he “needed to clarify for myself.”

Bropropriating – When a man takes credit for a woman’s idea. Example: Returning from lunch, I found one of the account managers on speaker with a contractor. We have an open floor plan in our small office and I heard every word of both sides of the phone conversation. The contractor had purchased television advertising. He was writing his own script and having trouble. In a former job I wrote television commercials, so the conversation piqued my interest. I asked a few questions, made a few suggestions, and eventually offered to write a script. His shoot was scheduled for the next day, so I had to email the script to him immediately. I did. I received no reply. Crickets. Three weeks later I’m sitting in my living room on Saturday morning watching the local news and what do I see? The contractor’s commercial that I wrote. Writing scripts is not a service we normally provide. I did it to be a team player. Not only did I not make any money from my intellectual property, but the contractor also didn’t even acknowledge my contribution.

Manterrupting and bropropriating are linked. One often leads to the other, particularly in meetings, and especially in meetings where men outnumber women. There is even an app you can use to to track manterruptions during conversations. I once worked for a church where bropropriating was intentional. I was the only female on a team of four. We met weekly to plan creative elements for future worship services. The man in charge referred to taking someone’s idea and running with it a “stepping stone”. Gee, that’s a nice term for bropropriating. As if it’s normal. As if it’s not just taking credit for another person’s creativity. Here’s how it worked: A topic was introduced and the first person they looked at to offer suggestions on how to present it was me. Ladies first, you know. How convenient that I was the only “lady” in the room. Then they’d proceed to tear down the idea and offer their “better” ideas. Then we’d circle back around to my idea that they decided they liked after all. They just didn’t like hearing it from me. I was outnumbered 3 to 1. Now I know why my ideas were seldom acknowledged as my own . There were no other females in those meetings to amplify me. This process made me not want to attend these meetings. What was the point of being creative if someone else got credit for my creativity?

To make things worse, women are in competition with each other. As if there isn’t room enough for all of us. Where did we get that idea? If you are the only female on staff and another female is hired, do you partner with her or undermine her? The system is hostile by nature, but this doesn’t have to be the case. We can influence our environment by promoting the fact that the team will get further together than we will on our own. If we’re in a meeting where men outnumber us, we need to speak with authority. None of this, “Well, I don’t know whether this will work or not, but…” We can use non-verbals and power poses like lowering our tone of voice, walking to the front of the room, pointing, and placing our hand on the table to imply command of the conversation. When another woman makes an intelligent point, we can amplify it by immediately speaking up and agreeing with her and giving her credit for coming up with the idea. We can look interested when she speaks, nod our heads in agreement, and lean forward in our chairs. If a man interrupts a woman, interrupt his interruption by saying, “Jim, I’d really like to hear the rest of what Susan has to say.” It feels like trying to turn the Titanic around, but the workforce needs everyone’s brains; not just the brains attached to the loudest mouths.

Please tell me your manterrupting and bropropriating stories here:

When Can-do Becomes Can-don’t

Our daughter always wanted to be on the go. From the time she was born, I took her to appointments, meetings, and to the office. When she was three years old, she wanted to go to preschool. Then she wanted to have play dates, then she wanted to play volleyball, then she wanted to play club volleyball, then she got an after school and summer job. My husband (her father) and I usually encouraged these activities because they kept her out of trouble. In hindsight, I think we may have gone too far. Now a senior in college, she’s just a girl who can’t say no. This summer she worked for her campus recreation center, a kids’ camp, our local minor league baseball team, and she house/pet sat. Currently, she’s a resident advisor for her college, the fitness supervisor of development at her college’s campus recreation center, a member of her college’s power lifting team, and the vice president of operations for her college’s campus activities board. She’s extremely busy and classes haven’t even started yet. (Is it ironic that she’s so busy at college she doesn’t have time to attend classes?) All these items look fabulous on her resume, but she’ll quickly burn out. Can you relate? Here are three things to consider before taking on another task.

Know Your Limits: You want to be perceived as helpful or “can-do.” But you can’t do your best work when you’re over-committed. You risk missing deadlines. You get distracted by tasks that are urgent in multiple projects and neglect the tasks that are important in each project. You have physical boundaries. There are 24 hours in a day and you shouldn’t spend all of them working. Learn to recognize time vampires. These are tasks that suck the time right out of your day, but get you no further to reaching your goals. Ultimately, they make your job performance suffer because you are wasting time doing those tasks instead of concentrating on hitting your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Before accepting an additional assignment when your schedule is already full, ask yourself: “What’s the worst that can happen if I say no? Will I miss the opportunity of a lifetime?” When you do many things, you can’t do any one of them with excellence. The job market used to favor the jacks of all trades and masters of none, but not any more. Employers have a specific pain they’re trying to relieve by hiring someone. You want to find the employer for whom your skills are the cure. Be careful to not waste time on projects that water down your resume instead of honing the skills you’re developing.

Be Careful Whose Approval You Seek: I once had a manager whose motto was,“If you want something done ask a busy person.” A reputation for getting things done makes you a target. You become her go-to person when your boss realizes you work harder than your coworkers. Are you constantly working more hours to accommodate additional projects? Are you committing to another task when you haven’t finished the last three you started? If so, then your dependability is a liability. Part of your job is to make your manager’s job easier, and you want her approval, but she most likely expects you to tell her when your plate is full. She’ll probably keep piling on the work until you gently tell her to push pause. It’s uncomfortable to turn requests down while your supervisor looks at you with her big Puss In Boots sad eyes. No is a whole sentence, but you want to be perceived as polite, efficient, and a team player. So when turning down a task, be kind, authentic, and offer an alternative. For example: “I’m sorry Sue calling in sick puts you in a bind. I can’t take her shift, but have you asked Diane?” As for your coworkers, it’s pleasant to get along, but their approval is desired, not required. We tend to assume everyone else is as busy as we are and feel like we are letting them down if we deny their request. Stop. It doesn’t matter what other people are doing. You are responsible for you. You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but you have to get comfortable with disappointing people. Be careful whom you want to impress and whose approval you seek.

Use a Decision Making Process: Recently, I was approached to take on a volunteer position. I immediately filtered it through my decision making process. I asked myself: Will this be worth my T.E.A.M.? If a project or request gets caught in that filter, then I say no. Don’t take on extracurriculars because you have FOMO. People aren’t having as much fun without you as Snapchat wants you to believe. Will this project distract you from pursuing your goals? For example: If you have a physically demanding day tomorrow, should you really go out with friends tonight? People learn to respect you when you say no to things that pull you away from your priorities. Your example may even empower someone else to say no to something that is not a wise choice for her. Sometimes you have to say no to good things so you have bandwidth to do great things.

Share your stories of saying no to good things to make room for great things here:

I Am So NOT Ready For This

“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Now is as good a time as any.” — Hugh Laurie

I work for an energy efficiency implementer. At the end of 2017, my office managed three rebate programs. On January 1, 2018, we launched an additional program. On June 1, 2018, we launched another additional program. For those of you keeping score, that’s five programs to manage. Launching a new program is hard work. Launching two new programs five months apart is like surfing a tsunami. One Friday, I went to a meeting with another team member, my manager, and my manager’s boss to discuss how to improve our processes. When I arrived, the other team member was missing. Turns out she stepped down. So now I assumed the agenda was to figure out how to divide her tasks until we replaced her. Wrong. When I sat down at the conference room table, my manager’s boss offered me a position she’d just created on our team. WAIT…WHAT? The offer was very attractive: responsibilities more in my wheelhouse than my current ones, growth opportunities, etc. My head spun. She told me to take the weekend to think about it. My only thought was, “Is it wise to refuse a job your manager’s boss offered?” Later, I privately asked my manager what she thought my biggest obstacle would be in this position. She said, “Fear.”

Define It: Fear. Such a little word. Such a big emotion. Don’t you just hate feeling like something has taken control of your life away from you? What is fear, really? Isn’t it just risk and uncertainty? If you define the risk and minimize the uncertainty, can’t you, with practice, overcome the fear? Exposing my fear would make me vulnerable, but not exposing it would keep me from taking this promotion. So I took the weekend to think about what I would have to do for this job and why it was scary. I came up with two major fears: rejection and driving. Then I thought about what I would have to do to take fear’s power away.

Deal With It: Anticipation is a double-edged sword. On the one blade, you have fear. On the other you have excitement. The trick is to reinterpret the fear into excitement. In this position I’d have to convince people to participate in the programs. I’d have to communicate in writing, on the phone, and face to face. I’d have to talk to skeptical property managers and small business owners. Rejection was a given. So how do I minimize it? These are great programs. There’s no downside. There’s no catch. And THAT is kinda the problem. How do I convince people that it’s not too good to be true? I’ll be warm, fuzzy, honest, and available to answer questions. I know there will be some people I just won’t be able to convince no matter how hard I try. But, they’re just going to turn me down. They’re not going to kill me. I’ll have to get over it and move on. Maybe I’ll circle back around to them next year with testimonials from the smart people who participated in the program. As for the driving, I’d recently felt that particular fear was negatively impacting my life and I should do something about it. While lunching with a friend, a month or so prior, our conversation had wandered into the deep end and I confessed my fear of driving. Guess what? She has the exact same fear. We then made a pact to face it together. We’d already spent some time thinking about how to achieve that so when this promotion came along, our timetable sped up. We’d already started taking turns driving to places we’ve never been, and now with every excursion, I feel our confidence increasing and our anxiety decreasing.

Delete It: I keep telling myself, “Don’t think just do it.” Just do the job. Just start the car. There is a fine line between preparation and procrastination. I’m a planner. I love to “get ready” for things: work, vacation, writing. But getting ready to do something isn’t the same as actually doing it. In fact, getting ready can prevent me from taking action. Eventually, there’s nothing to it, but to do it. I’m also a bit of a perfectionist. I want to cross every t and dot every i before beginning a project. But I realize life doesn’t work that way and it takes a lot of time. Time I could be building momentum. If I can just build enough momentum, I can keep moving forward. After all, an object in motion tends to stay in motion, right Newton?

Am I still scared? Yes. I don’t feel equipped, but I believe experience will equip me. Successful people start before they feel ready. Richard Branson is a great example. Google him. My fears still haunt, but they are contained. I don’t face them alone, and I didn’t let them stop me from accepting the promotion. Thanks for reading my story! Now tell me yours here:

Old School

My Grandmother passed away last Saturday. I didn’t expect a viewing for a 90-year-old woman to be heavily attended, but over 100 people came with their condolences. It’s a testimony to her influence and legacy. She was 36 years old when I was born; young to be a grandmother. Consequently, I got to study her life for many years. Grammy was one of my first examples of working mothers. She was married, ran a household, volunteered at her church and raised two children all while working full time and she made it look easy. Here is what my grandmother taught me about work.

Take Your Passion and Make it Happen: Grammy loved Jesus Christ more than anything or anyone. Spreading His Gospel was her side gig. Grammy didn’t believe in addition. She was a multiplier like the old Faberge Organics Shampoo commercial (“I told two friends; and they told two friends, and so on…”). Grammy’s church was the biggest outlet for her love and during the years she was a member, hundreds of people benefited from her efforts. She taught the Ladies Sunday School Class for over 50 years. She managed funeral lunches. She sang in the choir. She made cookies for Vacation Bible School. When her kids were grown, did she mourn her empty nest? No. She took a turn in the nursery rocking babies on Sunday morning so parents could attend the service undistracted. When she retired, did she take it easy? No. She coordinated retreats for her Sunday School class to get away together and bond. When her husband passed away, did she shut herself off to grieve? No. She started a widow’s group. Does all this sound like work? It was. Grammy was always at church or working on its behalf, and for many of those years, simultaneously worked full time. She taught me to make time for what is important. Am I stuck in my career? Maybe I need to take an online class to improve my Excel skills, meet with my mentor, or update my LinkedIn profile. If advancing my career is important to me, I have to make time for it.

Whenever I Call You Friend: Grammy knew what everyone in her family was up to: brothers, sisters, in-laws, out-laws, children, grandchildren, great-grandchild, etc. She did it old school: personal encounters, snail mail, and on the phone. She did not own a computer and she had no social media accounts. Some of my most prized possessions are notes Grammy wrote me in birthday cards and voicemails she left on my cell. Grammy went to family reunions, church pot lucks, parties, recitals, and ball games. At these events, Grammy cultivated relationships. She asked questions and was interested in people. She taught me how to network. Social media is convenient, but it just doesn’t replace the impact of face to face interactions. I never know when a former coworker or a fellow volunteer is going to have an open position in her company, remember me fondly, and facilitate a job interview.

What’s Love Got to do With It?: Once I received a job offer over the phone while at Grammy’s house. I told her I was not thrilled about the position, but I needed the employment. Her response was, “You don’t have to retire from it.” I know “Find a career you love!” is trending, but the fact is, two-thirds of American workers are disengaged from their jobs. Grammy did not go after a high profile career. She had employment that paid bills so she could spend money on her church, her family, and herself (Man! That woman LOVED Longaberger baskets). She worked to cover her family with medical insurance and to earn a pension. She taught me if I don’t love my job, I need to find something else I do love. If I can do it as a side gig, even better. The right side gig might eventually turn full time.

One of Grammy’s favorite sayings was, “This too shall pass.” She said it in reference to whatever problem I was going through at the time. But, it’s not just problems that pass. It’s people. I’m grateful God allowed Norma Lee Maple Pelfrey to pass through my life.

Did your grandmother teach you anything about the workforce? Tell me about it here:

Begin at the End

At my high school graduation party people asked, “What’s your college major?”At my college graduation party they asked, “When are you getting married?”At my wedding reception they asked, “When are you getting pregnant?” At my baby shower they asked, “When are you having another baby?” At my 40th birthday party they asked, “When are you going to retire?” I don’t know why parties prompt these questions, but they make me want to avoid them. Why do we rush each other through life? I guess it’s normal to be curious about other people’s milestones and goals because it prompts us to think about our own. Goal setting is a life long process, btw. It doesn’t stop at retirement. The goals will be different, but just as important. When it comes to setting goals, beginning at the end can jump start brainstorming. Think about your funeral. If you could be a fly on the wall at your funeral and eavesdrop on conversations, what would you want to hear people say about you? If you have a difficult time imagining this scene, here are some prompts:

What do you want people to say in your eulogy?
What are you known for?
What are your accomplishments?
What is your career about?
What are you proud of?
What are your best memories?
Whom do you help?
What does your home life look like?
What is your impact on the world?
What is on your bucket list? Is it written down? Does it have deadlines?
What do you want to accomplish that you are not yet working toward?
What circumstances are in your life that you want out of your life?
What is your legacy?

As for me, I would want to hear people say, “My life was better because Mardi was in it.” But what does that look like in real life? At work, it means practicing random acts of office kindness. When a stressed out coworker says, “Do you have a minute?” My reply needs to be, “I always have a minute for you.” When trying to balance meeting the client’s goals with meeting the customer’s desires, it means listening then clearly and diplomatically communicating boundaries. It also means turning away from the work email and taking a four mile walk with my husband to watch the sunrise on a Sunday morning. Here are three suggestions to get you moving toward setting your next goals:

Do Your Homework: Find people who have already achieved what you want to do and study their lives. Read their bios on LinkedIn. Read articles and books they’ve written. Find out what they were doing at your age. How did their choices then get them to where they are now? Success leaves clues if you’re willing to look for them. Then look at your own goals and determine what steps you need to take to achieve them.

Be S.M.A.R.T.: A goal is a dream without a deadline. It’s personal and it’s yours alone. It will just remain a dream unless you harness it, so make your goal S.M.A.R.T.: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Keep track of the date you set the goal, the target date for achieving the goal, and the date you reached the goal.

Journal: Write down how you’ll benefit from achieving your goal. Analyze the obstacles in your way and your strategy for overcoming them. List specific action items necessary to achieve your goal and set deadlines for them. Record affirmations for yourself to help you think positive. Track your progress and reward yourself for it.

The end of your life gets closer every second (insert Debbie Downer sad trombone here: “Wah. Wah.”) Unlike Mick Jagger, time is not on your side. Instead of feeling morbid, use this reality to fuel your purpose and set your goals. Have any advice on goal setting for me? Please tell me about it here:

Vulnerable to Extinction

When I ask young women what they want to do with their lives, I’m surprised at the number of whom say Stay at Home Mom (SAHM). Their answer saddens me because it’s such a tough row to hoe here in America. I think they are brave to admit this desire given the current state of the women’s movement. Speaking as someone who is reaping the consequences of choosing child-rearing over career, I have some news for SAHM wannabes:

Not News: Whether or not SAHM is a profession is highly controversial. Since women in America do not receive a paycheck to be SAHMs, for the sake of this conversation, I refer to it as a job. I think we can all agree that it takes skill to run a home: Time management, organization, budget balancing, crisis management, cruise director, chauffeur, nurse, maid, teacher, coach, cook, housekeeper, etc.

Also Not News: Plenty of women have to do all of the above while simultaneously working a full time job. A friend who is a wife and mother of a preschooler was excited to accept a position that pays $12.13 an hour to start. I’m smiling and congratulating while in my head calculating how far that money will go. When did food, clothing, and shelter get so expensive? Her situation is common. Are you married and need daycare so you can work because you can’t pay your bills with one income? In 2016, Americans paid an average of $196 a week to put one child in daycare, and the price just keeps going up. Of the parents surveyed, two-fifths said costs rose $1000 per year.

Actual News: Many women consider raising children a full time job, but America’s legal system doesn’t. Is it even possible to be a SAHM anymore? If you are going to be successful, here are three things you should consider:

Partner: You will need someone who is willing to support you and your children financially at least for a while. Be prepared to give up luxuries like eating out, expensive vacations, and designer clothes, for years. Work to maintain good communication. Regularly check in and ask how he’s doing and tell him how you’re doing. Go on dates so the two of you have bonding experiences that don’t include the kids. Acknowledge this is hard for both of you, and be assertive in expecting help with managing both the chores (cooking/cleaning/yard work, etc.) and the child care. It’s not “babysitting” when it’s your own kid. It’s parenting.

Gig: Can you work at home to maintain some sort of professional connection? Because while you may be a SAHM for around 20 years, eventually, you’ll retire and a 20 year hiatus from the work force is damaging to your marketability. Start now to prepare for life after your nest empties. What about starting a business? What about working part time? What about volunteering?

Network: Stay in touch with other moms and former colleagues. With all the social media platforms available, you have no excuse to let relationships go, but also make the effort to connect face to face. Meet for coffee, lunch, a walk, a book club: any activity that comes naturally so that you have adult relationships to cultivate for the future day when you have the bandwidth to pursue your life’s next chapter.

Do you have any advice for potential SAHMs? Share it here:

I’m Sorry (Not Sorry)

Haters. Don’t you just hate ‘em? Why do people think it’s okay to judge your behavior? I mean, kvetch all you want, but don’t say it out loud. How rude! (Mardi said in her best Stephanie Tanner voice.) Ever feel like some of the things for which you’re criticized are just plain dumb? Here are three things for which you should not apologize:

Taking Time For Yourself: Hang out at Starbucks before work. Skip that invitation to go out in favor of staying in and reading or watching Hulu or napping or whatever. Take a vacation day from work and go to the movies. Attend that personal leadership conference. Book that spa day. Develop that exercise routine. You have both mental and physical limits. You have to refuel. If you don’t, it gets harder to focus on tasks and solve problems. I know it goes against the dominant “do whatever it takes to get the project done” mentality, but working non-stop actually prevents you from getting the project done. When you’re rested you work smarter and not harder. It isn’t just your body that needs rest, your brain has to stop thinking about work in order to reboot. So take a few hours and stop thinking about work. When you return, you’ll be surprised how ready your brain is to think differently about the task you left.

Setting Boundaries: “No,” is a whole sentence. You are not obligated to attend that event, serve on that committee, or mentor everyone who asks. Is it worth your T.E.A.M.? Leaders know their time is precious and limited and they learn how to say, “No.” You demonstrate self-respect when you refuse a commitment for which you know you cannot make time. You absolutely have to say no to situations that endanger your safety or integrity. If you work in an environment that supports work-life integration (handling tasks for your personal life while at work and vice versa), work will infringe on your personal time. It’s difficult not to think about work while you’re at home and sometimes it isn’t practical to leave work at the office. Just like it’s not always feasible to leave what’s happening at home outside the office. Be aware of your level of frustration. When it gets overwhelming, take a break. Identify what needs immediate action and what can wait. Then train your mind to focus only on what needs done and to ignore what can wait.

Spending Money You’ve Saved on Yourself: You work hard for the money (shout out to Donna Summer) so give yourself an allowance every week and let it add up. It takes discipline and restraint to leave that money alone, so when you want to spend it, do so with zero guilt. If you want to buy a necklace, laptop, or Michael Kors handbag, and you have enough cash set aside, do it. In fact, it makes you a better employee. How? You become persistent. You’re motivated to work in order to buy things you want. When you reward yourself, you want to do it again, so you have to go back to work to earn the money to do it. You also learn how to achieve your goals. When you want a promotion, you have to figure out what you have to do to get it and how long it will take. You use the same skills with a purchasing goal. You also became self-aware. What you buy says a lot about what you find valuable. When you identify your values, you can translate that to your job. What excites you about your work? How can you use that to stay motivated to get your job done?

Tell me some things people make you feel like you should apologize for here:

Who Are You Calling Old?

More frequently I hear, “You look great for your age,” as opposed to, “You look great.” Sometimes I shop in the junior department to get the right size and I get “the look” from the other shoppers. You know, the look that says, “You’re too old to wear this style.” Men and younger women offer to carry heavy things for me. I lift weights four days a week. I can carry three 12 packs of Caffeine Free Diet Coke, people! When I just wear mascara, I look fine in the mirror, but Snapchat tells a very different story. In getting to know a new coworker, she asked if I had any children. I replied, “Our daughter is a senior in college.” She said, “You still have a child in school?!” Nice. Merriam-Webster defines ageism as “prejudice or discrimination against a particular age-group and especially the elderly.” Did you know there is a longevity revolution? It’s discussed mostly in terms of economy and health care, but I feel like it means, “Hey, we’re all living longer, so stop treating me like I’m irrelevant.” That’s the fear, right? Being irrelevant? Your needs are unmet because you get marginalized? As usual, I have more questions than answers:

Why Is Ageism a Thing? Everyone is getting older by the second. Isn’t it counterproductive to assume someone can’t contribute to society because they’ve reached a certain age? This has been going on a long time, like at least since 1967. Ever heard of “Logan’s Run?” The perception is old people consume resources without contributing to their replenishment. At what age do you think that happens? It depends on how old you are. (Isn’t it ironic?) People 18-29 years old think 60 is old. Middle aged people consider 70 old. People aged 65+ years think 74 is old. We’re afraid we won’t be able to get what we want when we want it. We resent a percentage of our paychecks going to Social Security to support retired people whom we imagine use the money to take a month long trip to the Grand Canyon.

Can You Fight It? You want to work and advance in your career, but your appearance and your resume expose you as a woman over 40 years old. Not only are you fighting a glass ceiling, but now you also have to negotiate a glass floor of hiring managers younger than you who assume you’re neither tech savvy nor value your industry experience. What do you do? Update your resume. It should be one page long. Get an appropriate Gmail address (your.name@gmail.com) and include it in the contact section of your resume. Use a font that is modern and easy to read like Calibri or Garamond. In interviews, if you’re asked a sneaky question, like, “How long do you plan to keep working?” Emphasize how much you enjoy it. Mention things you do that reveal you’re always learning: reading the blogs of famous business thought leaders, using a trendy app, a TED Talk you posted on your social media.

Can You Win? It’s an endless uphill climb. You have to stay engaged, grow thick skin, and develop a sassy attitude. Oprah Winfrey said, “We live in a youth-obsessed culture that is constantly trying to tell us that if we are not young, and we’re not glowing, and we’re not ‘hot,’ that we don’t matter….I refuse to let a system or a culture or a distorted view of reality tell me that I don’t matter.”

What Does Winning Look Like? Getting paid for a job based on your skill, abilities, and experience, and not getting turned away because of how long you’ve been in the workforce. Here’s what winning looks like in the volatile and youth obsessed music industry: The rock band U2 have been together 42 years. Not only do they stay relevant by working with artists like 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music winner Kendrick Lamar, but they also make money. U2’s 360º stadium tour in Jun 30, 2009 – Jul 30, 2011, made $736,421,584. It is currently the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. These guys are 56 (Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.) and 58 (Bono, Adam Clayton) years old.

I could spend hours talking about ageism, but we are getting older by the second. If you want to continue this conversation, please use this form to send me a question or comment:

Thanks, Dad!

Mom says we always pose like this — The Best Dad a Girl Ever Had

Stepfathers are dads. Sometimes more so than biological ones. My dad entered my life when I was thirteen years old. He is a Vietnam veteran which explains why he wasn’t afraid to marry a woman with a teenage daughter. He is a man of few words, but the words he says are wise, funny, and caring. He is a man of action. He gets things done. When I got my first “real” job after college, I found our biggest point of connection was work. We could spend hours trading stories. As we wrap up Father’s Day 2018, here are some things my dad taught me about work:

Show Up: There are days you don’t want to get out of bed and go to work. Do it anyway. Dad is now retired, but for years he worked for a phone company. One of his responsibilities was repairing business equipment. He used to get a ton of overtime after severe thunderstorms getting switchboards back online because he answered their call for help when his coworkers refused. I observed Dad’s getting-ready-for-work routine first hand when we lived with my parents for a few months while waiting to move into our first house. Dad was always the first one up. He’d shower, put on the uniform, and get coffee. By the time he got to the coffee, I was up and getting ready for work. Looking back on all those moments we crossed paths at the coffee pot, I realize he set an example I still follow today. Get up, get coffee, get hustling.

Ignore Slackers: It doesn’t matter what the other guy is not doing. So one coworker takes five smoke breaks a day, and another one shows up late three times a week. Yes. It’s frustrating, but you reap what you sow. Sometimes these coworkers want you to cover for them and it’s uncomfortable refusing to bend to the peer pressure. Do the right thing. Management often knows more than you think. Maintain good habits: arrive on time, be courteous, get the job done. When you consistently do these things, you stand out from your peers and you advance.

Recognize Your Real Boss: You work for God. He is your provider, not the company. Sometimes the union and the company do not get along; usually at contract negotiation time. Every few years, all of us worried Dad would end up out of a job, but Dad kept going to work and doing his best anyway. By doing this, Dad made me realize I wasn’t working to please my boss, and it weirdly gave me a sense of freedom. Even now, It makes me want to continuously improve my skills, set higher goals, and step out of my comfort zone. Oddly, these are habits managers notice and for which they promote you. Funny how that works, huh?

Take Your Vacation: Once a year Dad took a week off work to fish with his friend. He also took time off to be with Mom. Even if they didn’t go anywhere, he didn’t leave that vacation time on the table. He is retired now, but still spends a week fishing because both rest and maintaining friendships are important. His example motivates me to maintain and strengthen my relationships. It’s okay to take a vacation day and go to lunch with my college roommate, stop working long enough to go away for a week with my husband, and put the laptop down and take our daughter to Target.

Be Generous: For years, Dad ran the sound board at his church. Not because he loves pulling microphone cables and running sound checks, but because they had a need he could fill. Now that he’s retired, he still supports his church both financially and volunteers his time. He helps care for his 90 year old mother-in-law both financially and helps maintain her house. These qualities make Dad one of the most respected men I know. Recently, Dad introduced me to several people at his church. All of them said how much they like and admire him. My response to each was the same, “Hey! Me too!” Isn’t that what all of us want? To do good work and be respected for it? Dad taught me you earn the respect of your coworkers and managers by not only getting your work done, but also by generously helping them get their work done. That’s how you contribute to building a strong team. Thanks, Dad!

What did your dad teach you about work? Do you have a great stepfather? Share your stories here:

You Call THIS Having it All?

We’ve gone from Helen Gurley Brown in 1986 telling women we can have it all: career, family, social life, etc., to Oprah Winfrey in 2018 telling us we can’t have it all at the same time. I feel like the narrative of the American Woman is: Have a demanding career, a successful husband, active children, and manage all these things with no support; otherwise, you are not a “real” woman. And, it’s not men who are judging us. We do this to each other. It needs to stop. NOW. As usual, I have more questions than answers:

Why is this even a goal? I’ve spent the last 21 years hoping by the time our daughter was old enough to hold a full time job, marry, and start a family, the environment in America would be conducive to parenting while working full time. It isn’t and I don’t think it will be in my lifetime. Do we really need government policies that force companies to not fire a woman for taking time off to give birth and recover from it? Apparently so: FMLA. Now why would any company do that? Work for women is not a luxury. If we have to legislate to keep women employed, how about policies more like the ones in Great Britain ? When I gave birth to our daughter, I took a 12 week maternity leave. I saved up my sick days and rolled over my vacation days for two years in order to be paid for most of that time off. I trained someone to fill in for me while I was out, but mostly I trained him to call me when he had questions so I could log these calls and prove the company needed me to return. Yes. I’m one radioactive spider bite away from being a super villain.

Why do we assume women want to marry? I blame the media. I had this conversation with a couple of female friends on different occasions recently and both of them were hard pressed to come up with reasons why their daughters should marry their current boyfriends. We all finally landed on the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Marriage encourages couples to work out their problems and stay together. Relationships are hard. They require you to put the interests of your mate ahead of your own. Not every woman is willing to do that, nor should society expect her to.

Why do we assume women want to have children? Sometimes looking at Facebook feels like watching a mommy contest. I see posts of locally sourced organic meals served to the entire team after the pee-wee ballgame accompanied by a comment about rushing off to answer work emails after her player is in bed. I’m exhausted just reading it. If you’ve got one foot on the corporate ladder and one foot in the kitchen, you’re doing the splits, and that gets real painful, real fast. How do you excel at either one? As a society, we need to stop asking women why they don’t have children. Personal reproductive choices are no one’s business.

Is work-life balance an illusion? So you have to work and you want to have children. Why do women feel guilty for getting help? Why is it shameful to have a cleaning lady? What is wrong with hiring a full-time baby sitter? Why can’t a husband be the primary care-giver? Are women just control freaks? Do you want to control both doctor’s appointments and staff meetings? Why does childcare cost so much? How do we stop hiring managers from looking at women of child bearing age during interviews and think to themselves, “I wonder how long she will be on the job before she gets pregnant?” Now that I’m past child bearing years, I have advanced faster in my career since my daughter started college than in her lifetime up to now.

Do you teach your daughters to plan their futures? Have you laid out a schedule for them? For example, “Okay honey, here’s what you do. After high school, go to college. Graduate in four years with a Bachelor’s degree then get an entry level position at a corporation. Work there for three years and get promoted. Work three more years, then get married. After three years of marriage, get promoted to manager, then have your first child.” This makes your daughters about 30 years old when they have their first child, by the way. Why do you even have to contemplate giving this kind of controlling counsel to your daughters? Does it even occur to you to give that same advice to your sons? What skills should you teach your daughters to cope with trying to have it all? Should you warn them that their choices will involve sacrifice? For example: You can have both a career and kids, but both will suffer. How are women ever going to achieve equal pay for equal work if we can’t work? How do we promote more women to the C-Suite if we are penalized for child-bearing?

Share your thoughts, suggestions, and experiences here: