Ask-A-Career Coach: Gratitude As A Career Management Tool

jobsearchContributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart™

Given the upcoming holidays, I thought about writing about holiday networking, job search during the holidays or perhaps office party etiquette. Here’s why gratitude works not just around the holiday table but for your career as well:

Gratitude puts you in a spirit of plenty – of having, instead of lacking. This leads to confidence, energy and a position of strength that is attractive to the people around you, whether it’s prospective employers or senior management looking for whom to tap for leadership.

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Sharing Inspiration for Success: NAFE’s 2009 Women of Excellence

iStock_000009937357XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

On Friday, December 4, the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) honored its 2009 Women of Excellence. NAFE is the largest professional association of women. The awards celebrated successful female business leaders dedicated to making a difference in their workplace, the larger community, and the world.

Keynote speakers and Pulitzer-prize-winning writers Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn opened the event with a call to make a difference in women’s lives around the globe, as detailed in their book Half the Sky.

They stressed the importance of addressing women’s issues around the world, not only because it’s simply the right thing to do, but because meeting women’s economic needs can help overcome poverty and violence. As Kristoff explained, “the paramount moral challenge of the 21st century is the brutality inflicted on women and girls around the globe.”

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Female Execs: The New Metric

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By Elizabeth Harrin (London)Young business woman posing over white background

There’s been a lot written about getting more women on to boards. But boards act as an oversight body. Could you even name half the members of the board at your own company? Using the number of women on boards is a useful measurement in how enlightened or competitive a company is, but it’s rarely the case that having more women on boards means that lower down the organisation women are being promoted and supported in more senior management positions.

Enter a new study – Womenomics 101. This survey, from the consultancy 20-first, looks at a different metric: women on the Executive Committee. After all, it’s easy(ish) for the corporate board to elect a woman or two and say that the job of creating gender equality is done. Much harder for a company to promote its home-grown talent up through the ranks to a position on the Exec.

“This survey invites you to look deeper into companies, and to use metrics that distinguish those serious about gender balance from the rest,” says Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first and co-author of authored the book Why Women Mean Business. She’s also the woman behind the new annual survey. “That’s what Womenomics 101 proposes to do.”

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Voice of Experience: Wendy Cai- Lee, Director, Chinese Services Group, Deloitte

By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Wendy Cai-Lee is quick to point out that much of her success is attributable to the sacrifices her parents made for her and her sister. When the director of Deloitte’s Chinese Services Group was just twelve, her father—a former diplomat from China’s State Department—gave up his career and his country and moved his family to the States. “We moved mostly for money and my sister’s and my education,” said Cai-Lee. “My father was concerned that if we waited any longer, I wouldn’t be able to learn English and speak it without too much of an accent.” She continued, “My parents were hardworking people who put their careers on hold and put all their hopes and dreams on their children. There was a lot of emphasis on education.”

The family ultimately settled in New Jersey. “It was a huge adjustment. But kudos to my parents: they made the move when I was young enough so that the impact was not as traumatic as it would have been if was older. I was very lucky that my parents not only moved me here when I was very young but also with a sold background of Chinese—I speak 5 Chinese dialects—and moved us to a town with an excellent school system.”

Cai-Lee was a good student and a quick learner, although there were some challenges: “In New Jersey, I grew up in an Italian and German town…my sister and I were the only Asian Americans in our school system.” Still, Cai-Lee said, “I learned English within a year. And, by the time I went to junior high, I already joined the junior debate team. I don’t think I’m that much smarter…it’s just that my father was already teaching me geometry in 5th grade. I just simply I learned all that stuff early on so it was easy to excel.”

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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-up

Martin Mitchel of CTGContributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group.

India reported unexpectedly strong third quarter GDP growth. Kraft published its formal offer for Cadbury. U.S. cable company Comcast is entering into a joint venture with NBC Universal. These are but a few highlights of important market events that we’ve gathered to help you start the week well informed.

Economic Backdrop

  • India reported unexpectedly strong third quarter GDP growth of 7.9%.
  • The U.S. monthly employment report showed that only 11,000 jobs were lost last month, far less than the expected job losses of 125,000. The unemployment rate fell from 10.2% to 10%.
  • According to the latest ‘beige book’ survey from the12 regional Federal Reserve banks, economic conditions in the U.S. have generally improved ‘modestly’ since their last report on October 21st.

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Work-Life Balance in the Legal Profession: A Necessity Even in a Down Economy

By Jennifer Gonzales-Frisbie, Esq. (New York City)iStock_000008227662XSmall

Over the last year, in large law firms across the country, associates have lived in fear of losing their jobs, accepting and even seeking out longer hours at the office in the hope that if they can accumulate enough billable hours, their jobs will be spared. Unfortunately, such a practice is leading to growing dissatisfaction for all involved. Associates are worn out and resentful of their current predicament. Clients are becoming fed up with large legal bills which reflect the work of several attorneys billing a significant number of hours in order to produce a single piece of work product. Law firm partners are struggling to maintain and bring in business since clients are going in increasing numbers to smaller firms where the same legal work can be done for a lot less.

In this time of high unemployment and economic hardship, should we consider work-life balance a luxury, available only when economic times are good, and just be thankful we have jobs at all?

Although the answer from many quarters seems to be “yes”, others believe that sacrificing work-life balance is not the best strategy to surviving a tough economy. Lisa Gates, life balance coach and author of “Are You Ditching Work-Life Balance Because You’re Afraid of Losing Your Job?” explains that balancing work and personal life in a down economy is important, not just for your well-being outside of work, but to ensure you remain mentally and physically prepared to successfully carry out workplace goals and make sound decisions in your career.

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Voice Of Experience: Carla Harris, Managing Director of the Strategic Client Group and the Head of the Emerging Managers Platform, Morgan Stanley

Image courtesy Essence.com.

By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Carla Harris is legendary on Wall Street for her tenacity, her ability, and her talent in business. She was ranked as one of Fortune Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America for 2005 and has previously been recognized by Fortune as well as by Ebony, Essence and the Harvard University Black Men’s Forum for her leadership in the corporate sphere.

But Ms. Harris’ talents reach beyond the walls of Morgan Stanley, where she serves as the Managing Director of the Strategic Client Group and the head of the Emerging Managers Platform. A quick search of Amazon.com will reveal that she is also a published author—her book Expect to Win: Proven Strategies for Success from a Wall Street Vet has made her a popular interview subject and coveted speaker—as well as a recording artist who has sold out Carnegie Hall. Her albums “Carla’s First Christmas” and “Joy is Waiting” are filled with music to uplift the spirit.

Indeed, Ms. Harris combines the joy within her with her extensive business experience to help those striving to succeed. She is conscious of the burden of being an advisor. Her book Expect to Win is filled with, in her words, “everything I wish I’d known walking into my career, things that might have made my career markedly different. Not that I haven’t had a great career but boy, would it have been even better!”

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Inspiration at the Annual Women in the City Awards 2009

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wic-27nov09-532By Jane Lucken (London)

The fall-out of the financial events in 2009 has moved the argument for diversity beyond the HR department and firmly into the boardroom. So the 350 women who attended this year’s Third Annual Women in the City Awards lunch in London on Friday had plenty to debate, from diversity’s role in the reduction of risk to how companies can retain and develop female talent.

The opulent surroundings of the Plaisterers Hall provided a contrasting but welcome backdrop to shared experiences of pay cuts, zero bonuses and canceled Christmas parties. But the overall mood was of celebration and recognition of tangible examples of how individuals can make a difference in professional organisations.

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The Great Divide: Study Reveals a Growing Disconnect Between Employers and Employees

By Cheryl Santa MariaiStock_000004353264XSmall (Toronto)

The unstable workforce hasn’t seriously influenced employees’ career expectations, according to a recent report. Spherion’s 2009 Emerging Workforce Study reveals that employers need to do more to retain human capital during a downturn or they run the risk losing staff in droves once the economy heals.

An overwhelming degree of employee dissatisfaction has been growing steadily for the past twelve years, largely due to lack of communication between management and general staff. Of the 2,519 participants in the study, only 24 percent of respondents report being “very satisfied” with the career development offered by their employer and only 27 percent are satisfied with overall compensation.

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Are Executive MBAs Worth it?

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By GiGi DeVault (Munich)iStock_000009074834XSmall

Build a better Executive MBA (EMBA) program, and they will come. But who benefits most—university coffers or women executives with newly minted EMBAs? EMBA programs now offer women’s support networks, clubs, and mentoring. Some even offer symposiums on work/life balance. Della Bradshaw from the Financial Times described an EMBA as the “Gucci handbag of the business school world.” Glitter and attract, they must—competition is keen. But have universities really just constructed better mousetraps for snapping up tuition?

The challenges women and men face in business are not identical, and the value they place on their MBA degrees reflect this difference. According to the 2005 MBA Alumni Perspective Survey of 2,209 graduates, including EMBAs, men are more likely than women to rate successful MBA program outcomes in terms of their increased knowledge base and their ability to score an international assignment. Women tend to look at whether they are more respected or gain more recognition at work, and if they experienced an increase in self-confidence.

After graduation, like a professional baseball player returning from spring training, an EMBA may still play the same position and, if things are going well, still be on the same team. But now they are expected to play better.

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