Discussion Divas

The Next Big Thing

Hi there - Discussion Divas is in quiet mode as we work on our next Big Thing, a new site for Working Moms: www.maybrooks.com. Hope to see you there. Best, Stacey

Moms in Transition: Tips for Staying Current

Pinterest. Tumblr. You gotta know 'em.

I've been helping Moms and women (and a good number of men!) keep up with the news for many years, truly believing it is important to know what's going on in your neighborhood and world even while you're busy doing other things. If you're a Mom who is taking time out of the workplace, you know how important it is to keep up with your industry, too.

But now, with job postings calling for a "web presence" or "at least five Pinboards," there's another mountain looming--one of time-consuming things to learn and do if you want to stay competitive in the workplace now or in the future--things beyond Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn (which you should already be using one or more of anyway). 

So, let's start a dialogue of what's needed to stay current these days, and add to it over time. Be sure to add your thoughts in the comments, please. Again, this won't be an exhaustive, but it's a start!

1. Know Tumblr (super easy blogging software), Pinterest (the latest Web phenom where you "pin" things you find intersesting), Google Docs (it's all about sharing in the cloud these days), Dropbox (transfer large files), TaskRabbit (find people to do things for you like go to the grocery store or put together Ikea furniture) and Prime (meaning Amazon Prime).

2. Understand the growth and power of sites like Gilt, OneKingsLane, Groupon, LivingSocial, RueLaLa, and the many others that are popping up just like them (hint: all offer deals).

3. Understand how important Facebook is to companies like Zynga (gaming company that derives majority of revenue from Facebook) and Airbnb (rent a room in someone's home for the weekend) and Branchout (find a job).

4. Try to read Top 10 publishings now and then, like this one from FastCompany: http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2012/industry/webinternet  

5. Pick a site or two to read daily (or at least a couple times a week - even reading the headlines will help!), like WSJ's Career section: http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-career-jobs.html?mod=WSJ_topnav_careers_main

6. Read our weekly-ish EMAIL! You'll walk away smarter in five minutes or less. SIGN UP

What are you doing to stay current?

- SD

 

Two sides of the working women coin

“She’s gonna change the world. She’s gonna make the world a better world.” - Sesame Street It says a lot about my life when I’m linking the week’s news to a catchy Sesame Street ditty about girls changing the world (watch the video... it will stick with you!).  But it’s ringing in my ears as I digest the recent data on employment, which shows that while women as a whole are helping push the economy forward by joining the workforce in larger numbers, some with higher-earning spouses are also quitting.  The stats on those getting hired In the last two months, more than twice as many women as men have been added to the workforce (see chart), according to NYT.  The Times credits this growth in part to the high number of new female college graduates and the strong demand for educated workers, and also to the specific sectors that are currently hiring, such as health care and education. Overall the economy has added around 245,000 jobs a month for the last three months--strong numbers--but at the same time, more people jumped into the active job search pool, which is why the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.3% in February.  The stats on those getting out Meanwhile, in another part of the working world, an upcoming Federal Reserve report is said to show that well-educated women who marry higher-income earners are leaving the workforce. From Reuters:  --It shows that between 1993 and 2006, there was a decline in the workforce of 0.1 percent a year on average in the number of college- educated women with similarly educated spouses. That contrasts with growth of 2.4 percent a year between 1976 and 1992. The result: the labor force in 2008 had 1.64 million fewer such women than if the growth rate had kept up its earlier trend, slightly more than 1 percent of the total workforce in that year.-- The Reuters article goes on to say that during the recession of 2007-2009, the number of educated women leaving the workforce stalled. But the exit picked up again as the economy improved, with this trend happening at various income levels, not just among the wealthy. So what does all this mean? There are many ways to look at this information: Education begets higher incomes, begets the luxury of one parent not working to take care of children, run the house, etc. Or, the high expenses of childcare render a spouse’s (often the woman’s) salary a wash, so the woman stops working.  But it also prompts an interesting discussion about whether women who can afford to leave financially do so because they don’t want to work, or because they can’t find the right kind of work.  One conservative WSJ columnist summed up the Reuters story saying the opportunities afforded by the feminist movement have made way for the “unchained woman”--a woman who isn’t tied to her desk everyday, and the emergence of a two-tiered culture--those who are unchained and those who aren’t.  We all know that when it comes to working and raising children, flexibility is huge. My theory is that in many cases, highly educated women who can afford to not work quit because they can’t find a work scenario that works for them. If one is chained to the desk, there's no flexibility.   It’s too bad when highly educated women leave the workplace--their skill set is valuable to the economy, and their experience can help younger women climbing the ranks. Corporations would benefit from letting experienced women step back for a few years to have kids and then rev up again--they don’t lose all the time and money they’ve invested in the talent.  Final thoughts! Of course I’m curious what you think, soplease share your comments (Did you leave your job? Why? Would you have stayed if you found a more flexible situation? If you work full time, have you found flexibility that works?)   Calling all Moms! I’ll be blogging more regularly about working Moms and Moms in transition (see post on networking). Please TAKE OUR SURVEYabout what the best online resource for working moms would look like to you!

 

Calling all Working Moms, Moms in Transition

What would the perfect online resource look like to you? Take the survey and tell us! We're gearing up to help. CLICK LINK TO TAKE THE SURVEY: http://goo.gl/EhdMO

- SD

Working Moms: Strengthen those Networks and Raise the Tide!

 

One of the hardest things I have found as a working Mom is finding the time to keep up with my professional network, let alone my friends. When I am at work, I'm working - there's no time for power lunches. After work, I really want to be with my kiddo. The other days, I'm tired!

But keeping up those social AND professional networks is so key and can make a big difference when you're on the job hunt or when starting your own business. Turns out that men do a better job of referring each other and asking for help from their networks.

So what to do other than drink a lot of coffee and burn the midnight oil?! Some words of wisdom, tips and encouragement from a recent round-up of stories on this topic:

1. Understand the big picture: There's a lot of discussion about female representation in tech - the number of female start-up CEOs, the number of women in tech, and so on. At South by Southwest this year, there are a slew of women-related panels. In her post on Forbes, Meghan Casserly raises the point, does this type of focus underserve the effort? One of her sources says no, and offers a great quote:
   
   “But my theory is that if we continue to grow this strong network of women, well then, a rising tide brings up all boats.” - Tara Hunt, CEO of Buyosphere
   
   Here, here! Read the full post: SXSW 2012 Forecast: Let's Hear It For The Girls
    
2. Use your network to invent a job: Business Insider offers this great tip: “Start networking to create a job (and stop networking to find a job).” Love this. Don’t limit yourself to the jobs you see online. The best job I ever got was over dinner at a friend’s birthday when I wasn’t searching for a job. I just asked really good questions and was genuinely interested in the business we were talking about. The CEO called me a couple weeks later to explore a job opportunity, and I took it.
   
   Read more on tackling the job search in an innovative way: Find A Job Using The Same Skills That Build Great Tech Companies http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-03-07/news/31131130_1_job-search-products-ask#ixzz1oYoGOz
   td
    
3. Help other women by referring them: A recent report by the Anita Borg Institute encourages companies to ask current female employees to refer women in their network as a way to up the numbers. We should all think about this strategy in our own workplaces, tech or not.

Final thought: I think it’s best to set some goals to help keep up with friends and colleagues, past and present. 

• Reach out to one person you haven’t connected with in a while every week, by phone, email or LinkedIn or Facebook.
• Attend one networking event or get-together each month (I ALWAYS go to my Discussion Divas Current Events Club meeting, plus one other event).
• Attend an alumni breakfast or simply get together with some friends for a glass of wine.

No matter how you do it, get out there and strengthen those networks--for yourself, and for all of us. Raise the tide!

- SD

The Religious Divide

"This is a violation of conscience. We must have a President who is willing to protect America's first right, our right to worship God." - Mitt Romney, speaking in Colorado on Monday From Rick Santorum’s wins to the birth control controversy, this week probably reaffirmed what we already knew: religion plays a large role in U.S. politics. The birth control debate, in particular, is making for good dinner-table conversation in our house (that is, during the five minutes before we fall asleep post work, bath and bed time). First, the Santorum Surprise Santorum, the most religiously conservative candidate among those vying for the Republican nomination, won contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. Santorum is a devout Roman Catholic and has always been a favorite of evangelicals. His wins underscore how split the Republican party remains as to who should be their candidate. Second, Obama vs. Catholics Catholic authorities and the Obama administration have been clashing for weeksover the administration’s decision to require certain religious organizations to cover birth control in their health insurance offerings without a copay. But the sparring bubbled up to front-page news this week as Republicans seized the issue,calling it an affront to religious freedoms, and leading Romney to make the bold statement above. Congressional Republicans threatened legislation to overturn the policy, playing up the issue as one of religious liberty rather than women’s health, while Democrats rallied in support of the move. The White House signaled it was open to awork-around, and by Friday, a compromise was announced: women who work for affected religious institutions, largely hospitals and universities, will still have access to free contraception through their insurer, who will pick up the cost, leaving the employer out of it. While this may seem costly for insurers, the argument is that the alternative--pregnancy--is far more expensive. (See White House Fact Sheet on the revised policy.) Interestingly, a recent poll shows that 58% of Catholics actually support a requirement that health insurers cover birth control (see chart). Ah, politics! Religious potpourri Despite Santorum’s wins this week, Romney, a Mormon, remains well ahead in national polls of Republican voters. Does the Santorum surge suggest discomfort among Republicans about electing a Mormon? Although Mormonsconsider themselves Christians, some on the religious right have likened Mormonism to a cult. Still, despite this, Pew Research shows Romney’s strongest support against Obama in a general election would come from evangelicals (76% say they would vote for him), and that his Mormonism will likely be more of a factor in the primaries than in November’s vote. (Obama’s strongest supporters are religiously unaffiliated.) Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are still in it to win. Paul identifies as a Baptist but is a libertarian and basically leaves religion out of the conversation. Gingrich was a Baptist until he married his third wife Callista, at which point he converted to Catholicism. He has actively courted evangelical voters, claiming that Democrats are waging a “war” on religion, but many on the religious right remain skeptical due to Gingrich’s rather tumultuous personal history (he had a long-time affair with Callista before marrying her). Religious voters have been the bedrock of the Republican voting base for decades. They are a crucial, organized block and the GOP needs them to turn out at the polls in November if it wants to unseat Obama. But it will be interesting to see which candidate is able to strike the right chord to mobilize this key group. Good dinner table discussion The spat over birth control coverage makes for a lively discussion about the separation of church and state. One side argues that being forced to cover birth control flies in the face of their religious freedoms as protected in the Bill of Rights. But while religious institutions are free to practice, they are still subject to the laws of the state. What do you think?

 

Strait Talk: Strait of Hormuz

Happy New Year. If you haven’t eaten any black-eyed peas yet this year, please try some. Seems the whole country could use an extra helping of good luck in 2012, and legend has it that these little beans can do the trick.

 

We certainly could use some good luck when it comes to the unemployment rate (clocking in at 8.5% on Friday, the lowest level in three years), both our economy and Europe’s economy, stability on the Iraq hand-off, the changing of the guard in North Korea, Egypt’s elections, and so on (pass the peas, please!).

 

I am surely hoping for the best, calm outcome when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, three little words that have been ringing in my head since first hearing them a few weeks ago.

 

Tell me more

Seventeen million barrels of oil travel daily through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway located between Iran and Oman. The U.S. Energy Information Administration calls it “by far the world's most important chokepoint” for oil transport. See map of SOH.

 

Iran--home to one of the four largest known oil reserves--is threatening to shut down the strait if the United States and Europe move ahead with threats to refuse to buy oil from Iran because of the country’s continued enrichment of uranium. Iran has long contended their uranium efforts are intended for civilian power use, while much of the outside world says they are building a nuclear bomb.

 

If the strait is closed, not only would oil prices spike--possibly by 50% according to some analysts--the situation could create world conflict (the U.K. signaled it would use military force to re-open the strait) and wreak economic turmoil globally, taking a big toll on the already weak European economy. The tensions have already tipped oil over the key $100 a barrel mark.

 

Ah, oil. Can’t live with you, can’t live without you.

Just to underscore that it’s oil that makes the world go round, U.S. car sales rose 8.7 percent in December, finishing the year on a high notefor Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. SUVs had a good year, too, as gas price stayed below the $4 mark.

 

For those looking for alternatives to traditional gas guzzlers, take note that sales of the electricChevy Volt popped 34% in December, despite warnings that the battery could catch fire (GM announced a fix) and despite little electric car infrastructure.

 

Putting it in perspective, there are approximately 10,000 each of the Nissan Leaf (also electric) and the Volt on U.S. roads, meaning they make up a mere fraction of the 13-plus million cars the big manufacturers each expect to sell in 2012.

 

Let’s leave it there

We could dive into a lot more on the energy front, starting with fracking (potentially causing earthquakes? yikes!). But you and I both know we like this email because it’s short :)

 

So be sure to eat some black-eyed peas. Tradition has it that you should eat them New Year’s Day, but I extend this to the first couple weeks of January. I put my recipe on the site if you need one. Goes great with Champagne, but what doesn’t?

Living it up with Black-Eyed Peas on New Year's

Growing up my mother made everyone in our house eat Black-Eyed Peas on New Year's Day, even the cats and dogs. She took it very seriously. Tradition has it that they bring prosperity. More on this here.

I love the sentiment that food can bring good luck so we do this in our house, too, washed back with Champagne. This year we paired it with Schramsburg Mirabelle, a rose sparkler that sells for about $20. My mom cooks hers with a ham bone -- we take a chicken approach in our house. Here's the recipe:

1 Bag Dried Beans (soak overnight and remove the bad beans)
2 Boxes of chicken broth (the 16 oz ones)
Carrots (I use the mini ones so there's no chopping necessary)
1 medium onion, chopped 
2-3 Sliced chicken sausages (the pre-cooked ones, choose your favorite) 

Great recipe for a slow cooker. Bring to a boil, then simmer all day. Same if you do it on the stove top, just simmer for a good four hours at least.

 

 

Andrea Jung and The List

Holiday prep and festivities are making me really late with this post--so apologies and Happy Wednesday!

Speaking of the holidays, thank goodness for online shopping and shipping. They’re saving me this year. And apparently I’m not alone: Shoppers spent almost $31 billion online between Nov. 1 and Dec. 16, 15% more than last year. That’s a lot of stuff bought... And WSJ reports retailers are extending the deadline for purchases that can still arrive by Dec. 25.

I’ve been ordering through Amazon Prime like a fiend, and love the new Slice app that alerts you when packages have shipped, are out for delivery, and delivered (full disclosure: my sister works there).

I’ve also become a user of Birchbox, a startup that lets you give monthly subscriptions of little makeup samples, a fun treat for all the girly girls out there.

I was thinking about Birchbox last week when Avon announced that Andrea Jung, who has been chief executive of the beauty and cosmetics company since 1999, would be stepping down. The company’s stock is off 45% for the year, and while a lot of factors are contributing to the pressures at Avon, it’s hard not to think about their door-to-door sales model versus the simplicity of an online Birchbox purchase (also run by women).

Separately, any time one of the precious few female leaders of Fortune 500 companies departs, I think about “the list” and how many that leaves. Turns out, the list is at a record high in 2011. There are 18 women in the top job, with a whopping 8 new additions this year (some will take the helm in 2012, and Jung’s departure will leave 17). Fortune called 2011 a “banner” year for women.

Jung has been a fixture on this list (there the longest of any), and together these women control about a half trillion dollars in annual corporate sales across industries from tech to health care to retail, energy, food products and media. But as we see with Jung, it’s a list always in flux.

Already this year, Yahoo ousted Carol Bartz (in a story for the corporate ages, she was informed over the phone and then shot off a company-wide email telling everyone she was fired), while Hewlett-Packard brought in Meg Whitman (former eBay CEO) to run the huge but struggling company. 

On the whole, 2011 was a mixed bag for women in corporate life. Harvard and Wharton accepted the most women ever into their business schools -- 39% and 45%, respectively. But as the non-profit Catalyst noted last week, women in executive leadership positions held steady at 14%, so no progress there.  

 

Meryl Streep raised an interesting point about women in leadership in her appearance on “60 Minutes” this past Sunday, saying she took her latest role as Margaret Thatcher to have the opportunity “to deal with the deep, buried discomfort that people still have -- men and women -- with women in leadership positions.”

 
I’ve interviewed a number of female CEOs and many don’t think it’s helpful to call attention to the fact that they’re female in a sea of male CEOs. And they’re right on one level. But it seems to me the more there are, the more normal it seems, and that’s got to be a good thing when women make up 46.7% of the labor force. 

 
(Happy Holidays. We’ll see you NEXT week, just in time for the New Year.)

 

Baby it's cold outside

I’ve been downing a lot of peppermint mochas from Starbucks this week, trying to feel the holiday spirit when all the talk of “blocking” and “stopping” in Washington is leaving me cold. 

“Don’t be a Grinch,” President Obama wants you to tell Congress, where there’s major stalling on everything from political appointees to payroll tax cuts.

In the last two weeks alone, Congress:

• Rejected the nomination of Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the anti-fraud agency that’s been in existence since July without a leader (Elizabeth Warren was an earlier nominee)
• Shot down a federal appeals court nominee for being too left leaning and “petty politics,” as noted in WSJ’s Law Blog
• Waved goodbye to the head of Medicare,Dr. Donald Berwick, a much respected former doctor and Harvard researcher turned businessman whose temporary appointment expired without approval
• Disagreed over plans for extending payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits, set to expire at the end of the year

The payroll tax cuts are the hot point
Democrats want another year of 160 million Americans paying lower social security taxes, but want to offset that by adding a tax to Americans who make more than $1 million a year. 

Republicans oppose higher taxes on the wealthy but will support the extensions in exchange for building a controversial oil pipeline through the Midwest, which they say will create jobs (more on this another week!).

Stalling is typical when the party in control of Congress differs from the President’s 
Problem is, the “do nothing” approach to government seems like a cop out, and the consequences are real: There are close to 100 federal judge vacancies, about one-third of which have been declared emergencies with backlogs of at least 500-700 cases waiting to be heard. 

Obama could push judicial and other appointments through temporarily while Congress recesses, but he wants legislators to work through the holidays if they don’t pass the payroll tax cut extensions. Republicans say they may not break anyway to prevent the recess appointments. Yikes, my head is spinning over that one!

It may be coldest of all in Washington, but ultimately, we all feel the chill. I’m going to get another mocha...

 

The many flavors of Newt

All this talk about Newt Gingrich is somehow reminding me of Fig Newtons (a little odd, I know). You might remember both the cookie and the politician from years ago. And it depends on your taste buds and your political preferences if you remember either fondly. There’s been a landslide of news recently about the “surge” of Newt as a Republican presidential candidate. In the latest round of polls, Gingrich has pulled ahead of Mitt Romney (27% vs 20% on average). Newt’s also doubling down efforts in South Carolina, which has backed the eventual winner in every Republican presidential primary race since Reagan. So what should you know about Newt? He’s been on the public scene for a long, long time--here are some highlights: