sphinxx blog

You can now visit the official sphinxx blog at www.thesheeoblog.com

 If you are not redirected automatically, please click here

www.womensenews.org reported this week that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin became the first elected governor in the USA to give birth in office on April 18.  The baby boy is Palin’s fifth child.

It got me thinking… while women have made a lot of inroads to the jobs at the top, it’s amazing that this sort of ”first” is still being achieved.  There does indeed appear to be a dearth of women leaders who are dealing with the pressures of childbirth and child rearing at the same time as taking on top jobs. 

We haven’t seen an equivalent “first” here in Australia, but then again our first female Premier (our equivalent role to a Governor, for our offshore readers) was only elected to office last year.  I know that in North America there’s been some female CEOs who’ve given birth while in the top job - and promptly off-ramped shortly thereafter to focus on family (Brenda Barnes springs to mind -she left her role as CEO of Pepsi Co to raise her family, and has since returned to business as CEO of Sara Lee).  

But I don’t know of any comparables here in Australia - can anyone help me out here? 

The Sydney Morning Herald announced on Monday it was a “Great day for women”.  At first I thought they were referring to those women (like me!) enjoying the Liberated Life retreat for women in the Hunter Valley!  But rather the declaration was for all Australian women.  For the appointment of our very first female Governor General had just been announced.

For our international readers, the prestigious role of Governor General is a hangover of our membership in the Commonwealth of Nations; the “GG” is our Queen’s official representative in Australia.

On Sunday our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - a thoroughly modern bloke - announced that Quentin Bryce will be our 25th GG and the first female to occupy the role.  He said Bryce would would capture “the spirit of modern Australia” in the vice-regal position.

Bryce for her part said the role was a great honour and responsibility. “I grew up in a little bush town in Queensland of 200 people, and what this day says to Australian women and to Australian girls is that you can do anything, you can be anything,” she said. “It makes my heart sing to see women in so many diverse roles across our country in Australia.”

And I must say it makes my heart sing to see the appointment of such a wonderful role model, on every level.  Bryce is a prominent feminist and campaigner for women’s rights and was a lawyer specialising in anti-discrimination and human rights law before becoming the Governor of Queensland in 2003. 

A mother of 5 and grandmother to 5 gorgeous grandchildren (yes -they’ve all featured in the media headlines), Bryce is a stylish, educated, warm and feminine leader.  No dark pin striped suits for our new GG - she prefers tailored pastels that show off her elegant features.  What a breath of fresh air!

Congratulations to our PM on getting it so right: Quentin Bryce is an inspiration for women leaders on every level.

With all this talk about work-life balance I decided it was time I learned some of the secrets. I’ve been looking for the Holy Grail of how to juggle all those important aspects of my life, without getting any one of them out of kilter. So off I went to a seminar led by a businesswoman extraordinaire. It was a working lunch actually, which was even better since I never seem to find time to step out for a decent lunch any more. Already I was in front!

For 45 minutes I heard this woman speak about raising her children as a single mum, while growing a business and keeping pace with a world growing more manic by the minute. I heard the messages about multi-tasking and work flexibility – which in her case involved taking work home to do on the PC in her kitchen after the kids had gone to bed.

I heard how she managed to “find” another hour a day by reviewing work while the kids were eating breakfast and getting ready for school or while they were at sports training, or by reading journals or listening to podcasts while pounding the treadmill at the gym. She encouraged us to think of times where we could add a bit more productivity to our daily processes so we too could find that elusive extra time we seem to need to get everything done.

So yesterday I decided to put some of the theory into action. The obvious target was my morning walk, which usually lasts about an hour. So I set off with the beagles, equipped with a range of business podcasts, ready to claw back some of the “white space” in my walking routine. (“White space” for the uninformed is the unproductive time we spend on tasks that don’t produce any tangible output. It’s a term that came from Japanese manufacturing philosophies and has been made famous by the lean thinkers around the world – including experts in work-life balance, it seems.) 

Now walking 3 beagles in itself is a bit of a challenge, but it’s the highlight of the day for my pack and in the city it’s an imperative rather than an option – for all our sakes and that of our neighbours’ too! Fortunately I enjoy the walks and we’ve developed a pretty good routine so – as daunting as it may seem – the dogs have become fairly manageable. That was, until I introduced the added complication of the podcasts. You see it took my attention away from the dogs – which they noticed immediately and took exception to – and before long it was suddenly quite difficult to manage 3 scent hounds whose main purpose in life is tracking smells… wherever they may go.

Within a block and a half of leaving home we’d had 2 tangles; none of the pack were behaving; I almost had us all run over when I stepped off the curb engrossed in the advice of Rosabeth Moss-Kantor and didn’t hear the approaching car ‘til it ground to a halt in front of us. Needless to say the pups were not impressed!

So I took the ear buds out and decided enough is enough. I can enjoy my peaceful walk in the morning without the need to remove the white space. I don’t need to cram more into my day; I just need to get the most from what I do spend my time on.

The experts can have their theories. I’ve made my own ruling on work-life balance – as long as I can enjoy my work and my life, it’s good enough balance for me.

My office smells like a Body Shop outlet.  I’m sitting here surrounded by nice smelling gift bags filled with goodies that our sphinxx members brought to last week’s Take the Lead focus group.  You see I asked attendees to have a bit of a clean out and bring along any unused toiletries or cosmetics they no longer wanted so we could give them to Lou’s Place.

Lou’s Place is a daytime centre for women - women who need a hand in putting back together lives that have crumpled under the pressures of abuse and neglect.  They are homeless, in crisis or in need of support. 

I’m not surprised that many people used this as an opportunity to clean out those bathroom drawers that seem to multiply in contents quicker than guinea pigs!  But is was touching to also see many of the ladies had also been shopping and brought along beautifully gift wrapped toiletries from almost every brand name cosmetics line.  All to make another lady’s day just a little bit brighter.

I’m driving over to Lou’s Place this afternoon to take them all the goodies and I know they’ll be as surprised as I was with all the beautiful gifts our sphinxx ladies have put together.  It’s times like this I’m really proud to be a woman and part of such a vibrant and caring community who really believe in connecting to make life richer for everyone.

Thanks ladies - you’ve made my day.

The exciting news today is that Karen Moses, Chief Operating Officer of Origin Energy and last month’s Take the Lead leader in profile has been selected to participate in the 2020 summit.  Congratulations Karen, we’ll look forward to seeing your name up in lights and hope to hear more about your experiences.

Click here to view the full list of 2020 participants - if you do click through you’ll be able to sort by name and gender and you’ll see there are now exactly 50% women participants at the summit - which is great news after the media furore.

Click here to order the Take the Lead CD set including Karen’s advice for women leaders on navigating the path to the top.

How many people do you know who set themselves a vision for “to challenge, inspire and transform a billion people to believe in themselves”? 

That is exactly what Shivani has done – and is doing – one person at a time.  You see Shivani is a business butterfly.  She used to be a corporate warrior, before embarking on a journey of self discovery – under the guise of a trip to Nepal. 

It was a trip that was to change her life forever – as she walked away from the corporate role she’d aspired to all her life to start her own business focused on helping others to find their passion. 

Shivani generously shares her journey in her brand new book Passion@Work: My journey from corporate warrior to business butterfly, with the hope of inspiring women over the world to be a corporate dynamo with heart, vision and values.

But a billion people?  It’s a pretty big stretch, isn’t it.  And having met Shivani, I reckon she’s truly capable of pulling it off. 

Many of you have shared with me experiences of feeling torn between your own personal visions and values.  At times it is certainly difficult for women to balance these conflicting demands.  Perhaps Shivani’s book can shed some light and help you navigate your own journey… 

Next week I’m speaking at the Liberated Life Retreat in the Hunter Valley, a beautiful wine district north of Sydney. Liberated Life is the brainchild of Libby Dedman, an amazing businesswoman who owns a chain of hair salons in the Hunter area that have won award after international award. Once you meet Libby, you soon realise why!

Libby had this idea of bringing together a group of motivated women in an opulent location to hear from inspirational speakers while being pampered by the Just Liberated style team – and at the same time raising funds for the Hands Across the Water charity founded to support orphans of the Tsunami in Thailand (Peter Baines ws involved in the Tsunami recovery effort and will share his experiences at the retreat).

If you haven’t already registered to attend the retreat, you should! There are still a handful of spaces left.

You’ll not only hear from me about what women can learn from the behaviours and leadership styles of the men around us; but also an impressive lineup including Karen Miles (Motherhood Needs a Makover); Julia Palmer (High End Networking Strategies); Noelene Dawes (Emotional Resilience at Work) and Julie Cross (Finding the Courage to Sparkle in Your Life). Of course, Libby Dedman and Peter Baines will also share their knowledge and experiences to inspire you.

You can also hear from Noelene Dawes on the retreat by clicking this link to her vodcast.

I really do hope to see you there. And if you can’t make it, why not send your PA - it would be a win for you and a win for her…

My friend Nea is a great photographer.  She is one of the few who have resisted the temptation of digital and retains her trusty SLR camera - primarily so that she has a reason to have her photos printed (when was the last time you printed your digital photos??)  So she is constantly surrounded by beautiful photo frames filled with priceless memories.

This got me thinking of the times I’ve visited all the different offices over the years, and of the differences I’ve observed in relation to the personal items - especially photos - on the desks of leaders around the world.

What I’ve noticed - in general - is that men rarely display photos.  And if they do, it’s a trophy shot of a couple of gorgeous little kids (even if the “kids” are now 30 years of age!).  There is rarely a photo of their wife. 

Women, on the other hand, usually have at least one photo - but usually more than one so that she’s surrounded by friendly faces - her partner, kids, extended family, friends, the dog or cat and so on. 

It got me wondering why this was the case?  It could be that men seek to play a very different role in the office compared to their home life.  Hence they seek to minimise the artefacts that remind them of their other life.  Or it could be that a photo of the kids might soften a bloke’s appeal; while a woman truly wishes to be reminded of the other important aspects of her life while she’s working.

 What do you reckon?  Do photos and personal effects on a desk impact a person’s image?  Is there a difference between the sexes and - if so - why do you think that is the case?

On the weekend I attended the National Speakers convention in Melbourne.  As a fringe benefit it was held at my favourite hotel - The Sofitel - and a big plug to the Sofitel for helping me with all my business requirements throughout my stay

One of the revelations I made over the weekend is that the representation of the National Speakers Association membership follows a similar pattern to corporates.  While women comprise more than 55% of the membership, fewer than 30% of its top speakers carry the highest designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP).  One of the obstacles for women progressing from a professional member to a CSP is that income from professional speaking must reach a certain qualifying level.

But like many of us in corporate roles, the opportunity to reach this level of income is restricted by bookings which flow more freely to the louder, higher profile, and well known male speakers on the circuit.  So a woman can be the best orator, but if she’s not making the income limit she won’t reach the top of the speaking field.  And if you’re not in the top of your field, you’re unlikely to get as many bookings, so you’re income will remain constricted.  It’s another self perpetuating cycle. 

So what can you do?  Well…. you could start by booking women experts for your next conference or seminar.  All the speakers bureaus have women on their books and if you ask for women, they will put them forward.  Because women don’t blow their own trumpet as much as men, you might not know about all the women expert speakers out there.  But there are plenty, and from what I’ve observed they are great!

Booking women experts for your conference will help us to position women as the thinkers in our communities and will provide role models for your female staff, and the chance for your male staff to learn more about the communication styles of women.  It’s a win-win. 

This is just another way that each of us can make a difference to our collective success.