Fainting Is Not An Option

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interview pic

As a PR person, I’m no stranger to media interviews.  Sometimes I have the benefit of knowing the questions in advance and can carefully prepare my response.  Many times, though, I only have a high-level overview of what we will discuss.

Such was the situation with a recent radio interview I did.  I was told the host wanted to discuss job searches. 

That was it.  All the information I was given ahead of time: the job search.  Okay, I did get the time of the interview and the name of the host as well as the name of the show. But nothing more.

Job searches, lay-offs, reinventing yourself, interviewing tips. Talk about wide-open!  My mind raced with the different directions this conversation could go.

Normally I’m pretty cool under media interview pressure.  This time I was a giant bundle of sweat. Thank goodness we were not on Skype where they could see me.  Why was I so nervous? This time, it was personal – it was about me, my experience and my book.  The pressure I felt to “get it right” was overwhelming.

It might have helped to do the interview in-person instead of over the phone.  But the show was three states away so the phone was our best option.

Did I mention this was live?  No do-over if I messed up.

Yes, I had prepared.  In fact my Girl Scout instincts kicked into high-gear and I probably over-prepared. I tried to imagine possible questions and developed answers just in case, even typing them out so I could have them in front of me.   Information about the interviewer, recent government job statistics and my resume were at my finger tips, held in place by sticky notes with reminders to mention my name, my book and my website.

And like any good Girl Scout, I had emergency s’mores on hand just in case.

Secretly I wondered if the radio host had sticky notes about me in front of her.  Now that would have made me feel a bit better!  But listening to the earlier part of her show, it sounded like she was cool as a cucumber.

I knew I had only one shot at getting this right.  All I could think of when the interview started was, “Breathe – fainting is not an option!”

Being prepared was definitely a necessity.  The time and energy I spent preparing was key to making the interview sound easy, almost un-rehearsed.  I knew the key points I wanted to get across above all else: my name, my book and my website.

My preparation for the radio interview was really no different than preparing for a job interview.  We all should know our resumes like the back of our hand, have some career highlights to share and have questions to ask the interviewer. Above all, we should know exactly what key points we want to get across in order to leave a great impression.

The radio interview went very well.  My four-legged executive assistant managed to be quiet and the doorbell didn’t ring.  I remembered my key points. And no, I did not faint.

I rewarded myself by eating the emergency s’mores.  Now that’s success!

The Girl And The New Job Decision

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Decision pic

I had a big decision to make.  The magnitude of this decision weighed heavily on me, my head spinning as I ran through the options in my mind.

This seemed to be a great time to enlist the advice of trusted friends.  So I took a poll.

Do I cut my hair short, or continue to let it grow?

Yes, this was a major decision. To cut my hair or not.  After all, it takes a super long time to grow it out. Clearly this was a first-world problem, but it was important to me nonetheless.

To be clear, when it comes to my hair I’m not afraid of change. I’ve had it so long I could sit on it and so short it was almost a buzz-cut, and everything in between.

After all, it’s just hair and it does grow back.  I become very courageous in the stylist’s chair, proclaiming, “Do whatever you want!”  Most of the time, I’m lucky and walk out of the salon with an uber-stylish new ‘do.

Yet we all know that one miss-snip of the shears and we can be left with a hot mess.  And having bad hair is a downer every second of every day until it grows out.

This time I was on the fence with my decision, having spent the last year growing my hair.  It was time for a consultation. Not sure why I felt the need to get a focus group together for something as simple as a haircut.

Clearly my mind had been playing tricks on me, confusing my work projects with personal projects.

In the end, the decision was mine.  Didn’t matter what the focus group said; it’s my hair and I had to feel good about it.  Besides, there was no clear consensus among focus group participants. Shocker.

The problem with involving too many people in the decision process is just that we all have different opinions.  It may be that we really don’t want to hear the opinions of others; we may simply want validation for a decision that we’ve already made in our head.

Same thing is true for a new job decision.  We need to decide for ourselves what is best for us.

It’s okay to have a trusted advisor or two to provide an outside, objective opinion and strategic counsel.  We don’t want to make a job decision that’s based on emotion; sometimes we get so fired up about a job that we’re too close to the situation to be objective.

But the advisor’s job should be simply to provide a sounding board.  No interjecting their own biases as if they were the ones standing in your shoes.

Don’t get me wrong; friends want to help and think they have our best interests in mind.  Yet they don’t really know everything about our situation.

I’ve made this mistake before, consulting others about a new job decision.

Once, when I had to make a difficult decision to leave one job in pursuit of something totally different, a former colleague offered unsolicited advice about my decision.  And it was not pretty. This person said I was making a mistake, along with some other opinions about my career.

While I understood why my colleague would consider it a mistake for her family and financial situation, she failed to understand that my situation was very different from hers.

That was pretty much a “friend fail”, in my mind.  Note that this “advice” didn’t help me, nor did I change my mind.  It momentarily caused me to question myself – which is never good – yet ultimately it was a good lesson. It reminded me that it’s my life and my career, and I have to live with the results.

Just like my hair.  Which I did cut short, by the way.  And I’m loving it.

Three Basic Steps to Career Reinvention

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your career

Just read an article in the paper that talked about reinventing yourself in your career.  It was one of those employment advice columns, and the person asking the question basically stated that it’s not only difficult to start over when you are over forty, but it’s ridiculous.

I know what you’re thinking; someone actually reads a real newspaper?   Now that’s ridiculous.

Seriously, as someone who has reinvented herself several times during the course of my career, I think statements like this are ridiculous.  In my opinion, the person writing the question seems to be enjoying a pity-party. Hope they are having fun.

Let me share some of the different points brought up in the question:

–  Motivational speakers talk as if it’s “nothing” to follow your passion

–  Workers who were raised to follow the career paths they were told to follow or do what their parents did with jobs that offered security above everything else now find their long-term security threatened

–  When you’ve got umpteen years in the same field, no matter what kind, it’s not easy to reinvent yourself

–  How does one even find their passion to begin with

As a motivational speaker myself, not only am I offended but I would never say it’s “nothing” to follow your dreams.  After all, this is my passion, and I figured out how to do it.

Anything worth having takes energy, time and determination.  For me, even college took everything I had to make it to graduation.  But if you’re not willing to put in the effort, you’re going to be stuck in the same place.

Career reinvention at any age can be difficult, yet it’s definitely possible.  When it comes down to it, there are three basic steps:

  1. Figure out what it is you want to do.
  2. Figure out how to do it
  3. Just do it

Sounds too simple, right? 

You’re thinking, “I just wasted time to read a bunch of crazy talk”. Let me assure you that I have not lost my mind and I’m not just making this stuff up.  I’ve reinvented myself at least three times during my career; here are the biggies:

–          Engineering to retail buying

–          Retail buying to marketing

–          Marketing to public relations

–          Public relations to author and speaker

And this doesn’t count all the minor reinventions within each of those careers.

I get it. Really, I do.  It’s hard.  I can hear you saying, “But you don’t understand; you’re not in my shoes”. I agree – I’m not in your shoes.

Here’s a look at my shoes:  Hubby and I were both laid-off within one year.  Both of us are considered to be “older” workers – you know, in a “protected class” in HR terms.  We have a mortgage and other expenses, and neither of us comes from a wealthy family who could possibly lend a financial hand.

Guess what?  Both of us found ways to make money at jobs we enjoyed. I discovered a new passion and found employment that leveraged not only this passion but my career experience.

So how is it possible to successfully reinvent yourself in your career?  It’s a bit different for everyone but here are some key points that I’ve learned about this process.

  • You have to be open to new opportunities as they present themselves.  Don’t “pooh-pooh” something without hearing more about it.
  • You have to be willing to be uncomfortable.  Trying something new brings a certain level of discomfort.  Embrace it.
  • You may have to be willing to accept a lower title and/or less money.  We all have to start somewhere.
  • You may have to work at something that’s not your dream job while you figure out how to pursue your passion.
  • Don’t have a passion yet?  Take up a hobby, enroll in a class, do volunteer work or take a part-time job in a field of interest to see if anything clicks.
  • Listen to yourself and try not to be influenced by well-meaning friends and family. This is your career; not theirs.

Again, I’m not saying that it’s easy to reinvent yourself.  If finding a new career opportunity or discovering your passion was as simple as donning ruby red slippers, clicking your heels and stating, “Find my passion; find my passion”, don’t you think everyone would be doing it?

But I can say with absolute certainty that it’s possible.  And the rewards are great.

I’m sure I’ll be revisiting this topic again here on my blog.  Stay tuned. As usual, I’ve got lots to say.

Vacation Brain

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Scottsdale 2013

Ahhh…vacation!  The time to get away from it all. To refresh and re-energize.  Yep, I’m one of “those people”, the kind who believes in taking a true vacation to get away from everything for a week.  No checking email, no calling the office.  I tell the people I work with, “If the building burns, save yourself and tell me about it when I get back”.  No sense telling me when I’m not there to do anything about it.

Never have understood the concept of a “working vacation” either – isn’t that an oxymoron?  If I’m going to spend the money for a vacation I want to enjoy it – sans work.

Funny thing is that my family didn’t really take vacations.  A couple times we accompanied dad on a business trip to Florida; along the way we’d wait for him in the car or at a restaurant while he called on clients, eventually ending up at the beach for a couple days.  Every few years Sis and I would go to Grandma’s in Minnesota, but that was it.  No weekends at the lake, no ski vacations, no trips just for fun.

I learned about the beauty of a vacation after business school, when I had friends living in other cities.  Those friends would say, “Come visit sometime”, and whether they meant it or not I took them up on the offer.  Note to all of you: if you say “come visit”, know that at some point I will do just that.

It wasn’t always easy for me to take a vacation.  I was (and sometimes still am) plagued by worries: what if something “big” happens while I’m gone? What if someone needs me? What if, what if, what if?

Early on I had a great boss who heard me lamenting the “what ifs” and wisely told me, “there is NOTHING that will happen in your absence that we can’t fix when you get back”.   Logic told me she was right and I’ve tried to remember that ever since.

Last week was it – vacation time!  An entire week of fun at our favorite resort with no work in sight, and it was beyond great.  Vacation Brain kicked in for both Hubby and I as soon as we left for the airport, a definite signal that it was time to relax. We read, talked, swam, lounged and were generally lazy.  Work Brain was nowhere to be seen, as it should be during vacation.

As with all good things, our trip came to an end far too soon and my Vacation Brain reluctantly started powering down while my Work Brain tried to wake from a nice nap.  At the airport, Work Brain said it would be a good idea to download my emails so I could at least scan them on the plane.  Sounded logical, so I tried to log-on.  Note I said “tried” – for the life of me I couldn’t remember my log-in info.  Vacation Brain clearly was still in command.  After some time, I finally remembered and logged in – a small victory for Work Brain.

Hubby was having difficulty too.  Wanting to initiate a call with a co-worker, he started to send an email with his cell phone number – but Vacation Brain forbade him from remembering his own number. Work Brain, unfortunately, reminded him that I had his phone number in my phone.

Once I was online, Work Brain commanded that I look at my in-box. Yikes! How could one person have that many emails in just a week?

My mind raced as Vacation Brain was desperate to keep me in resort mode.  Looking at the subject lines, I tried to recall what I was working on when I left town.  My mind was sputtering, with a vague memory of some projects but not enough for the emails to make complete sense.

And who ARE all these people, wanting answers from me?  Do I work with them?  I could feel the tension in my head as Work Brain fought to recover information from a week ago, while Vacation Brain attempted to keep all that information hidden.  Back and forth, the battle for control raged in my head as I read the emails, trying to make sense of it all.  Once the plane landed, Work Brain started a victory dance, knowing that as soon as we exited the jet way Vacation Brain was history.

Sigh. Why is it always like this? Within seconds of returning from vacation, it’s as though we never left at all.  I enjoy my work but I really do cherish the little bit of vacation I take and I would love for the feeling to last longer than a nanosecond.

Good news is the office didn’t burn.  At least I don’t think it did.

Adventures in Working From Home

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home sweet home office

Last week I had the pleasure of being a guest columnist at MOMeo Magazine, a resource for Entrepreneurial Mothers that includes articles addressing work life, family life and playtime for mommy.   I wrote about something that touches many women (and men): adventures in working from home.

Here’s an excerpt:

As a corporate gal, I was always envious of the consultants who worked for me. They had all the perks of corporate life – interesting work, being part of a team, contributing to the company’s success – yet the benefit of doing it from home. I was sure they had discovered Utopia; at least that’s the way it appeared from my view in cubicle land.

You can imagine my delight when I began consulting. This is it, I thought. No more commute, no listening to unexplained noises coming from the cube next door, no more drive-by impromptu “meetings” from colleagues who have a little too much time on their hands.

Working from home has been pure bliss; wonderful; everything I thought it would be!

That’s not entirely true. Let me tell you what I’ve learned about working from home.

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Click here to read the rest of the post, and please feel free to leave a comment on MOMeo, retweet it or Facebook it. I’ve had such a great response to this piece!

I look forward to further contributions to MOMeo and other publications in the future.

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Things I’ve Learned About Being a Good Manager

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Office space pic

My first job out of grad school was working for a great retailer, arguably the best in the world.  The program for incoming “newbies” was nothing short of militant, except it was more fashionable.  Thank goodness for that; I always did prefer Armani over camouflage.

Expectations were beyond high. I remember thinking that grad school was like kindergarten in comparison.  If you’ve seen “The Devil Wears Prada”, you have a sense of what the program was like.

We had a few weeks of boot camp that included a mixture of classroom and hands-on learning, all designed to engross us in the company culture and ways, lest we had any ideas of trying to do something new.

Once we were deemed acceptable enough to stay, the real learning began.  Basically it was a sink-or-swim situation.  You either figured it out or you were gone, as we were reminded daily.   Harsh, I know, but in such an uber-competitive environment what else would you expect?  More than 3,000 applicants each year tried to get in; less than 100 were accepted.

Was it stressful?  All I can say is that it was during this time I had to start coloring my hair.  In my early twenties. Okay, gray hair could be genetic but I’m pretty sure stress had something to do with it.

While this sounds awful to many, I have to say that it was the best business training I could have had.  We were empowered; given the authority that went along with the responsibilities of the position.  Yes, we made mistakes and sometimes they were career-threatening.  But who can argue with getting to make million-dollar decisions on a daily basis – in your twenties?

Something that stands out to me from this experience is that all managers were tasked with developing those working under them.  If your employees were not considered promotable, in many cases the fault was placed on the manager for not preparing them to take the next step.   It was during my tenure at the company that I learned what it means to be a manager.

Being a manager is a tough job.  To be honest, it’s much easier just to work alone. I’ve worked with and for good managers, as well as not-so-good managers, and downright bad managers.

Here are some things I learned about being a good, if not great, manager:

–          Communicate clearly with instructions, expectations, goals – I cannot emphasize this enough

–          Allow for mistakes by your team. Remember that you had to learn at one point, and mistakes are bound to happen – it’s how you recover and learn from the mistake that’s important

–          Don’t be afraid to make a mistake yourself

–          Accept input, yet never lose sight that you are responsible for all outcomes – ultimately, the manager has to make the decision

–          Listening is more important that talking

–          Give directions, not orders

–          Make necessary decisions.  Lack of decision-making leads to uncertainty, which in turn leads to frustration for all.

–          Be approachable and friendly, without losing sight of the fact that you are the boss

–          Be honest in all that you do – your business practice, your treatment of others and yourself

–          Remember, this is not a popularity contest – sometimes the right decision for the business and team is not a popular one

You can command respect by your actions; you can’t demand respect by your words

Am I a great manager?  I’d like to think so, but I don’t know – you’ll have to ask my team.  What I do know is that I try very hard.  I’m not afraid to listen or accept help from those under my care. I’m willing to make the tough decisions that may not win me friends.  Yet at the end of the day, I can sleep knowing that I did the right thing for the business as well as the team.

Sometimes I may not be the most popular, but I hope at least that I’m respected.  That’s my ultimate goal.

It’s All About Bright, Shiny Objects

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Disco Ball

Years ago I worked with a “master presenter”.  This guy was superb at creating PowerPoints that were almost works of art.  His verbal presentation skills were stellar.  At his meetings, attendees would almost enter a trance-like state, hanging on his every word.

At the end of each presentation, applause ensued and attendees headed back to their desks praising this genius and his words of wisdom.  All wanted to work under his tutelage because surely he had all the answers.

We were all attracted to the “bright, shiny object” that was his presentation.

After attending a few of his meetings, I realized his true genius.  He actually said NOTHING in his presentations.  There was no strategy, no goals, no tactics to execute.  Oh, the presentations were beautiful, but they were empty of true business substance, filled only with lots of theory and questions to ponder.

If a company could be successful by simply thinking of ideas without considering execution and outcome, or discussing other lofty thoughts that may or may not be on strategy, this guy was your man.

That was his genius; he was so good at positioning himself and his ideas that we all believed without questioning.

Call me crazy, but I would rather have a straightforward presentation that provides serious content that can help with my business needs.

I recently met another such “genius”.   His presentation was full of cool graphics and he spoke with such confidence that some were ready to buy without asking critical questions.   This presenter used the age-old tactic of rapidly speaking and moving through the presentation, so fast it was difficult to take notes.

Since this was not my first rodeo, I recognized the bright, shiny object approach. 

Most of the presentation was “Marketing 101”; nothing new.   The words on the paper sounded good, yet there were no specific goals, tactics for execution or metrics for success.

Lack of clear metrics alone should have been a red flag for everyone in the meeting. Most disturbing to me was that this was something he had done years ago and he was relying on past success, despite the fact that the business landscape has changed with the wide-spread use of social media.

But he had a bright, shiny object.  

Apparently, bright, shiny objects appeal to lots of people, including executives.  This was a reminder to me that even if you have a great product or a fabulous idea, if it’s not positioned well it won’t sell.

The same can be said for job interviews.  Candidates that position themselves well have a better chance of landing the job.  While experience and education are required, the entire “presentation” must be packaged well to gain the attention of the hiring manager in order to win the job.

That includes a well-presented resume, dressing appropriately, showing confidence, asking the right questions and providing stellar answers.

Shouldn’t hiring managers dig deep and ask probing questions to make sure a candidate is truly the best for the job?  In a perfect world, yes.  But managers are short-staffed and pressed for time.   Doesn’t matter if you are the better candidate in terms of experience, your total presentation will be the final test.

I’ve got to remember to position myself in the best possible way during interviews, providing great information that shows the hiring manager know I’m the best candidate.  Let’s just hope the job opportunity isn’t a dud, packaged as a ‘bright shiny object’.

Do I Know You?

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Businessman Giving out Card 

I stare at the face on the screen, my brain searching for any memory of this person.  For the umpteenth time I look at the name, still not remembering anything. 

The face stares back.  It’s a great picture of this person, dressed in business attire, not a candid shot taken at a party with some questionable activities going on.  I mean, we all love a good party but those “beer-bucket-on-the-head” photos may not be as funny years from now.

Surely we must have been friends, or colleagues, or at the very least acquaintances at some point in my life.  Why else would someone want to connect with me on social media?

I scroll down to read any information about this person.  Didn’t go to school together, their career seems a bit different than mine.  Ah-ha!  There it is; years ago we both worked at the same company.   

Yet I still have no idea who you are.

Probably due to the fact that while we were both employed by the same company, this person worked in a different city than I did. And to my knowledge we never even attended a meeting together. 

Seems like I’m getting more of these random requests from people I don’t know, with no explanation in the note as to why they are reaching out to me.  Am I the only one who thinks we should have at least some knowledge of the people we connect with online? 

Perhaps you think I’m conservative.  Or maybe you’re thinking that I just “don’t get” social media.  As an early adopter of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, I’m pretty sure I understand the concept. 

I’ll be the first one to tout the virtues of these platforms, especially LinkedIn and Facebook.   They are great ways to maintain and build your business network, as well as reconnect with friends and family socially. 

In fact, I’m forever preaching the benefits of LinkedIn to those who are in a job search, and I’m amazed when I discover that many have not made use of this platform.

That said, I think we need to remember that social networking is not a high school popularity contest.  There’s no prize for the most connections.  The Great Social Media Gods are not keeping tally.  More isn’t necessarily better.

I’m sure I have hurt some feelings when rejecting “friend” requests on Facebook, preferring to truly be friends with someone before allowing them in.   Radical concept, I know.

For LinkedIn, I can see the value in relaxing the standards since I’m not sharing details of my weekend or the fabulous pair of shoes I just picked up at the mall.

Yet I still see the need to use some discretion on this platform.

This person whose photo I’m looking at is probably very nice.  My assumption is that they are trying to find a job as it appears they are out of work, although I have no idea since they did not include an explanation in the connection request.

My challenge is that even if I connect with you, I don’t KNOW you.  And that means I’m not comfortable either connecting you with others or sending your resume to HR because, again, I don’t KNOW you. 

Did you really manage everything alone, as your profile indicates, or were you part of a team?  How about your people skills? I need to know about those too.

True networking is getting to know people so they have at least some knowledge of your personality and abilities.  It’s not about finding any and all who worked at the same company, or worse, just randomly trying to connect so you can brag to your friends about your huge network.

My apologies to this nice-looking person, but I’m denying your request.  If you feel strongly that we should connect, please send me a note with some sort of introduction or explanation.  

I, too, want to have great connections.  I’m just not in it to win a popularity contest.

Direction Unknown

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Ever feel like you’re spinning out of control? That life is controlling you, instead of you taking the lead?

It seems like I always feel that way. Too much to do, not enough time.

This is not a bad thing.  I’ve got so many interests that I could be busy 24/7.  Could be worse; I could have no interests at all and struggle to find ways to fill my days.  Yet I may have too much of a good thing – between work, writing, family, volunteering, exercising and other assorted hobbies, it’s hard to find even a minute to sit back and relax.

It happened again Saturday night, the overwhelming feeling of “must do this, must do that” overtaking me.   

Saturday night used to be “Date Night”.  A sacred time when we were free from work and stress, when we allowed ourselves time to simply have fun.  Unfortunately Hubby and I had forgotten this ritual and again found ourselves, late afternoon on Saturday, with no plans at all for that evening.

Guess we just hoped that something exciting would happen without any forethought on our part.

I tried to calm myself, as I could feel a meltdown coming on.  Hubby was trying his best to get into the spirit of a last-minute date night, even stepping outside to call me on the phone from the backyard to ask me out.

“Humph! Don’t you think it’s kind of late to be asking me out, an hour before you want to leave?”  I cried.  “Do you just assume I’m sitting around waiting for you to call?”

Amazing how easily I reverted back to single-gal mode, huh?

Knowing that we were reaching critical mass and tears were imminent, Hubby came up with a back-up plan that most women love to hear: “Let’s have dinner and go shopping!”   Gotta love Hubby; he sure knows how to make a girl smile.  Food and fashion are always a win with me.

While this was a nice short-term fix, we still have the bigger issue of our lives spinning out of control.  A planner at heart, I know that direction, not intention, determines destination.  Hubby and I made a promise that night to work on planning more fun, rather than waiting for fun to find us.

This is true for careers as well as date nights.

When I was laid-off, I took this to heart and mapped out a plan.  Starting with the end result, I worked backwards to figure out how to accomplish my job search goals.  I even wrote everything down on a grease board.  Sometimes it seems like writing it down makes plans more real.  After all, it doesn’t matter how much you want something to happen – without a plan, chances are you’ll stay put.

Simply intending to work on a job search is not enough. We need to have direction – a plan – in order to reach our destination of a job offer.

Even now that Hubby and I are working again we still need to map out our career goals as well as our life goals to make sure they work together in harmony.  Hard to remember this, but we are trying.

Yes, I’ve forgiven Hubby for asking me out at the last-minute.  Although I’m sure next time he’ll remember to plan in advance.

Right, Hubby? Hubby?

Girl Power

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photo

One of the benefits of being an author is that I get invited to speak at different groups and events.  And that means I get to meet new people – always a plus for a social person like me.  It’s especially good if there’s food involved; bonus points if there’s chocolate.  

Recently I had the opportunity to meet a wonderful group of women who are part of an organization designed specifically to support local business women.  They meet regularly to talk about business issues in general as well as those specific to women.  They want to empower themselves and other women through constant learning and growing. 

During my time with them, we focused on reinventing yourself in your career.  It was a wonderfully engaging conversation.  We talked about almost everything: our careers, the economy, even shoes.  It’s a universal rule: whenever two are more women are gathered, there will be a discussion at some point about shoes.

This was “Girl-Power” at its finest.  Or whatever you call it now that we are adults.

Although I was the guest speaker, I felt immediately like part of the group. The chatter flowed effortlessly as though we had been friends for years.   And I was reminded about the importance of supporting our friends and colleagues as we journey through our business lives. 

Last week I wrote about neglect as it pertains to our resumes and interview skills.  This meeting reminded me that we also need to keep our friendships thriving – both personal friendships as well as business acquaintances. 

This is beyond networking; this is a support system.  And it’s vital to our career growth. 

I, for one, am guilty of neglecting my support system.  Not talking about family here.  Hubby looks wounded, like he’s been kicked off my support team.  He is my rock, and always will be.  It’s just that everyone – women and men – need a business support system outside of the family.   People who are objective third parties.

This group of women reminded me that I need to make my support system a priority, although that’s easier said than done. We’re all busy, and adding one more thing to the schedule seems like a monumental task.  It’s important for me to do this so I can continue to grow in my career and as a person.

I sure don’t want to wait until a layoff or I’m desperate to begin a job search to try and round up my friends and colleagues.  Yikes.  That would be like asking friends to come to my wedding at the last minute. 

To my Girl-Power friends out there, I’m sorry I’ve neglected you.  It’s about time we re-grouped for a friendly networking event.  If I’m in charge, there will be lots of food and plenty of beverages – and definitely chocolate. 

And don’t forget to put your best foot forward – shoes will be the first topic on the agenda.