Networking

In 2009, some of the staff at British Airways wondered what they could do to jumpstart economic recovery. Recognizing the economic power in the hands of small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), they came up with a bold idea - support SMEs that want to go global. And so, they launched the BA Face to Face (#BAF2F) Face of Opportunity Contest.

Recently, a client who was headed for a 2 week trip to Asia asked me if I have any contacts there. She would be visiting 4 major cities. Personally, I had none, but I was able to tap colleagues in my Leading Women network and pass on recommendations from our members.

Thoughtful guest post from Bonnie Marcus, host of Head Over Heels: Women's Business Radio.

The headline from Britain's Telegraph caught my eye, "Women who want to get ahead must take bosses to pub." It made me wonder if men who have women bosses must take them to a spa?

Last week we ran a workshop for the senior managers at the site of a Fortune 500 company. Our co-presenter was the officer in charge of marketing and community social responsibility. Here's how I kicked off the event:

"When someone sees me leave the building, I always feel guilty. I'm sure they're thinking that I'm heading off for some frivolous reason," explained Jacqui at a recent workshop focused on external strategic relationships. If you share her feelings, it will help you to know that there 4 reasons your organization is paying you to develop and utilize external networks.

I read this counterintuitive advice in a coffee/chocolate shop on a cold day here in RI. At first I was puzzled, but as I read more the idea made a lot of sense. Here's why.

Lipstick, diamonds and Gucci won't advance women in their careers. Nor will useful, but insufficient, advice on work/life balance, resilience or authenticity. Women are given abundant advice on how to look and how to be, but it only gets them so far. There's a not-so-little hidden secret that women aren't being told about career success.

Now, on to a post by my colleague Becky Shambaugh. Becky wrote It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's a Sticky Floor and her new book is on leadership resilience. In a recent blog she writes that one of the secrets of resilience is connectedness which includes having a personal board of directors. That's an element of your network that we haven't discussed here and merits consideration as a New Year's resolution.