Words v. Pictures

Words v. Pictures

By Michelle Meyer|2021-07-13T15:06:22-05:00July 13th, 2021|Blog, Persevering, Women and the Workplace, Women Leaving a Legacy|

I am a words person – I think in words, express myself in words, process emotion in words. I learn well through words. I don’t think in pictures.

I don’t like to have to draw or use pictures to explain things. I don’t want to have to look at a graph and try and decipher what it represents. I want to read the data, then I understand immediately—It’s just how my brain works. I suspect there are a lot more people like me, and we just aren’t accommodated that much in today’s world of images.

A long time ago, I had a conversation with a man about how frustrating it was we had to “create pictures” for our client presentations. He said to me, “you know why we have to do this, right?” I replied, “Well, I can give you the politically incorrect answer as to why”. He responded, “That will probably be the right answer…” My theory? “Because men think in pictures, and we are always presenting mostly to men.” He laughed a little and admitted, “you are exactly right”.

DRIVES. ME. NUTS.

I believe words are one of the most powerful things in the universe, right up there with water and math. Words create worlds – we have to utilize words or math first in order to create something in this world.

I use words to express myself. Often not very well. Often making others uncomfortable – some of that is me. I’m told I express too much emotion – some of that is the receiver. Misunderstandings happen frequently, much to my frustration.

But I like words, because I am usually in my head (words) vs. my heart (emotion) – I’ve been working on that a long time.

So, why all these words about words?

How many times have you heard “A picture is worth a thousand words”? That quote has always irritated me, but I understand it. A “picture” (or some form of visual art) is often a very efficient way to express the underlying emotion. Touching emotion is admittedly equally as important as conveying a concept.

“Fearless Girl”, a bronze sculpture displayed in the plaza across from the New York Stock Exchange, explains perfectly what I was trying to say in 2013 when I launched GirlAuthentic. This art is a perfect visual representation summarizing both words and emotion. I also love my GirlAuthentic logo—it too expresses something visually—immediately.

Many people respond to my use of the word girl – some in a negative way, some out of curiosity. For those who ask, I share that I use the words GirlAuthentic as a way to connect to the sense of power, freedom, fearlessness and capability that women feel as young girls, but often lose touch with as they engage with social structures in the world. These characteristics are covered up, succumbing to a different vibration not our own; the authentic selves we knew when we were young girls retreat.

I want GirlAuthentic to help women remember who they are.

I have gone back and fixed words on the GirlAuthentic website. I let myself be talked out of using some of the words I wanted to: vibration, feminine, structures. I snuck them in over time – but now I have put it out there.

Structures must change.

There is an imbalance between the masculine and feminine.

There are vibrations to both, and we are missing one of them; thus, an imbalance, a lack.

Women can lead the way.

The GirlAuthentic “Movement” should have been described using the words I wanted, but I wasn’t sure how it would work—still not sure—so instead of covering up the un-sureness with a bunch of words that don’t resonate, I’m going to say it plainly. I’ve said it hundreds of times in conversations, I just never put it on the site:

Movement = 3 Steps

Talking to people about women building businesses
1. Encouraging women to do it
2. Explaining why it is important for women to build businesses
Teaching women how to build businesses – not sure how this will look
Finding ways to FUND women building business – don’t get me started

It is time for women to reclaim the strength and power we know is there in that fearless, authentic girl. We are going to need it to help build the new structures that will bring the equality and equity we are seeking for all humanity.

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It Was the First Time There Was a Line

It Was the First Time There Was a Line

By Michelle Meyer|2015-05-19T14:41:51-05:00October 12th, 2014|Blog, Women and the Workplace|

I was going to have to wait in line to use the restroom. And I couldn’t have been happier.

I’ve been attending my profession’s annual global conference since I was a junior in college in 1987 (I’ll let you do the math). There was often a line for the men’s room, but never for the women’s room. It was, we used to joke, one of the perks of attending our profession’s conference as a woman. You could get into the bathroom any time, no waiting. There just weren’t that many women in our industry.

And then, this year, it was different. I walked in to the restroom – and there was a line! I was a bit taken aback. I had been so used to attending the conference, and there never being a line. Another woman and I just stood there looking at each other, realizing we were sharing the same thought.

This was terrific!

That moment, we knew, represented a turning point. It’s something I am proud of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) for helping to make happen in our field. And it didn’t happen by mistake.

I was lucky – I was part of the first wave of women who benefited from my profession’s efforts to create opportunities for women. And it did take specific efforts! Over the years, CSCMP has worked tirelessly to help advance women in our profession. So have many great companies. So have the terrific universities and professors that are educating the next generation of Supply Chain Management professionals.

What did they do? They started by having the right conversations and asking the right questions. What can we do? How do we attract more women? How do we support them? They do research to show whether women truly are advancing in the field, and they actively seek out women to interest them in their profession, their university programs, their companies, and the terrific jobs this field provides.

Contrast this with the International Manufacturing and Technology Show I attended with one of my business partners a few weeks earlier in Chicago. There were more than 113,000 attendees at the conference. But twice during the four days we were there, I found I was the ONLY person in the women’s restroom. (It was sort of spooky, really.)

Two professions – very different gender balance.

There is tremendous opportunity today for women – in both supply chain management and in manufacturing technologies. We may have made more progress in supply chain management today, but we can do the same in manufacturing tomorrow. We’ll do it the way we do anything in the professional world. We’ll work at it. We’ll make an effort. And, women can lead the way by building these companies of the future.

I can’t wait to wait in more lines.

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Is your workplace built on love – or fear? Here are 2 ways to tell.

Is your workplace built on love – or fear? Here are 2 ways to tell.

By Michelle Meyer|2015-05-19T14:45:19-05:00July 17th, 2014|Blog, Women and the Workplace|

We are embedded in fear – more deeply than we realize, much of the time. It’s ingrained, so we don’t even realize it much of the time. It’s become part of our autopilot at work – and in life.

If you want to see whether you’re operating mostly out of fear or out of love, there are two places to look: the actions you take and the language you use.

Fear actions:

Monitoring people’s time at work (because you’re afraid they won’t work otherwise)
Not talking about whether the women are being paid the same as the men for the same job (because you’re afraid of retribution)
Tolerating abusive, bullying behavior (because you’re afraid of being labeled a “whiner”)
Continuing to work somewhere where you’re not happy (because you’re afraid of the unknown)

Love actions:

Allowing people to manage their own schedules (because you trust they want to do good work and will get their work done)
Paying women the same as the men without being asked/coerced (because it’s simply the right thing to do)
Enforcing the “No Asshole Rule” (because you love others)
Moving toward what feels good or right in your career (because you also love yourself)

You can see this fear-versus-love dichotomy in the actions we take all day long – or you can look for it in the words we use. How do you talk about competitors, colleagues, customers, and other institutions?

Fear language aligns us against others:
Win, Beat, Dominate, Crush, Annihilate, “War on…”, Adversary, Knockout, Attack, Closed, Control, Kill, Defeat, Faction, Enemy

Love language aligns us with others:
Trust, Serve, Join, Collaborate, Share, Open, Transform, Build, Give-and-Take, Care, Seek, Generosity, Allow, Build, Partner, Connection

As we focus on operating from love, not from fear, we can create environments that help and support us. We may not know exactly how that is going to look – which makes us afraid. But we can have the faith that we are being presented with everything we need at the moment – which is living in love.

I believe we can use these perspectives, behaviors, and language to create the companies and social structures we all want to operate in. What do you think?

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Announcing Conversations!

By Michelle Meyer|2020-11-13T13:17:53-06:00April 14th, 2014|Blog, Bringing Forth the Feminine, Women and the Workplace|

Since the forming of GirlAuthentic, there have been many requests to tell people what the “model” looks like for a new business that is based on a balance of the feminine and masculine. I have resisted answering the requests with only my specific ideas. I do have some ideas, but I guarantee you they are only some of the ideas, and might not even be the most creative. Women have the opportunity today to build businesses that operate and feel the way we want them too.

So, in an attempt to provide examples, my creative team and I have begun to put together a series of conversations with interesting women who have created their own businesses. We also wanted to highlight the thought processes and choices behind the structures they have put in place and how their businesses operate.

Today is our first example. We’d like to present Amy Fowler Stadler, founder of Lewis & Fowler, a well-known technology consulting, strategic project management, and expert staffing services company that started with Amy and her partner, Kevin Lewis, in Denver and now provides services nationally. Please join me in hearing Amy’s vision.

Now it’s your turn: What are your ideas for new models of businesses that are built on a foundation of balance between the masculine and feminine?

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I call it the Art of Coming and Going

I call it the Art of Coming and Going

By Michelle Meyer|2015-05-19T14:47:07-05:00January 13th, 2014|Blog, Women and the Workplace|

I call it “coming and going.” I have set up one form of it for myself, and I have seen others with many variations on the theme.

What do I mean? I mean the ability to “come and go” from a job place, a company, a profession – even from work altogether. The ability to choose to work for periods of time, and NOT to work for periods of time.

Why do we have this notion that we are supposed to work at least 160 hours per month for 45 years? Tolkien said it best – “not all those who wander are lost.” People who “come and go” pick up all sorts of new experiences and perspectives. If they leave a work environment and choose to return, they do so with so much more to offer. So why do policies discourage this?

What if we simply stopped viewing “coming and going” as a bad thing?

I have. I was lucky enough to garner a set of skills and work experiences that let me work independently as a consultant – which means I choose who I work with, and when. I know many who’ve found similar ways to work. It’s a trend in many professions, in fact – from journalism to various areas of computer science. And, with new national health-care policies that mean your healthcare coverage doesn’t have to be tied to employment, I think we’ll see even more workers empowered to indulge their “wandering” side.

Many are beginning to talk and write about how we are all heading toward being “free agents.” Don’t miss the key word in that phrase – “free”. What if we could fashion careers, professions, jobs, and companies that helped more of us embrace this freedom? What if we operated in a way such that we knew people would want to “come” to a job or a profession for a while; “go” for a while; and perhaps come back? Whether that is to pursue personal interests, care for family, children, etc. – for both women AND men.

When that happens, we take our power back. I read a comment once that we had become lazy – most of us had traded our freedom to corporations in exchange for security. But we’ve learned that security was an illusion, and the price was often too high.

So how about reclaiming some freedom instead?

Your true job – and mine – is to be happy. But to do so, to feel good about what we are doing, we may have to take our power back. I choose what I do, and when, and with whom. That’s the kind of world I want to live in. That’s the kind of businesses I want to see us building.

How about you?

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Three reasons “leaning in” won’t work for women

Three reasons “leaning in” won’t work for women

By Michelle Meyer|2015-05-19T14:47:36-05:00December 12th, 2013|Blog, Persevering, Women and the Workplace, Women Leaving a Legacy|

Since I started GirlAuthentic, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about Sheryl Sandberg’s book and ongoing conversation “Lean In.” Sandberg is the COO of Facebook and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World; her book is loaded with advice on how women can achieve their goals and realize their leadership potential.

I tell people her advice is fine – if you’re satisfied with what’s behind Door Number One.

If your goal is to become a female senior executive in one of today’s corporate structures – a statistical long shot, by the way – then Sandberg is for you. I have 3 problems with the “Lean In” conversation:

It’s a gender-based conversation.

“Lean In” is a discussion on how women can conform in order to excel in today’s masculine environment – a corporate world built by men, for men. What we need is a discussion on the absence of the feminine and how to bring it forth and have it be valued in the workplace.

It’s not news to a lot of us.

What Sandberg doesn’t seem to understand is that a lot of women have spent a couple of decades saying NO to what’s been expected and what she’s proposing. We’ve taken a good look at what’s behind Door Number One. And our response has been, “You want me to “lean in” to that?! No way!”

This rejection of the status quo is sometimes couched as women being “less ambitious.” It’s the opposite. Many women are MORE ambitious than men. We have been quietly building a new model of “having it all” – a whole and complete life, with time for our families or personal interests, for personal well-being, AND for a fulfilling professional experience.

If Door Number One means giving that up, let’s see what’s behind Door Number Two.

It doesn’t work.

For the majority of women, “leaning in” won’t work – and we have the data to prove it.

In 2011, Catalyst published a study called “The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All the Right Things Really Get Women Ahead?” Their study included a hefty list of the “right things” to do to get ahead at work – what Sandberg calls “Leaning In” today. You can read the list on page six of the full report – it includes some obvious things like “develop a career plan” and some zingers like “communicate willingness to work long hours and weekends.”

But here’s the kicker: Catalyst found that while using these strategies worked great for men, it didn’t have the same payoff for women. Women who did the “right things” were more likely to get ahead than women who didn’t (barely). But men were still more likely to find success – “right things” or not.

So in answering the study question “Does Doing All the Right Things Really Get Women Ahead,” the answer was a resounding “no.” The problem isn’t women. We don’t just need to try harder or conform more. Leaning in won’t be enough.

We need a different world to lean into – a world that works for women and for men.

That’s going to mean more women building their own businesses, businesses where the culture is different. That’s what it means to look behind Door Number Two.

I’m ready to open that door. How about you?

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