Careers

Catch & Release—Ready to Launch!

By |2017-07-10T09:42:33-05:00July 6th, 2017|Blog|

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Want to understand the heart of Girl Authentic and how together we can bring about a new work equilibrium? Read on.

I have always wanted Girl Authentic to serve three purposes:

  1. Talk to women about building their own businesses and building a different model for all of us to work in
  2. Help women shape their business ideas and approach
  3. Invest in women-led business development

Today I get to share how, for the first time, Girl Authentic has provided support in all three ways.

I am thrilled to announce the launch of Catch & Release, created by Jennifer Cook. Jennifer took an idea she’s had for a long time, believed in it, and believed in herself enough to make it a reality.

Are you wondering what her idea was? Jennifer is an outdoor enthusiast. Her activities mostly revolve around fishing, boating, and camping, as well as other outdoor activities she and her kids do. From this love, she decided to create a way for outdoor enthusiasts to exchange their equipment and accessories directly – thus, Catch & Release.

I am so proud of Jennifer. She never gave up—she just kept quietly working on her idea, continued working her “day job,” found support where she needed it, and made it happen.

I know this is just the beginning of a very exciting venture for Jennifer and the community that will begin to take shape as they buy and sell their equipment and accessories through her business. Look for Catch & Release to become THE place to find the best equipment available.

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I also have a purely selfish reason to be excited, too, since Catch & Release represents the first time Girl Authentic has provided the comprehensive support I noted above. It’s what I have always hoped Girl Authentic would become in the long term—much sooner than I ever thought I would have the opportunity.

Jennifer told me how supportive and helpful she found the GA blogs—and then she shared her idea. I knew right way she was going to make this a success. Her passion made it feel right. She used words like love and committed and community and confident. I am proud to be a part of Jennifer’s story and will be supporting her in her continued success.

So…here she is—almost a year after she first started working on Catch & Release to launch a new way for outdoor enthusiasts to create a marketplace exclusively for their needs. Please join us. If you have a need to sell something or want to try something new using top equipment without plunking down top dollar, 1) download the app, 2) put your wares up for sale or search for what you want, and 3) tell your friends. The app will let you buy and sell directly with easy payment options so you don’t have to figure out how to get paid or pay someone else.

Jennifer envisioned her dream and then put in the hard work to make it reality. Catch & Release is the real deal, and Girl Authentic is happy to support another business building work equilibrium!

 

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Rerouting: Is It Possible to Reach Two Destinations Simultaneously?

By |2016-07-19T09:20:30-05:00July 18th, 2016|Blog|

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In our GPS world, getting from one place to another is easy: you input your destination, and you’re on your way. But what if you want to arrive at two places at once? Is it possible? Can we both work within a culture and change it at the same time?

I am newly faced with this struggle, as my work life has recently taken a turn into the corporate world. I find myself wondering if I will continue to be able to strive for feminine equilibrium in the workplace while at the same time working within it.

This shift in my work life has occurred amidst many other life transformations. Since I last wrote, I traveled to Japan for two weeks and completed Module 3 of SourcePoint Therapy (an energy healing modality that focuses on healing and health). I packed up my house and am living between two temporary locations in Colorado and Chicago. I closed on a new home in Chicago, but since it needs work done, I haven’t yet moved in. My daughter graduated from high school and turned 18 two weeks later. And as I’ve alluded to…I started a new job.

After years of charting my own territory, I recently accepted a job as a Director at PwC in their Supply Chain Management consulting practice based in Chicago. With my move to Chicago already in the works, a professional colleague and friend connected me to PwC in early April, and lo and behold…by the middle of the month, it was a done deal.

 

I’m as surprised as anyone about this rerouting back to the big corporate world. However, as I have learned, you must be very specific with what you ask for because the universe will provide exactly that. To illustrate, earlier this spring I asked for:

  • A supportive way to transition to Chicago
  • Nice people to work with
  • A way to build a foundation and network in Chicago
  • Some stability in my income situation so I could meet upcoming financial obligations
  • A way to help replenish the coffers
  • A way to meet the right people to help me build my next company

Notice that “work in a corporate environment” is not on this list, yet for some reason, PwC feels like the job I am meant to do right now. Everything I have done so far positions me perfectly for this.

I have had numerous friends comment on how it is beshert (meant to be) and karma (helping others over the years coming back around), and I believe that, too—but it still feels like a rerouting because I have to figure out how to continue the GirlAuthentic conversation in a different environment.

Maybe that is why I’m back in a large corporate environment. Maybe it is a case of “what you resist persists.” I have resisted the idea that large corporate structures can actually operate in a way that fully supports women (and men) and removes the old patriarchal structures that so many resist changing because of the power shifts it will cause. Can they really let them go? I have my doubts.

But I have hope, too. Before joining PwC, I did my research. They have consistently been voted one of the best places to work, their track record and percentages of women in leadership are well above many of their peers and other industries, they actively support the UN HeforShe program, and they have meaningful programs within PwC that reflect this. They focus actively and directly on diversity, and their results are visible and considerable. They are doing good work, and I am excited to be a new team member.

While this latest step fulfills much of what I was looking for, I still have many questions. What does it look like to continue working for equality for women from this new platform? How will my next business idea take shape, and when and who will partner with me?  Will I be able to do both? Can I work within a global corporate platform and strive to transform things on a larger scale? What will that look like? And at the same time, will I be able to build a company led by women that demonstrates all these ideas?

Though I don’t yet know the answers, and this move may be unexpected, it feels right. I’m excited that this rerouting has me looking toward new horizons and given me different opportunities to make a difference. And while I’m not certain I will be able to arrive at both “destinations,” I am eager to continue the journey.

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Do you trust your instincts when they tell you to walk away?

By |2015-10-12T14:55:12-05:00October 12th, 2015|Blog|

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This is my first post since May because the last few months have been so crazy-busy. I’ve essentially been working two jobs: First, continuing to pay the bills as a supply-chain management consultant, and second, getting a lot in place for Morf3D, the additive manufacturing business I’ve been developing with a business partner for the last two years.

So much was accomplished for Morf3D over the summer: Key agreements completed with equipment and service partners, a lease negotiated for a terrific new California location, and several major conferences attended to support business development.

Best of all, our new Chief Technical Officer found us. I’ve said from the very beginning that I wanted Morf3D to have a female CTO – and I must admit, I had doubts that we would ever find one. Then Melissa Orme sent us a letter telling us she wanted to join Morf3D. I couldn’t believe it! After years of hoping, here she is – and she is amazing.

Then, in late August, I walked away from it all.

An event occurred that caused a moment of complete clarity and absolute knowing for me – I’m out. There was actually a series of events that happened, all the previous ones of which I ignored, or reasoned away, or doubted my instincts. This one however, I chose not to ignore. I could not ignore that feeling of absolute knowing.

Have you ever had a moment like that, when you just know – no matter how it looks from the outside – that something isn’t right?

It might seem obvious to go with the option to avoid something that looks disappointing from the outside. Normally, to make things work, and do what would be expected, I can go into what a good friend of mine calls “Tetris mode” – I can spend my days constantly working to fit all the pieces together, trying to fix what I know in my heart cannot be fixed. This option can be quite seductive for me, since I’m really good at it. I know, because I have done it for decades. I know how to keep fitting pieces together. But I also know it’s a game that never ends.

That’s why, this time, I chose a different option. As soon as I knew clearly what was right for me, I chose to go with what I knew. And there was complete relief and calm in that. There was nothing to fix. I went with the option that works on the inside.

I invested a tremendous amount of personal, intellectual, and monetary capital in building Morf3D. And I got a great return for my investment: I met some of the industry’s leading executives. I learned a ton about a fascinating new industry. I met some terrific people I hope to come across again and pursue new ideas with in the future.

It just wasn’t going to work any more. So I chose happiness instead of what I knew was coming – that feeling of always having to make it work, make it right, when I knew it was wrong. That was going to leave me completely out of alignment and out of integrity with myself and with what I wanted Morf3D to represent. That, I couldn’t do.

It might seem unusual to walk away from my two years of effort. But I’m happy knowing it’s exactly the right thing to do.

I’m happy to be walking away. And I’m walking away to be happy.

 

 

GA Oct15 blog

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A podcast with CoActive Dreams

By |2015-05-21T15:10:27-05:00May 21st, 2015|Blog|

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I’m in a busy season right now, but not too busy to sit down for a few minutes with Cherrie McKenzie from CoActive Dreams. Cherrie blogs to help individuals or corporate professionals succeed at the intersection of career, self and family. She contacted me after she read a comment I posted on the NY Times website, and wanted to learn more about women building new structures in business. I was thrilled to spend some time with her and help cast the vision for women paving the way to create a better balance in the workplace for everyone.

[button colour=”accent” type=”squarearrow” size=”large” link=”http://www.coactivedreams.com/are-women-approaching-the-workplace-all-wrong/” target=”_blank”]Head over to the post on Cherrie’s site to listen now![/button]

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Bye-bye to the Long-Hours Culture

By |2015-05-19T14:43:59-05:00December 11th, 2014|Blog|

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The title above was the subtitle of a recent article by Lucy Kellaway, a columnist for the Financial Times. This full-page piece ran in the Business section of “The World in 2015,” by The Economist. I was so excited to see a global periodical dedicate a full page of commentary to changing attitudes on work hours.

Why? Because women have been leading the way on this issue for years – but it’s not actually a women’s issue.

Kellaway says it will soon be “cool” for executives to put a stop to unhealthy work habits and start working more efficiently between 9 and 5. Her piece describes the future like this: “Holidays will be holidays. The out-of-office email will no longer be followed by a reply from the ski-slopes. A spare jacket will no longer be needed on the back of the office chair, as going home will be all the rage. To get your work done by a reasonable hour will not be a sign that you are a slacker, but that you are working efficiently.”

I’ll take it! And Kellaway isn’t alone – there has been a lot of writing this year about how we need to adjust the culture that rewards workaholic behavior. I think the conversation starts by asking “why”: Why should taking time off work (for anything – children, sabbaticals, taking care of a sick parent, simply taking a break, whatever it may be) mean you automatically get dinged in terms of salary or promotions? Why do we assume that if you forego those activities you deserve higher pay or an earlier promotion? That simply reinforces a workaholic reward culture – or worse, it actually rewards a person for being less productive and less efficient with their time.

Of course, this piece was published in The Economist – a European periodical. Our friends across the ocean have been leading the way for a long time on healthier attitudes toward work. European workers take more vacation and work more reasonable hours than their American counterparts. How flabbergasting for us that they still manage to have global economies!

It isn’t just Europeans leading this conversation – it’s women. We’re lucky in a way – because this has mostly been framed as a gender issue or a women’s issue in the past, we’ve gotten to frame the conversation, ask the questions, and create something new.

What’s the something new? The idea that this is not a gender issue after all. This is a labor issue. Many men are looking for as much freedom from the old behaviors as women are – women have just been more vocal about it thus far. But this isn’t a “women’s issue” – it’s a human issue.

I love conversations like these, because they help us create a better future. But I still believe it’s going to take a long time to actually change the culture of unhealthy work habits – and I’m impatient.

That’s why, over and over at GirlAuthentic, we’re proposing a shortcut. Instead of waiting for the old businesses to change, we need to be about creating new businesses with healthier cultures that will bring sanity for those who want it.

Who’s going to create those businesses? Women, we need you to lead the way again.

 

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Step one: This conversation.

By |2015-05-19T14:46:07-05:00May 13th, 2014|Blog|

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Step one: This conversation.

A few weeks ago I had the honor of speaking at Penn State University’s wonderful “Powerful Women Paving the Way” conference. I love the conference name. I love that it was organized by a student organization, Women in Business. And I love that there was a diverse mixture of women and men both in the students and in the professionals and sponsoring organizations who attended.

But most of all, I love that conferences like this are the right first step. They are the conversation.

If we want a work environment where women can be authentic, we’re going to need to create that environment from scratch. That means more women building businesses – significant businesses.

It’s going to happen in three steps.


Conversation.
Conferences, discussions and interactions – even online, on websites like this one – are creating the possibility in many more women’s minds of building significant businesses (businesses that strive to be the Fortune 500 companies 40 years from now).  I believe we can build these businesses faster than we can change the current corporate structures, which don’t really want to change. But first – we have to talk about it.

Creation.
The second step is development – generating ideas and building business plans. Now the conversation is ready for action.

Commitment.
The third step is about funding the launch of these new businesses. Women will have to put their money where their mouth is! We have money, but we are not oriented to putting it in to vehicles that will invest in women-led businesses – because there are very few today. We are going to have to create new investment structures too.

 

These three steps are what GirlAuthentic is about – being the platform for conversation, facilitating the development of ideas, and finding funding for the ideas and businesses that are ready.

It all starts with conversation. We need to be talking about women building significant businesses – women who are just coming out of school, and especially women who have two or three decades of experience under our belts. When they do they will create workplaces that are in balance for women – and for the men who seek that same balance, but have an even harder time asking for it!

We can make a different world together. But we start by imagining it together. We start in conversation.

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I call it the Art of Coming and Going

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

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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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