I'm proud to share that I just had a major Op Ed piece posted to The Glass Hammer - a preeminent professional woman's blog. Here's a short summary and I encourage you to read the full article on The Glass Hammer for the executive coaching advice at the end. ~Dana Abstract: There’s no snappy...
Dana Theus
Why We Need Women in Leadership (the post that started it all)
I first posted this on my Reclaiming Leadership blog in June 2012. It still gets positive responses today. I’m a woman and I like to hear about women making it big in business, but I keep running across data that says that we still aren’t up there with the guys – despite “overwhelming evidence”...
What if Self-promotion is a Gender-Neutral Leadership Skill?
Sometimes true wisdom hides behind sensational headlines. I often think this when I read gender wars articles; you know, the ones that toss the sexes in the ring? Here’s my latest beef: Women need to self-promote to make more money. (Forbes Woman , Catalyst Inc.) So apparently women suck at...
5 Things You Can Do to Advance Your Career – Right Now
I’ve written a lot about how we’re leaving plentiful resources untapped by failing to adjust our business culture to invite more women into leadership roles and how we need to transform The System to take advantage of our talents. In recognition of the fact that a company with women in roughly 30%...
Don’t Get Angry, Negotiate!
Many business leaders are good at contracting and negotiating. Negotiating is how we close customers, manage vendors and hire/release employees; it’s how we establish and maintain our relationships with third parties; it’s how we conduct business. But as a species, business leaders could be a lot...
Are You A Leader?
Most of us have a clear image of a leader. Strong. Smart. Confident. “In Charge of insert-something-important-usually-having-to-do-with-power-or-money-here”. I don’t buy that image of leader. To me, a leader is ANYONE who takes a stand and influences other people to cause the world to be better....
3 Skills To Vault You Into Leadership (And Help You Stay There)
Meg* and I were lunch-brainstorming how to help one of her direct reports who is struggling to “fit” into her recent Director-level promotion. Meg noted that this woman – we’ll call her Kathy* – found it hard to see the forest for the trees. Meg thought Kathy had tons of potential but was...
Planning On Inefficiency
A few years back I - accidentally - launched a new web site. I didn't mean to, really. It just happened because what I'd planned to do in January was just more cost effective to do in December. So before I knew it I had an imperfect web site that went up without much/any planning, and customers...
Success is Messy
Buddhists and psychologists alike tell us that non-attachment to outcomes is the key to success. There is tremendous value in thinking this way - and it's a key component of my executive coaching work on speaking truth and building your internal power. Non-attachment from the culture around you is...
5 Ways to Advance Amid Dysfunction
Old boss - mentoring and advancement opportunities. New boss - frustration, competition, neglect, stupidity and powerlessness. What's your strategy for getting ahead now? In the last week, I've talked to three people in situation "new boss" - at all levels including a CXO (no, my friends,...