Most Recent Posts
Gaining Power In Your Career: A Guide to Getting Promoted at Every Level
Key Takeaways Getting promoted is not just about hard work: While dedication is important, getting promoted requires a deeper understanding of how the system works. You need to be strategic and play the game effectively. Toot your own horn: Don't be shy...
Are You Fully Charged? 5 Ways to Energize Your Work & Life
Key Takeaways: Integrating work & life is the real balancing act. Forget the old tug-of-war between the office and everything else—true well-being comes when we design lives (and workplaces) where our personal values and professional goals can actually coexist...
5 Practices To Go From Fears to Fierce
Key Takeaways: Fear is normal—don’t pretend it’s not there. Instead of hiding behind rational excuses, call fear what it is. You're not broken; you're just human. And fear, like heartburn after pizza, is something we all deal with. Make friends with your fear. Invite...
Co-opting the Power of the Toxic Boss
I just read a great article by Richard Boyatzis detailing the brain science behind “emotional contagion.” I find this particularly interesting in the context of corporate culture, having observed some pretty toxic bosses “infect” their staffs and encourage cultures where competition, backstabbing, emotional abuse and just plain incompetence were so rampant that you could feel the powerlessness and despair when you walked in the door.
The good news is that the ability to emotionally infect your staff and teams can be used for good by leaders who understand their responsibility to foster a positive environment and culture where others are in their power and able to perform at their best. To be a good leader, then, you need to…
If You Have to Fight, Shoot Like a Girl
Key Takeaways: “Shoot like a girl” means lead with grit, heart, and skill. MJ Hegar’s story redefines what it means to be tough—not by acting like the guys, but by showing up fully as a woman who can fly, fight, and stand her ground under fire, both in combat and in...
Why The Woman Effect? Men are Helping Us
Key Takeaways: Work-life balance is evolving into work-life partnership. Many successful women are thriving not because they’ve mastered a solo juggle, but because they’ve built supportive partnerships—especially at home—with men who share the load, often in ways that...
Popular Posts
Unconscious Bias: The Key to Effective Gender Communication
In executive coaching (both women and men) I’ve often observed that two parallel stories about women and men in the workplace often coexist. First, “women and men communicate differently” is a truth that few bother to deny. Second, “men and women are treated equally...
Team Achievements Examples: Accomplishments When Applying for a Job
Welcome to “Dear Dana”, a column to give you career and workplace advice/coaching from executive coach, Dana Theus Dear Dana, I am updating my resume to apply for jobs. I read your article about "speaking accomplishments." I liked your advice and will apply it to how...
Middle Managers – The Critical (Weak) Link of Change Management
If you were in charge of your corporate culture and knew it needed fixing, would you fix it? Certainly anyone in charge of change management would want to say yes to this question, but as anyone who is actually in charge of corporate culture knows, it’s harder than it...
Leadership
October 2024 Leadership Development Carnival
It’s time for another installment of the Leadership Development Carnival! Thanks to Weaving Influence and the Lead Change for organizing some great posts from some remarkable leadership writers. If you're new to blog Carnivals, these represent a collection of...
Feedback Coaching: How to Get Results with “Tough Love”
Key Takeaways: Balance empathy with clarity: While empathy is crucial, over-empathizing can prevent leaders from delivering clear feedback. Leaders need to ensure their feedback is understood without being overly soft or accommodating. Effective leaders use a spectrum...
The Leadership Upside of Getting Fired
Key Takeaways: Failure builds character: Being fired from a high-level job teaches humility and resilience. It reveals that self-confidence, without humility, can lead to missteps, and failure doesn’t define you as a person. Redefining leadership: Leadership is not...
Mentoring
Why Mentorship Isn’t Enough To Help Women Get into Leadership
We hear a lot about how, in addition to mentors and mentorship, women need assistance to get into leadership. They need sponsors to help make it into the executive ranks. But how do you learn what a sponsor wants? Dana turns it around and invites you to start...
Unlocking the Benefits of Reverse Mentoring
Mentoring is often thought of to help younger employees develop by passing on the wisdom of more experienced leaders. And it is! But that model ignores all the wisdom that many people have to give those of us who sit in leadership positions. And there is a lot that...
What Does a Mentor Do? A Comprehensive Guide for Mentors and Mentees
If you sometimes struggle to navigate the complex world of personal and professional growth, you're not alone. And that's the point. Many others have walked the path you're on, and you can learn from their successes and mistakes. Don't go it alone. Get a mentor to...
Interviews
Servant Leadership for Women and Other Historically Under-represented Leaders
Podcast/Audio There is no question that servant leadership for women and other historically under-represented leaders is an effective way to manage teams and organizations. Servant leaders achieve results, not by using their own positional power (e.g., telling people...
Career Advice
How to be Feminine, Ambitious and Successful: Navigating the Gender Gap in Workplace Ambition
A common theme among the women I coach–at all levels–is a clear awareness of the gender gap in workplace ambition and confusion about how to navigate it. Key Takeaways Understanding Gendered Ambition Norms: Many women feel pressured to choose between achievement and...
What’s Your Dream Job and How Can Knowing it Light Up Your Soul?
Let’s face it: work is work. Even the best dream job turns into a daily grind eventually. And what if you’re in a job search? Looking for a job is work, too! What can make work less work? Hint: know the answer to the question “What’s your dream job?” Wait....
The Cost of Analysis Paralysis
Most of the time when I tell people that I am researching women and business, the conversation wanders into what I now think of as “the analysis paralysis” conundrum in which we try to suss out the why’s of women’s place in society. Here are common themes that come...
Women in Leadership
Why Are Women Burning Out If We Aren’t Working Over 50+ Hours A Week?
Key Takeaways: Burning out isn’t a personal failing—it’s a cultural problem. We’ve been conditioned to see exhaustion as either a weakness or a badge of honor, when in reality it’s a red flag waving at a toxic, unsustainable system. The “I’m so busy” mantra isn’t...
Do You Confuse Emotions with Emotional Intelligence (EQ?)
Key Takeaways: Emotional intelligence isn’t about suppressing feelings—it’s about understanding them. EQ isn’t the absence of emotion; it’s the skill of recognizing emotions (yours and others’) and responding to them in a way that’s constructive, not reactive. Strong...
4 Reasons The Western Woman Can Save The World
The Dali Lama said “The Western Woman will come to the rescue of the world.” Never mind that Hilary Clinton didn’t get elected president of the United States. The trend she is a part of is well underway, and I’m not talking about feminism.
Just because no one I know got raptured last weekend doesn’t mean the apocalypse isn’t upon us; it just means we get to change the world before everything goes to hell. The world is in a pretty nasty state, based on the daily headlines, and it’s easy to feel powerless to save it. Yet I know so many people determined to do just that, many of them women. What I’d like to see is more people – men and women – stepping into their world-saving powers, more consciously, more assertively and more effectively.
Note to Men: Don’t stop reading now (if you got this far – kudos to you!) The stuff we ladies are naturally good at – and that the world needs – you are pretty good at too. Mostly you just need to ALLOW yourself to be good at it!
Diversity & Inclusion
Are You Doing The Office Housework? 3 Ways to Manage This Subtle Discrimination In The Workplace
Key Takeaways: Subtle discrimination in the workplace often shows up as “office housework,” where women are expected to handle tedious, low-visibility tasks that don’t advance their careers—it's time to name it and challenge it. “Office housework” is real—and women...
Do You Confuse Emotions with Emotional Intelligence (EQ?)
Key Takeaways: Emotional intelligence isn’t about suppressing feelings—it’s about understanding them. EQ isn’t the absence of emotion; it’s the skill of recognizing emotions (yours and others’) and responding to them in a way that’s constructive, not reactive. Strong...
4 Reasons The Western Woman Can Save The World
The Dali Lama said “The Western Woman will come to the rescue of the world.” Never mind that Hilary Clinton didn’t get elected president of the United States. The trend she is a part of is well underway, and I’m not talking about feminism.
Just because no one I know got raptured last weekend doesn’t mean the apocalypse isn’t upon us; it just means we get to change the world before everything goes to hell. The world is in a pretty nasty state, based on the daily headlines, and it’s easy to feel powerless to save it. Yet I know so many people determined to do just that, many of them women. What I’d like to see is more people – men and women – stepping into their world-saving powers, more consciously, more assertively and more effectively.
Note to Men: Don’t stop reading now (if you got this far – kudos to you!) The stuff we ladies are naturally good at – and that the world needs – you are pretty good at too. Mostly you just need to ALLOW yourself to be good at it!
