In Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In, she makes a provocative point, that one of the most critical decisions a woman makes that determines her career success is her choice of partner.
When I first read this my instinct was to disagree. This isn’t an age of political marriage; shouldn’t we be responsible for our own career success? But in the next breath, and looking back over the course of my own life and career, I can see that she has an important point.
As my youngest son heads off to college this fall I look back and see that the pattern of my partnership with my husband has been very give-and-take from day one. Never has a major work deadline been dropped and never has a child gone hungry or neglected and it’s been our partnership that made this possible.
Still, as many young women go off to get married this summer – or as is more and more frequently the case, decide not to – it’s got me and some of our other InPower Women bloggers thinking seriously about the role our partners play in our career success. We’ve decided to hold a video panel on the subject this Friday at noon Eastern. Tune in here to watch live and contribute to the discussion (or let us send you a reminder and replay link.)
Here are some of the topics we’ll be considering. Leave your thoughts in comments below and if you would like us to discuss another question, please leave that as well!
- Do your career aspirations affect who you choose to partner with? Should they?
- What are some telltale signs of a good partnership vs. a bad partnership when it comes to career success?
- What kind of resentments can build up because of the tradeoffs between career and partnership and how can you prepare for/avoid them?
- Do you think a guy is wimpy if he wants you to be the breadwinner? Do you know guys who are threatened because you have high career aspirations?
- What about single mothers? Are they doomed? (Hint: no!)
- Career? Kids? Marriage? What affects what most?
- What about cultural differences? Are there cultures where it matters more than others?
Here is a little bit about our panelists:
- Birute Regine Ed.D (read posts) is a Harvard educated developmental psychologist, thought-partner, speaker, facilitator, and co-author of Weaving Complexity and Business: Engaging the Soul at Work and Iron Butterflies: Women transforming themselves and the world (Prometheus Books 2010), which won the 2011 Nautilus Silver Book Award in both women’s interest and social change categories. She is founder of Iron Butterflies Circle community (www.ironbutterflies.com) where women are transforming the meaning of leadership, power, and success. Follow her on facebook (iron butterflies) twitter (iron butterflies) and Huffpost.
- Marcia Reynolds, PsyD, MCC – Executive Coach & Leadership Speaker (read posts) Marcia amuses, inspires and fascinates her audiences as she translates the latest discoveries of how the brain works to workable strategies for dealing with life’s challenges. She has published two books, Outsmart Your Brainand Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction. Read her bio and follow her on LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter.
- Amye Lee Rheault – Higher Education Adminstrator (and newlywed!) Connect to Amye on LinkedIn.
- Conor P. Williams – Stay at home dad, researcher, writer. Bio & Twitter
- Dana Theus, Leadership Consultant and Founder of InPower Women – Moderator (read posts) Dana is a 25 year business veteran of corporations, start-ups, non-profits and so much more. Read Dana’s posts and follow her on LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter.
You can see we plan to cover a lot. Hope you can join us!
BONUS! When you register to receive a reminder for this event, you’ll automatically be entered to win a free copy of Marcia Reynold’s ebook of Wander Woman!
Check out the resources in the InPower Coaching EQ at Work and Soft Skills Research Index.
