Category women@work

The week@work – April 20 – 26 CEO pay, women@work & a yellow hairdryer

Eileen Kohan Leave a comment

This week the conversation continued about Gravity Payments CEO’s decision to cut his salary and raise the minimum wage of his employees. Women@work were the topic of a viral gender equality spoof and Meryl Streep announced plans for a screenwriting lab for women over 40. And for those of you budding entrepreneurs comes the story of Dry Bar and those yellow hairdryers.

Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments announced in mid April that he would be ‘sharing the wealth’ with his employees. His plan is to raise the minimum salary for all his employees to $70K within the next three years. Business professors and cable TV pundits criticized his idea, suggesting he was crazy, going so far as to cite research that happy workers are not necessarily productive workers.

This is what you get for being innovative. How will you know unless you try it?

Conceding on MSNBC that he might be crazy, “he dismissed the back-seat business advice as misguided. Proudly calling himself a capitalist, Mr. Price…argued that the new salary structure would benefit his firm in the long run even as it would help, more broadly, to highlight the corrosive effects of income inequality in American society.”

He is building a corporate culture founded on values of fairness that he believes will benefit his company in the long run.

At the Tribeca Film Festival actor Meryl Streep announced plans to fund a screenwriting lab for women over 40.

As reported in Variety, “The retreat will be run by New York Women in Film and Television and IRIS, a collective of women filmmakers.  

“Called the Writers Lab, the screenplay development program aims to increase opportunities for female screenwriters over the age of 40. This year the initiative will accept submissions May 1-June 1, with eight winning scribes named Aug. 1.

Among the mentors to participate in the Lab’s inaugural year are writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Beyond the Lights”), producer Caroline Kaplan (“Boyhood”), and writers Kirsten Smith (“Legally Blonde”) and Jessica Bendinger (“Bring It On”).

Citing current statistics, Forbes Magazine reported : “As of 2014, women constituted only 17% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 (domestic) grossing films. Shockingly, this is the same percentage of women working in these roles in 1998. The needle hasn’t moved.”

Which leads us to ‘Its Only Fair That Men Should Have It All’ a video spoof of gender inequality. The video, created by Patricia Noonan, Nadia Quinn, and Emily Tarver used an all-female cast and crew of 70 to comment on a serious topic, with humor in words and music.

The last story of the week is a profile in The New York Times of the Drybar founder, Alli Webb.

“In just five years, Ms. Webb’s business has grown to a $50 million-a-year enterprise. (That was in 2014; the company says it is on track to generate $70 million in revenue in 2015.) This was not what she imagined growing up in South Florida. Back then, a young Ms. Webb (nee Landau), was forced to contend daily with her hair, which was wavy, and in humid Florida, very frizzy.”

What is Drybar? A visit to the website defines the product:

“Drybar is a brand new “blow dry bar” concept created around a very simple idea:
No cuts. No color. Just blowouts for only $40. You see, we believe that everyone (even us pros) prefers having someone else blow out their hair. Why? It just looks better! We also believe there has to be a better option than paying $60+ at a traditional salon, or going to a less-than-desirable discount chain. But there’s not. So, we decided to make one.”

Here is a simple business idea that originated with a basic beauty need and a woman who created a market for a product we didn’t know we needed until it arrived.

From the NY Times story: “Drybar now has 3,000 employees. There is a line of styling products, hot tools and brushes, sold in the Drybar shops and at Sephora. The company has about 50 investors, many of whom began as clients, like the actress Rose McGowan, and Alexander von Furstenberg, who got in touch about investing after he picked up his teenage daughter from a Drybar shop where she was getting a blowout. “I was like, wow, this place is so well run, just the execution, you know, everything,” Mr. von Furstenberg said.”

Most days you have to create your own success. Mr. Price of Gravity Payments is redefining employee compensation. Meryl Streep is recognizing the value of storytellers over 40. The creators of #makeitfair are reminding employers of the equal contribution of all workers. And Alli Webb has built her business based on 10 core values and a bright yellow hairdryer.

Women@work… continuing the conversation… know what you’re worth

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Do you know what you’re worth? This isn’t a gender specific question, however, former Co-chairman of Sony Pictures, Amy Pascal believes women should know their value and set realistic salary expectations.

During an interview with journalist Tina Brown at the ‘Women in the World’ conference in San Francisco on February 11, Ms. Pascal described the Hollywood culture, and addressed the criticism she received when the studios’ data was hacked, revealing the salaries of female actors was lower than the compensation of male actors.

“Here’s the problem: I run a business. People want to work for less money, I’ll pay them less money. I don’t call them up and say, ‘Can I give you some more?’ Because that’s not what you do when you run a business. The truth is, what women have to do is not work for less money. They have to walk away. People shouldn’t be so grateful for jobs. … People should know what they’re worth.”

There continues to be a discrepancy in salaries between men and women. Employers have a role to ensure equity, while at the same time returning a profit to share owners.

And each of us is a ‘free agent’ with a set of skills and competencies that have a market value. That may sound blunt, but we ‘own’ this issue and we have a choice to accept an offer or walk away.

You don’t know what you’re worth? Time to get busy on your research. Take out that resume and assess your experience. What is your core skill set? What is unique about what you have to offer? Who are the employers willing to pay for your expertise?

Think like an entrepreneur. What is the valuation you place on ‘organization you’? Who is willing to make a fair ‘investment’ offer?

Salaries may be the last ‘best kept secret’ of the workplace. And this is where you have to disconnect from your virtual world and go out and have some one on one conversations. Learning about how compensation is defined and determined is a ‘before the offer’ activity.

Success at work is less about salary than finding a culture where you can flourish. But if you find a job you love and later learn you are not paid equally, your attitude will erode over time and that will not be a good thing for your career.

The Saturday Read – Dominique Browning – ‘Slow Love, How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas & Found Happiness’

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At a time when the economy is improving, ‘disruption’ still causes businesses to fail and people lose their jobs. At our most confident pinnacle of success, we feel the shadow of ‘the next best thing’ that will replace the work we love. And yet, we typically ignore the signs that work is going away.

This week’s ‘Saturday Read’ is ‘Slow Love, How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas and Found Happiness’ by Dominique Browning. It’s a meditation on success and what happens when work goes away.

Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Miranda Seymour provides the background for the narrative:

“In November 2007, House & Garden was abruptly closed down and its offices efficiently eviscerated, emptied of everything except the computers and some expensive bolts of fabric that management proved keen to retain. The change from busy, productive work space to security-guarded vacancy took just four days. The editor in chief of Architectural Digest, the tumbled magazine’s fiercest competitor within the Condé Nast empire, rubbed salt in the wound by publicly announcing that she intended to blacklist from her own pages all previous supporters of the fallen rival. “I felt,” Browning recalls, “as if I had walked into ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales.’ ” 

The story of ‘Slow Love’ is about what happened after Ms. Browning lost her job. Prior to the memoir’s release in 2010, she wrote ‘Losing It’ for The New York Times Magazine.

“Work had become the scaffolding of my life. It was what I counted on. It held up the floor of my moods, kept the facade intact. I always worried that if I didn’t have work, I would sink into abject torpor.”

“I have always had a job. I have always supported myself. Everything I own I purchased with money that I earned. I worked hard. For the 35 years I’ve been an adult, I have had an office to go to and a time to show up there. I’ve always had a place to be, existential gravitas intended. Without work, who was I? I do not mean that my title defined me. What did define me was the simple act of working. The loss of my job triggered a cascade of self-doubt and depression. I felt like a failure. Not that the magazine had failed — that I had.”

How many of us are supported by the scaffolding of work? Are there termites chewing at the foundation?

Ms. Browning’s progress of triumph over adversity in a process she calls slow love, knowing what you’ve got before it’s gone.

“At the start of this journey, all I could think about was loss: lost work; my children who had left home; my house slipping from grasp; my parents slipping into their last years. Lost love, on top of it all, because I was finally forced to confront the failure of a relationship that had preoccupied me for seven years. Attachment, abandonment, misery – I was plagued, until, mysteriously, something in my brain shifted into a new gear, and I was no longer experiencing all the changes I was going through as the loss of everything I loved. Instead, I began feeling the value of change…and experience, events – yes, some of them calamitous – that have unexpectedly come to enhance the quality of my days.”

Visit Dominique Browning’s blog, ‘slow,love life’, to view her work today.

Poetry in Music – ‘Fly’ – Maddie Marlow, Taylor Dye & Tiffany Vartanyan

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There’s another country music awards show this weekend. The duo of Maddie and Tae challenged the traditional role of women in country lyrics with their debut single, ‘Girl in a Country Song’. Their second release, ‘Fly’ describes their road to success, leaving Texas for Nashville at 17. In an interview for the CBS Morning News, they described ‘Fly’ as “an uplifting song that encourages people to hold on through the tough times.”

And their approach to songwriting: “For us, it’s mainly about just getting to tell our stories. And if we can release a song that’s true to us and our fans relate and then maybe it doesn’t get high on the charts, that’s really not important to us. And as long as we get to say what we want to say and we’re very passionate about it, that’s all that matters.”

This ‘Friday Poem In Music’ is for all of you trying to tell your stories.

Fly

Baby blue staring in the window pane
Just counting drops of rain
Wondering if she’s got the guts to take it
Running down her dreams in a dirty dress,
Now her heart’s a mess
Praying she will find a way to make it

So keep on climbing, though the ground might shake
Just keep on reaching though the limb might break
We’ve come this far, don’t you be scared now
‘Cause you can learn to fly on the way down

Searching for a sign in the night even like a lonely string of lights
That’ll burn just long enough for you to see it
The road’s been long and lonely and you feel like giving up
There’s more to this than just the breath you’re breathing

So keep on climbing, though the ground might shake
Just keep on reaching though the limb might break
We’ve come this far, don’t you be scared now
‘Cause you can learn to fly on the way down

On the way down

You won’t forget the heavy steps it took to let it go
Close your eyes, count to ten, hold your breath and fly

Keep on climbing, though the ground might shake
Just keep on reaching though the limb might break
We’ve come this far, don’t you be scared now
‘Cause you can learn to fly on the way down

Fly
Fly

Songwriters
Maddie Marlow, Taylor Dye, Tiffany Vartanyan

Buona notte da terra @AstroSamantha

Eileen Kohan Leave a comment

When she left earth on November 23, 2014 for the International Space Station, astronaut Samantha Christoforetti had 143,000 Twitter followers who had tracked her training to launch day. Today, a month before she returns to earth, her followers have grown to 430,000. How can you not explore space with the first female Italian astronaut, who brought a specially designed espresso machine to the ISS?

The 37 year old, Milan born captain in the Italian Air Force is single-handedly dragging us back into the wonder of space exploration.

Forget the AT&T U-verse commercial that imagines a day when we finally walk on Mars, Captain Christoforetti captures the imagination with her tweets and photos. Most evenings her followers are wished “Buona notte dallo spazio.” (Good night from space.) It’s like getting an answer to ‘Goodnight, Moon’.

Her breathtaking photos remind us of our global interconnection. On Sunday she sent ‘colors of the earth’ in lieu of easter eggs. Monday, the UK at night, challenging followers to identify the city centers. Tuesday, Sri Lanka and India. And yesterday, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

How many girls of a certain age imagined themselves as a young Amelia Earhart? Who in the current astronaut corps found their first role model in Sally Ride? Where is the 5th grader who is following Samantha and planning her dream career?

There was a time when we could name all the astronauts. We remembered where we were at those moments of great discovery and great tragedy in the space program. We were inspired, knowing there was a frontier beyond the bounds of our atmosphere.

We need more Samanthas and Sallys and Amelias. We need to reimagine a workplace of exploration and innovation circling earth and traveling to galaxies ‘where no man or woman has gone before’.

Tonight, join me in wishing ‘Buona notte da terra @AstroSamantha’.

‘Uncommon Women and Others’ – The advantages of attending a women’s college

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On November 21, 1977 a play opened in New York in a small theater at Marymount Manhattan College. ‘Uncommon Women and Others’ written by Wendy Wasserstein is a memory play set in1978 with reflections back six years earlier at a college for women.

Act One, Scene 1

Man’s Voice: “The college produces women who are persons in their own rights: Uncommon Women who as individuals have the personal dignity that comes with intelligence, competence, flexibility, maturity, and a sense of responsibility. This can happen without loss of gaiety, charm or femininity. Through its long history the college has graduated women who help to make this a better, happier world. Whether their primary contributions were in the home or the wider community, in advocations or vocations, their role has been constructive. The college makes its continuing contribution to society in the form of graduates whose intellectual quality is high, and whose responsibility to others is exceptional.”

Wendy Wasserstein graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1971. The play opened at a critical moment in the women’s movement and was the first to depict contemporary women and their efforts to negotiate the world of careers, relationships, family, and society.

The play’s dialogue has passed its’ expiration date, but the value of a women’s college is as relevant today as it was in the early 70s.

A woman’s college is a place dedicated to the success of women, academically and professionally. In some ways it’s a more relevant ‘incubator’ of self-esteem and self-confidence. It’s a place where you see successful women as faculty, administrators and alumni and you have the opportunity to take on leadership roles and build life long networks. In laboratories and classrooms you engage in research and discovery absent of preconceived gender bias.

There are fewer than fifty women’s colleges remaining in the United States. Most recently Sweet Briar College in Central Virginia has announced it will be closing at the end of the spring semester.

I attended a women’s college. I developed my own voice, but more important I was given leadership roles as a student that prepared me for work. I managed budgets, planned events and interacted with administrators and alumnae. I learned how to make decisions and deal with their consequences. Most important, I left campus believing my dreams were without limits.

Near the end of the play, the offstage man’s voice fades into a woman’s voice “A liberal arts college for women of talent is more important today than at any time in the history of her education. Women still encounter overwhelming obstacles to achievement and recognition despite gradual abolition of legal and political disabilities. Society has trained women from childhood to accept a limited set of options and restricted levels of aspirations.”

A women’s college is a portal to unlimited options.

The week @ work – March 2 – 8

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Today we celebrate International Women’s Day.  The day is being marked by a variety of events and online activities including a ‘google doodle’ and a popular YouTube campaign encouraging women to write a letter to their younger self, #DearMe, providing advice and encouragement to be who you are – confidence is key.

The first National Women’s Day was celebrated in the US in 1909 to commemorate the 1908 strike in New York by women garment workers protesting against working conditions. From its’ historical roots to today, International Women’s Day is about working women campaigning for change. Harriet Minter writing in today’s Guardian cautions those who believe we no longer need IWD:

“The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “make it happen”. Yes, we’ve made things happen since 1909 but we haven’t achieved enough, there is still more to do. So let’s celebrate this IWD but let’s also remember, we’re a long way away from no longer needing it.’

This week the national jobs report showed lower unemployment but average hourly earnings only increasing by .01%. If you are in the workforce, this finding is not breaking news. Is the message here that you need to move to increase your income?

Last week I shared the story of Lynsey Addario, the photojournalist. This week it was announced that Stephen Spielberg will adapt her memoir and Jennifer Lawrence will play Ms. Addario in the film.

And for some workplace humor: ‘The Diary of the Left Shark’ by Kelly Stout in The New Yorker. You may remember the left shark from the Super Bowl halftime show. Here is his journal of events leading up to the performance and it’s aftermath. It’s an imagined story of workplace stress, sabotage and the resulting reevaluation of career direction. “Downloaded application to Columbia Teachers College. Think I could maybe make a difference in the lives of youth…Feeling O.K. about the future. Dance world maybe too toxic for a shark like me. Perhaps whole episode not humiliation but wake-up call! Considering move to Austin.”

 

 

 

‘This is What I Do’ Lynsey Addario’s Story

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Lynsey Addario is a photojournalist who exemplifies the work ethic needed to succeed in any competitive career. As a photojournalist, she learned at an early stage that photography was a medium to tell a story.

In March 2011, while on assignment for The New York Times in Libya, she and her three fellow journalists were captured by soldiers in Muammar el-Qaddafi and held for six days before being released.

In her new book ‘It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War’ published earlier that month, Ms. Addario writes in the Prelude: “That day in Libya I asked myself the questions that still haunt me: Why do you do this work? Why do you risk your life for a photograph?… The truth is that few of us are born into this work. It is something we discover accidentally, something that happens gradually. We get a glimpse of this unusual life and this extraordinary profession, and we want to keep doing it, no matter how exhausting, stressful, or dangerous it becomes. It is the way we make a living, but it feels more like a responsibility, or a calling. It makes us happy, because it gives us a sense of purpose…”

Ms. Addario developed an interest in photography when her father gave her a camera at the age of 13, not realizing at the time that this gift would lead toward a career.

Her story is one of hard work, proving her talent in a profession still dominated by men. In an excerpt from book published in The New York Times Magazine, she describes the attitude among the four captured journalists: “Each one of us knew that this work was an intrinsic part of who we were: it was what we believed in; it governed our lives.”

Describing her life: “Leaving at the last minute, jumping on planes, feeling a responsibility to cover wars and famines and human rights crises was my job. To stop doing those things would be like firing myself.”

This is a personal story about adventure, family and tradeoffs. The art and humanity of her photography appears throughout. It’s a book about work and life and balance.

Most of us do not risk our lives each day covering international conflicts, getting in close to capture the truth in a photograph. Reading her story, we learn her answer to the question and we are left to ask ourselves: Why do you do this work?

Thank you @PattyArquette

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Actress Patricia Arquette took her moment in the spotlight last night to challenge her audience to address the major issue in the workplace today, equal pay and equal access for women.

It reminded me of another significant event, election night in November 2008 when Barak Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. I was in Portland, Oregon for a meeting and the celebrations in the street went on into the early hours of the morning. Network anchors characterized this as a defining moment in US history when all could now aspire to be president. Really? I could not relate.

I live in a country where it took ten years between 1972 and 1982 for 35 states to ratify an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, three short of the 38 necessary. Since that time, the amendment has been brought before Congress with no action. An amendment that simply states:

“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

Which brings me to Patricia Arquette and her remarks accepting the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

“To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”

If you were on Twitter, the early comments were both supportive and critical. For those of you who believe all is well in the workplace, take a look at an article in The New York Times on Saturday, ‘In China’s Modern Economy, A Retro Push Against Women’. Quoting Angela Li’s supervisor after she was passed over for a promotion, “‘It’s good that you girls take your work seriously. But you should be focusing on finding a boyfriend, getting married, having a kid.’ Ms. Li quit. ‘I could compete in terms of ability, but not in terms of gender,’ she said.”

Some of the critics felt Ms. Arquette unfairly limited her remarks to working women with children. Lydia DePillis writing on The Washington Post ‘Wonkblog’ this morning documents the widening wage gap for working mothers. “There’s not so much a gender pay gap as there is a motherhood pay gap. And there’s new research all the time explaining why it persists…while the overall gender wage gap has been shrinking in the United States, the discrepancy for mothers has been growing, and it gets wider with every additional child.”

Thank you Ms. Arquette for reminding us that the workplace is not yet a level playing field. The time is long past for leaders in all sectors of the economy and government to revisit our policies and ensure equal access and equal pay for women.