by Solange Lopes | Feb 18, 2015 | Career
Lowdown app – Photo credit: thenextweb.com
We’re all about meetings today, and while we’re at it, there’s an app for those too! Lowdown is an iPhone app that basically helps you meet before you even meet. In other words, it provides all the meeting information, including location, details, and various notifications, to facilitate meetings that are actually productive ( as opposed to wasting 10 minutes looking for the conference number, only to realize you’ve dialed the CEO’s office instead, it happens).
While this app has been available since last March, it has been updated and is now free (who doesn’t like the sound of that?). It also incorporates another app, HERE, which informs the people you’re meeting up with when you arrive at the venue.
My $0.05: Great app for anyone who has to attend yet another meeting! In addition to minimizing all the logistical details (and avoiding potential scheduling snafus), it’ll make you look like you’ve got your sh…. together, which won’t hurt when you’re meeting with the CEO (you Superwoman you!).
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Feb 18, 2015 | Career
Photo credit: http://www.bit.com.au
You’ve seen it, the manager whose phone vibrates in the meeting room, or the new associate texting as management is making the year-end presentation. Granted, being on Facebook can be a tad more tempting than the slew of boring meetings many of us are subjected to at work. Yet when it comes to work etiquette, should you bring your cellphone in the meeting room?
My $0.05: There’s a reason why successful people never bring smartphones into meetings. According to USC’s School of Business, using your phone during meetings is annoying and considered disrespectful, especially by women and people over 40.
Considering Millenials as the new digital generation tend to carry their smartphones everywhere, how adaptable is this to the modern workplace? I’d say, if you have to be glued to your smartphone, don’t take it out during meetings. And don’t ever text or browse social media during a presentation either!
What do you think? It is OK to bring and use your phone during meetings?
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Feb 18, 2015 | Career |
Collarless Suit – Photo credit: crew.com
We’re talking suits today on the blog, and to go along with our 5 power suit picks from NYFW, we’ve also selected this collarless suit from J. Crew for our Work It feature.
Loving the tipped collarless blazer in Italian stretch for its versatility and contemporary style.You can literally pair this with anything, from your favorite distressed jeans to a pencil skirt or straight trousers. The blazer comes in Navy, and is $258 at J. Crew.
The matching tipped Marston pants are extremely flattering with a slim silhouette and flattering fit. These are $158 at J. Crew too.
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Feb 18, 2015 | Career
Houghton NYFW 2015 – Photo credit: observer.com
There are boring, time-sucking vampire meetings, and there are those make-or-break meetings that can make or break your career, literally. As you prepare to slay your next major meeting, here is a bit of fashion inspiration from New York Fashion Week
Derek Lam NYFW 2015 – Photo credit: theobserver.com
, with my 5 power suit picks of this week (ok, the suit onesie from J. Crew may be pushing it a bit, but if your meeting’s theme is innovation, why not):
J. Crew NYFW 2015 – Photo credit: theobserver.com
Houghton NYFW 2015 – Photo credit: observer.com
Marissa Webb – Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com
Suit Onesie – J. Crew NYFW 2015 – Photo credit: forbes.comv
by Solange Lopes | Feb 18, 2015 | Career |
Boring meetings – Photo credit: http://people-equation.com
We all know it, you haven’t been minted as a professional unless you’ve attended full-fledged, around-the-big-conference-room, let’s-all-have-an-opinion meetings. Weekly meetings, departmental meetings, bi-weekly meetings, impromptu meetings, emergency meetings, company meetings, you name it, everything has a meeting named after it, and your oh-so-busy presence is required at all of them. And this despite the fact we all realize meetings waste precious time (that can actually be spent doing REAL work), and that avoiding them is literally the stuff of miracles. Especially when it’s been proven 50% of all meetings are unproductive, and 25% is spent discussing irrelevant issues (like the next Hunger Games episode, or how Fifty shades of Grey is slaying the box office…)
Well, since you are doomed to be bored to death in one of these meetings, here’s how to survive them, and even fake interest:
by Solange Lopes | Feb 17, 2015 | Career |
Comparing careers – Photo credit: http://3.bp.blogspot.com
Are you guilty of comparing your career to everyone else’s around you? Do you look at your co-worker who just scored a gleaming promotion with envious eyes, resenting their success? Or are you the silent Linked In lurker checking out all your college friends’ profiles, measuring up against their accomplishments?
We live in a world of comparisons. We don’t just want to keep up with the Jones, today’s culture teaches us to beat the Jones, buy their house, take their car, holler at their friends, all the while trying to keep our FICA scores high and blood pressures levels low.
After all, it must be greener in the next corner office right?
My $0.05: Comparison and competition in the workplace can be beneficial to some extent, as long as it’s healthy. You want to be able to emulate positive or successful behaviors, and avoid damaging ones. You also want to be able to assess whether you’re at the right compensation level, or need to improve in certain areas.
However, as I like to say, there’s a price to pay for every career. Avoid making hasty assumptions about a successful colleague or higher-up, at the risk of diminishing your own accomplishments. One way to avoid this dangerous pitfall is simply to ask! Ask that brilliant colleague how they achieved success, or send a note to the partner and inquire if they can be your mentor.
The grass is not greener in the next corner office, it’s only busier!
What do you think?
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Feb 17, 2015 | Career
Flower-Print Dress- $54.50 – Photo credit: last call.com
NYFW 2015 brought with it a taste of Spring, with its bold and beautiful brights, which inspired me to pick this floral-print jersey dress from Last Call that will make you dream of warmer temperatures and open fields! Loving the simple, easy round-neck, long-sleeve cut of this contemporary dress, allowing the floral design to shine! Loving the price too, it’s on sale for $54.50.
For daytime at work, I would style this with an understated sweater or blazer, like this cutaway soft blazer from Banana, and add a muted pair of nude pumps like these Sam Edelman beauties for a look-at-me-but-don’t-really-look-at-me look.
What do you think?
Any suggestions of fashion pieces you’d like us to feature?
The Corporate Sis.
