by Solange Lopes | Jul 8, 2014 | Career |
Vacation – huffingtonpost.com
Happy Tuesday! So your vacation is finally approaching, and before you know it, it’ll be here…You can smell it already, the salty water smell, the sand in between your toes…heaven! Well, until you look back down at your crowded desk and realize there is still work to do…
In this day and age where 59% of Americans fail to take time off, taking vacation is sometimes more of a challenge than an actual opportunity to…relax and recharge your batteries. Professional guilt now plagues us more than ever before, what with the unstable economy and corporate lack of diversity. So what is one to do to get work-ready for vacation:
1. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize! Have a conversation with your team or management to set expectations and deadlines prior to your taking vacation. Prioritize those tasks whose deadlines are critical or fast approaching. Most importantly, resist the temptation to try and finish all your work before leaving on vacation, thus creating stress and inefficiencies. Besides, you’ll be surprised to know it’ll still be there when you get back…
2. Delegate! Remember you can’t do it all now, and you probably won’t be able to do it all later. Delegate important tasks in your absence, or at least portions of it. Allow your team to show initiative by helping you, and free up your plate a bit…
3. Yes, you may check your email: We live in a constantly connected world, where disconnecting completely is close to impossible. For those of us who are realistic about our own expectations, it may make sense to allow for some flexibility when it comes to being connected. I’d rather be able to check my email once every now and then while on vacation, rather than obsessing over what may (or may not) have happened.
Are you work-ready for vacation?
The Corporate Sister
by Solange Lopes | Jul 7, 2014 | Career
Standing Paper Clip – $49.50 – pottery barn.com
For our coffee break today, we are into office accessories! Love, love this standing paper clip from Pottery Barn, useful to store photos, notes and memos! Great for your office at work or your office at home, this fun and original sculpture keeps your desk organized and a bit funky!
As a notes and business card collector, I could use this standing clip to keep me on point organization-, and style-wise! This unique piece is available at Pottery Barn for $49.90, and is our funky decorating pick of the day!
Seen a great office accessory you’d like to share? Please email us at corporate@thecorporatesister.com!
The Corporate Sister.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 7, 2014 | Career
Diane Von Furstenberg Silk Wrap Dress – $548 – bergdorfgoodman.com
It’s lunch time on Monday morning, time for a bit of fashion extravaganza! Today, we’re in a splurging mood with this Diane Von Furstenberg full skirt silk wrap dress.
This classic wrap dress from none else than the very creator of the cult dress brings a modern twist to it, with its swinging full skirt and graphic abstract print. The surplice neckline and bracelet sleeves make it a great choice for the office or after-hours, while the full, fluted skirt brings the feminine factor up a notch.
This gorgeous dress is $548 at Bergdorf Goodman.
Seen a great, office-friendly fashion pick you’d like to share? Please e-mail us at corporate@thecorporatesister.com!
The Corporate Sister.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 7, 2014 | Career
Black woman innovator – thegrio.com
Happy Monday! Yes it is Monday (just in case all the nerves in your body haven’t signaled it to you yet!)
As we’re starting a new week, all groggy from the week-end, we tend to drift back into old routines and work habits. And as we are bound to find out, old routines do not exactly produce new results, especially not at work.
While many of us nurture a creative, entrepreneurial mindset, we tend to leave it in the back of our minds when we come to work. Unless we are in creative fields, and even then, innovation tends to take a back seat in favor of more conventional, template-based work outputs. And we wonder why so many of us are bored silly at work…
Introducing innovative change at work isn’t easy, some will argue. Try to change the status quo? Impossible!, others will retort. While there certainly are rather strong barriers to corporate change and innovative solutions’ implementation, there is an even greater need to work better and smarter. So how does one bring innovation to work:
1. Identify a need! Wherever there’s a need, there’s at least one opportunity to bring about innovation. Are your policies and procedures in need of serious updating? Is the system constantly spewing out out of date data? Is the process too manual and inefficient? Look around you and identify factors that stand in the way of more effective and efficient work, and try to address these!
2. Think outside the box! In the era of templates, politically correct phrases and cookie-cutter mentalities, original thinking is in high demand, especially at work! Add value by bringing new solutions to old problems. Instead of continually re-inventing the wheel and perpetuating lasting inefficiencies, find adaptable remedies to everyday problems. From creating a database to maintain file records, to automating a cumbersome manual process, look at your work with fresh eyes and use the tools at your disposal to build innovative systems!
3. Offer a solution! People love solutions, especially those that can make their lives easier! So if you’ve noticed inefficiencies in the process and have been thinking of ways to work around them for more effective results, speak up! Approach it as a suggestion rather than an imposition, and offer to help improve the process!
Are you bringing innovation to work?
The Corporate Sister.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 6, 2014 | Career
what is your source? – leadingladiescafe.com
Happy Sunday!
In our new Sunday Spirit feature, we are digging deep into what, or whom, as corporate sisters, inspires, motivates and guides us, not only on our career paths, but also on this journey called Life. As much as we’d like to separate work and life, and judging by how much success we’ve had at it, it is pretty obvious that none of us can deny the inter-dependency between our own spiritual life journeys and the various forms and purposes our work comes to embody.
As we’re starting this new feature, we’re asking ourselves the simple, yet complex question: “What is your source?” What, or whom, do you go to for nurturing, inspiration, motivation? What feeds your mind and your spirit? Where does your strength originate? And in the same token, what feeds your fears and your insecurities? What is YOUR source?
Without knowing who we are, and where our supply of energy, strength, or lack thereof, it is indeed hard to find the motivation, strength and energy to keep going, especially when the going gets tough? And as much as we sometimes think we do know ourselves, it may take at times a serious nudging of our spirit to help us find out what really drives us. And to consider whether we’ve actually picked the right source of inspiration and motivation.
I have the intimate conviction, in my heart of hearts, that GOD is my sole source and supply. Yet, and in the same way I have to continuously keep straightening my priorities, I also constantly have to ask myself this question: “What is my source?” Because as much as I know the answer, I also know life’s distractions can easily make me forget what’s essential.
As you prepare for a new week and re-focus on your source, priorities and goals, and even if you think you know the answer, it may be worth it to check in with yourself today. And tomorrow, and the day after…
What is YOUR source?
Happy Sunday!
The Corporate Sister.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 6, 2014 | Career
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News round-up – huffingtonpost.com
Happy Sunday! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July week-end, and is enjoying whatever’s left of it. And despite the fact that we all really need a day between Saturday and Sunday (and we’re seriously thinking about petitioning for it), it is still Sunday, and as we’re trying to annihilate any thought of this upcoming Monday, here’s what we enjoyed reading this past week:
- In honor of the 4th of July, the Huffington Post shows us 50 photos that prove America is totally beautiful (and we couldn’t agree more!);
- In other great 4th of July week-end news, the 2014 Essence Festival was and still is going on full speed in NOLA, featuring great, inspirational members of our community. I loved this Essence article about songstress Alicia Keys and our favorite nerd land lady Melissa Harris-Perry educating women;
- Struggling between your entrepreneurial guts and your day job obligations? Lifehacker tells us to channel our inner entrepreneur to excel at work;
- In the midst of all the pay gap controversy, the Washington Post revealed this week the male female pay gap remains entrenched at the White House;
- We all went “Wow” (sometimes followed up with interjectional phrases we’ll spare you from reprinting today) when we heard about the Hobby Lobby ruling. The Huff Post tells us how 9 women reacted to the controversial ruling;
- On a positive historical note, as we look back on the 1964 Civil Rights act, Forbes provides us with great leadership lessons from Admiral Michelle Howard, the highest ranking woman in naval history;
- Still looking back at the Civil Rights Act’s 50th anniversary, this Colorlines article depicts the current workplace environment where, unfortunately, segregation remains;
- Last but not least, our own The Corporate Sister asks the question as to whether business casual hurts minorities and women.
And to motivate you as you get ready to go back to work tomorrow (yes tomorrow is Monday!), check out this video from Global Montreal TV channel featuring Women on the Fence’s founder Erica Diamond:
Happy Sunday!
The Corporate Sister.
by Solange Lopes | Jul 3, 2014 | Career
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Imperia Pied a terre wedges – $140 – katemiddletonstyle.org
Our coffee break’s fashion pick today is a royal one! If, like myself, you are a fan of Kate Middleton’s fashion picks, then you may recognize these Pied a terre slingback espadrille wedges in black and off-white.
Featuring a canvas upper and bucle slingback, this espadrille wedge is a classic stunner! And with its raffia style and wedge heel, you can literally stand in these the entire day!
IT’S $140 at dunelondon.com, and is
Kate Middleton wearing Imperia wedges – star style.com
available in red, navy blue, black and off-white. And as we’re getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July, I would probably go for the navy blue or red pair! Perfect at the office or on week-ends, this one is truly a royal pick!
The Corporate Sister.
