For our lunch break today, we are gaga over this diagonal color block sheath dress from The Limited. Colorblock is big this Spring (I know, where is Spring?), and we love the trend, not only for its versatility for both work and play, but also for the sheer fact that it flatters all body types ( and cinches that stubborn waist in).
This dress comes in a brown-and-black combination, as well as red-and-black. I personally favor the red-and-black power combination.
It’s on sale for $54.99 at The Limited. Can you say deal?
So you’ve been meeting with your manager about this uber-important project at work, and through all these meetings, you’ve clearly had the best ideas and approach. When faced with technical questions, you come up with the answer faster (and better) than the boss. The presentation you made that your manager took credit for garnered rave reviews, making you (and everyone else) realize that hmmm….you may just be more competent and knowledgeable than your own boss. Tricky situation when the person you report to appears to not be as sharp as you are, and when you also happen to be an ambitious corporate sister eager to climb the corporate ladder? What to do to make your competencies shine while not outshining your manager, and still manage to prove your best at work?
Keep being your best! In many of these types of situations, we tend to assume, especially as minority women, that we should downplay our capabilities so as not to be perceived in a negative light by the same person who signs your annual review. Absolutely not! Keep in mind that you were hired to perform your best work, and that’s exactly what you should keep doing.
Be receptive to your boss’s input and ideas. Everyone’s input is to be considered, and even as a top performer, you should make a special effort to consider, value and use your manager’s input. It will not only make him or her feel less threatened (yes it happens), but it will also prove that you are a team member!
When push comes to shove, make them think it’s kinda their idea…Some may not agree with me on this one, but when you really need your boss-s buy-in on an important project, you need to put on your negotiator’s cap. And what better incentive for anyone to sign off on the dotted line than to actually believe that they contributed in the whole process. Sharing your ideas and accomplishments, while retaining the credit for them, may take you a long way in the corporate world.
It’s Monday, the start of the week, and incidentally enough, one of the days we really need to break up the day to make it through. Yet when we do take breaks, do these really help us get refueled and back to work with increased energy and focus, or do they just make us even more tired?
What you do during your breaks largely determines their quality, and how effective they really are.
While many like to take brisk walks around the building, others would rather stop by a co-worker friend’s cube for a quick chat. Yet again, others seem to favor a quick catnap on the toilet seat (yup, it happens).
What types of breaks do you take, and how do you feel they help you carry out the rest of the day?
It’s the beginning of a new week, the beginning of a new day, and for many, the beginning of a new corporate adventure. For some, it may mean a new job or a new career, for others, it means building their own corporate empire! And to celebrate and motivate all the new, older and still thriving entrepreneurs out there who are treading on their own corporate path rather than being a part of someone else’s corporate dream, let’s start the week with a short video on natural products’ Carol Daughter’s Lisa Price’s entrepreneurship story. Check it out below, and hopefully this pumps you up on this new day of the week, whether you are building your own corporate world or thriving in the corporate world of your choice:
Spring has sprung, finally, or at least conceptually, and we are sooooo ready for it! And while we’re waiting for the temperatures to reconcile with our expectations, this is what our weekly news roundup, news that inspired us, made us smile, frown or just left us with kinda of a “hmmmm” feeling:
Black Enterprise tips us off on 3 post-interview flops that ensure a lost job opportunity;
Fast Company reiterated one of our most valued mantras, and explaining how “saying no is key to productivity”;
For all the DropBox aficionados, Tech Crunch is letting us on the scoop that Dropbox is opening its first NYC office;
Inc. is confirming what most of us already knew about the power of giving thanks, and gives us 5 tips to a life-changing culture of thanks;
Essence is killing it with their Black Woman’s Career Playbook, as it tells us about 7 ways to build relationships, not just your business card collection;
Refinery 29 is asking if your work personality is right for your career;
Slate gives us a pretty compelling example of how negotiating in your career as a female can actually hurt you, you’ll be surprised by this female academic’s story;
The Huffington Post is tipping us off on which companies to work for to get rich…hmmm;
And to finish on a gourmet note for all the coffee addicts out there (guilty as charged), the HuffPost is confirming that Americans are getting even more pretentious about how they drink their coffee (and who can blame us really?).
When I was in public accounting, as many veterans of public accounting know, life revolved around work. And work revolved around the team…
The team worked together, ate together, took coffee breaks together, pretty much breathed in sync if you want my opinion. Everyone knew everyone else’s life, girlfriend spats, marital discords, and favorite hair conditioner. We were tight…and I mean tight!
So it was interesting to hear co-workers debate about whether or not eating lunch with the whole team would help their careers or not, I was taken back in time.
For my $0.05, I think fostering a sense of team belonging is always good for one’s career, especially in the beginning. However, we can still be ourselves inside a team. As much as it is recommended to play “team”, it is also good to set some healthy boundaries. Have luinch with the team by all means, but also reserve yourself the right to have your own personal time. And when setting boundaries, better sooner than later to avoid disappointing anyone, yourself included.
Many working mothers in Big Corporate have to make different, and drastic decisions, especially when it comes to work. What with the cost and scarcity of childcare, to simply the kids’ schedules being different and tighter than everybody else (even with after-school care, one still has to be able to pick up their kids by 5 or 5:30pm, and that’s when you can even afford after-school care. If not, you have to figure out a way to pick them up by 2pm in my neck of the woods, talk about arranging fora drastically different schedule).
As a result, many working mothers and corporate sisters do have to re-arrange their work schedule accordingly, most times having to request to come in early and leave later. While working with other corporate sisters who either are not parents or have the necessary support to put in the extra hours, as well as with males who also benefit from the support of their respective spouses to put in the extra time, these working moms often face the reality of the perception of “working less.”
“Although I come in earlier than everyone else, the mere fact that I have to leave earlier makes it seem that I don’t put the same amount of work in”, complains A. “Do I have to give up all career aspirations just because of I don’t conform to the regular core hours”, retorts C.
Despite all the advances in women’s empowerment in Big Corporate, it still seems like much has to be done to lessen, or even eliminate, this perception that working a different schedule means that you’re working less.
