Women finding balance

The world of communications, especially when you focus on the strategic standpoint, is extremely exciting.  We have discussed effective leadership and being a strategic communicator from a personal level all the way through to effectively leading a corporation with a clear vision.  For many women, being intellectually challenged and stretching her leadership muscles in the corporate world can be extremely difficult when trying to balance it with a family.  Sheryl Sandburg says, "Women struggle the most between professional success and personal fulfillment".  Luckily, with technology rapidly advancing and social media taking on various roles, the opportunity for women to spread their creative wings to fulfill this desire is growing exponentially.  For example, many women are working corporate jobs from home, creating and maintaining blogs that attract sponsors and a large following, and entrepreneurs are starting their own businesses based from their home.  

I agree with Sandburg on a couple of points regarding women who want to remain in the work force or are coming back into the work force.  First, she says to "sit at the table".  This means we do not need to underestimate our abilities and we need to have confidence to negotiate for ourselves in the corporate world.  Instead of sitting on the side of the room quietly we need to be sitting at the table with confidence knowing we deserve our own success (this is defined differently for each person).  Healthy competition is lucrative in many ways, whether in a corporate setting or from home. 

Second, Sandurg says "don't leave before you leave".  In other words, remain focused on your vision and keep your foot on the gas pedal until something changes between your personal and job worlds (i.e. deciding the become a stay-at-home mom).  Continue looking for new opportunities for growth and advancement.  If the choice has been made to continue being present in the corporate world after beginning a family, make sure your job is challenging, rewarding, and that you feel like you are making a difference.  Finding that balance can be very difficult, especially
if our job is boring because we put on the brake pedal too quickly.

 John Maeda discusses in his TED talk "How art, technology, and design inform creative leaders" how our computer can be thought of as our spiritual space of thinking.  This is an extremely stimulating thought for a woman in search of balance who might need to blend her corporate and family lives.  Maeda states that "technology makes possibilities, design makes solutions, art makes questions, and leadership makes actions".  Art is an entity where some questions may not have answers.  For a woman seeking balance creative leadership expands her world.  A creative leader is interactive (see previous blog) as opposed to the traditional leader who practices one-way communication. She improvises when appropriate as opposed to following the manual.  The creative leader loves to learn from mistakes (visionary blog) as opposed to avoiding mistakes.  The creative leader resembles a jazz ensemble as opposed to the orchestra model of a traditional leader.  The creative leader is open to unlimited critique and taking risks(transparency blog) as opposed to limited feedback and sustaining order. 

 

Whether a woman wants to exercise her mind and abilities in the corporate world, at home with her family or both, creativity is the operative word in finding balance and we can do it!  Success and happiness look different for each person.  We simply need to give it all our very best and stay focused on the goals before us.  I have enjoyed tying these blogs together and I look forward to continuing in the future.  My blogs may not be on a weekly basis as this particular class is coming to an end.  However, we will be communicating again soon!