Women have always been told to adapt in the workplace and in business, when maybe a new approach is in order. The current podcast episode explores how women can strive and still be authentic.
A comment by Michelle Meyer on the NY Times website haunted me to the point that I did search after search until I found a means of contacting her for a Skype chat because she was someone I felt I had to talk with. Her comment haunted me as it was something that I firmly believe: That women have to stop waiting for corporations to take their workplace needs into consideration and begin to build their own businesses that will. And guess what? Men will join them in creating more sanity around work and family life. Do you now understand why I needed to talk with her?
Michelle’s premise is that men and women have what she calls a vibration or way of doing things; and in the current corporate culture women are coached, often well intentionally, to adopt the male vibration in order to move up in the organization. But, this 
adoption comes at a price that requires denial of self or family sacrifice that some women are unwilling to make. The rigor does not stop just with women, if you think back a few years ago to the report of a 21 year old intern who literally worked himself to death to make an impression on his bosses, men too pay a heavy price.
Michelle’s answer was “Girl Authentic” and spreading a message that women need to begin to create businesses big and small that mirror the values that they find important for being successful and yet still have a life that includes time for family and building a business legacy. It is a message I found very reasoned and inclusive simply based on the fact that it is not anti-male and yet empowering to women that despite their misgivings if they can juggle all the in’s and out’s that come with managing a family (and a career) then they can build businesses that will allow them to do so.
True, it does require women and men to begin to show their daughters both as they are growing up and into adulthood that they don’t have to make a choice between being a mini male or getting on the “mommy track”. That it is not about “having it all” but simply doing the things that give you fulfillment be that as a business owner as well as a family member. And make no mistake about it, men have a dog in this fight because if you look around at many of the Masters of the Universe we are asked to admire; a good number of them have had multiple marriages that became causalities to the dedication currently required in climbing the greasy pole. You’ll hear Michelle mention that corporations with more women throughout the organization tend to do better than ones that do not, there’s a win here for everyone.
This podcast episode is one that will have you thinking days and weeks after listening and that I hope is the point. I say that because if women in Saudi Arabia who have restrictions on leaving the home can form successful businesses through of all places Instagram, then what is holding you back? But, don’t take my word for it listen to Michelle explain the concept. You’ll thank me later…
If you like the show, be sure to subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher. If you really like it, be sure to write a review. It helps the show.