Lead-HER-Ship

Archive for July, 2010

Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction by Marcia Reynolds, PsyD is the first personal development book focused on the needs and desires of women focused on achieving big goals as opposed to the general population of women. These women do not want to focus on their fears and will probably not balance their lives. They need a book that will address their specific challenges.

Based on the Dr. Reynold’s doctoral research and decades of coaching smart, strong women, Wander Woman identified a growing number of women who are constantly searching for “something more” in their lives. Although these women are confident in their abilities and continue to stack up the accomplishments, at the end of the day they are discontented, disappointed and exhausted.

First, Reynolds defines the societal factors that led to the drive and restlessness these women experience. Then she defines the dark side of women raised to excel—in their constant search for the next great thing, they lose a sense of who they are and what their purpose is beyond their accomplishments and praise.

Once the reader can clearly identify her challenges, the bulk of the chapters in Wander Woman provide practical exercises, powerful questions and case studies to help the reader channel her restless energy into a more fulfilling path. In the end, the reader will release her “burden of greatness” and be free to choose her own life rules and direction.

This June, Boston College Center for Work and Family released a study that new dads are seeking an active role in parenting PLUS working. However, while women have gained legitimacy in these intertwined lives, men now struggle to gain acceptance. Flex arrangements appear to be more acceptable for women than for men.

For new dads, the study underscores a shift. They do not equate being a good father with the role of “the breadwinner,” but with “being there, being present, spending time and being accessible.”

In small but significant way, PAMPERS has started advertising its diapers to fathers, hosting a “Daddy Play Date” in Manhattan with celebrity fathers like the singer Joel Madden and the actor Gilles Marini and about 100 guests, who played carnival games with their toddlers. According to an invitation, “the event was to pay homage to dads on diaper duty.”

Now if we can get the Equal Pay Act to live up to its name, equity will hit home and office front.

Sally Ride was born in 1951 and was a talented athlete.  She graduated from Stanford University with degrees in physics and English and went on to earn a Ph.D. in astrophysics.  Sally applied to be an astronaut in 1977 after NASA announced it was looking for mission specialists.  Sally was one of six women chosen in addition to 29 men.  Sally became the first American woman in space in 1983 when she was chosen as a mission specialist on the Challenger.

Sally went into space one more time in 1984 and became a member of the presidential commission looking into the Challenger Explosion.  The Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control offered Sally a fellowship and she left NASA in 1987.  Sally founded Sally Ride Science™ in 2001 to support girls’ and boys’ interests in science, math and technology.