On the Brink

In the 1970s I was recently out of college, married, and ready for a credit card of my own. I was a graduate student, was working, and had no children. However, as a woman, no bank would give me a credit card without a husband’s signature — even if I was a famous (but unmarried) tennis star like the three-time Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King who faced the same obstacle. So what did women without husbands do? They had to handle all their finances with cash and checks, I suppose. Today this sounds crazy but back then, it was the norm. Pretty barbaric if you ask me.

This ingrained system of putting barriers in front of women to limit their capabilties is the focus of my new book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," which tells the stories of 11 very accomplished women who achieved great things in spite of the obstacles put in their paths, most often by male-controlled hierarchies. Get your copy here.

In 2020, there were over 400,000 women lawyers, making up almost 36% of all practicing attorneys in the US. Looks like progress, until you learn that women lawyers are 29% less likely to become partners than their male counterparts, despite the fact that over half the students in law school are women. Underscoring this statistic, the Law360 Glass Ceiling report for 2019 cited the lack of progress at the top levels of law firms for women, revealing that at the top private law firms, four-fifths of partners are men — which means that only 20% are women. You've come a long baby? Not so much.

This tug-of-war between what women are capable of and what they are actually "allowed" to achieve is the focus of my new book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," which chronicles the paths of 11 very different women who accomplished great things in spite of the obstacles put in their paths, most often by male-controlled hierarchies. Get your copy here.

In my new book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," I expose many of the myths that for centuries have held women back from achieving what they knew they could. These outdated, inaccurate myths have told women in business what they can and can't do, have shut them out of leadership positions, and have denied them access to venture capital. But, the times they are a-changin.' Women around the globe are stepping out, speaking up, and refusing for their dreams to be denied.

But where did these myths come from? And how can we change them? I offer some ideas here, which I discuss in more detail in my book. You can get your copy here.

In the latter half of the 1960s, a massive disruption was underway in the US fashion industry. Before WWII, America dominated the globe in garment manufacturing, employing over 2 million people. After the war, that all changed, from where garments were made to who designed them. By 2000, only about 2% of Americans' clothing was made in the US. 

Amidst all this change, women in the garment business saw an opportunity. They stepped up and voiced their desire to lead, and if they were told no, they started their own companies. A terrific example of a woman refusing to be held back is Babette Ballinger, whose story I share in my book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," and whose chapter I summarize below. When you read Babette's story, you will be amazed, as I was and still am. Also, take a listen to my podcast with Babette in April of this year and hear her tell her amazing story in her own words.

Throughout history, men have always been heralded as great leaders. Yet society, not just in America but everywhere, has downplayed the leadership abilities of women. While men have been championed as artistic geniuses, powerful visionaries, brilliant innovators and influential builders (from interstate freeways to the Louvre to the internet), women leaders have been seen as outliers who pushed the boundaries of where they belonged and what they were supposed to achieve. Finally, however, there are signs that this is changing, which is the focus of my new book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business." I share below a brief summary of a section of the book but for the full story, get your copy here! 

As a corporate anthropologist and culture change expert, I am fascinated by Stephanie Breedlove’s story, one of the amazing women I write about in mynew book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business." Get your copy here. I also did an On The Brink podcast interview with Stephanie back in 2017. What makes her story so important, and so relevant for the times, is that her success came in large part from a belief that if you strive to bring out the best in people, that brings out the best in your company. I've heard this many times from women entrepreneurs and I think it is something that women in business do particularly well when they're building their companies. To get the full story of how Stephanie bucked her parents' advice and started her business anyway, then sold it for $55 million, read my book. For a taste, I offer this synopsized excerpt below. Don't let anyone hold you back from realizing your dreams!

"If the Golden Rule is to treat people as you want to be treated, the Platinum Rule is to treat people as they want to be treated. If you're truly a global citizen, you have to practice the Platinum Rule."  - Denise Meagles

Yesterday was International Women's Day, and the month of March is Women's History Month. How should we mark these two events? How do we adequately honor and celebrate all of the incredible things women have accomplished throughout history, their contributions to human civilization and culture and progress? It's a tall order. 

But a different way of looking at this is to ask, why do we need an International Women's Day and a Women's History Month? Is it because in spite of all our smashing of myths and shattering of glass ceilings, women are still not equal to men? Women of color are even more unequal.

At our Rethink with Andi Simon Roundtable which met today, we discussed this and a lot more. I'd like to share with you some of the ideas that were put forth because hopefully they can help us understand how to make the world better, for women, for men, for all of us. Enjoy and please share.

Have you noticed? In business, politics, medicine, law, tech, sports...pretty much everything...women today are breaking barriers and smashing glass ceilings in fields that for decades (centuries?) have been heavily dominated by men. And they're not just surviving, they're thriving. This is also the focus of my new book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," which shares the stories of 11 trailblazing women who refused to be held back from becoming who they wanted to be and achieving what they knew they could. To encourage you on your own journey, I offer below a synopsized excerpt from my book that describes how women have always wanted their own businesses and how they defied the gender biases and cultural norms of the times and got it done. They did it and so can you!

I am thrilled! Not only is my new book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," published and now out in the world, it's selling like gangbusters. In just one month, it's 9th on Amazon's list of Kindle e-books on women in business. But it's not just the sales that gets me excited, it's the fact that more and more women, and hopefully men, are reading about the 11 trailblazing women whose stories I share, including my own. My hope is that they get inspiration from these courageous, determined women who refused to be held back from becoming who they wanted to be and achieving what they knew they could. They smashed glass ceilings and leapt over barriers, and so can you!

                                                                                                Photo credit: Joshua Roberts of Reuters/CNNpolitics

Finally it happened. 

We now have our first female vice president. Our first Black vice president. Our first South Asian vice president. Our first Second Gentleman. Our first Jewish vice presidential spouse. Such a lot of firsts!

Amazingly, 158 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and 101 years after women were granted the right to vote, Kamala Devi Harris stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with her husband Doug Emhoff as the newly sworn-in vice president of the United States.

At a perilous time when our country is beset by disease and death on a massive scale, economic disaster, unprecedented political polarization, catastrophic unemployment, a climate change crisis, immigration unrest and a host of other issues, who better to stand by our new president's side, ready to work shoulder-to-shoulder, than a woman? And aren't we glad it's this woman?