On the Brink

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 new book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," and whose chapter I summarize briefly below. When you read Babette's story, you will be amazed, as I was and still am.

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.

Photo courtesy of The Good Men Project

Ah, change...love it or hate it, it's inevitable. It comes whether you like it or not. That's why the best approach is not to resist change and do battle with it, but to find ways to make it your friend. This is the message of a recent article I wrote for The Good Men Project, entitled "Don’t Let Change Be a Stranger; How To Embrace It as Your New Best Friend." You can read it here.

Even before the pandemic, people did not like change. Change is pain, it literally hurts our brains to have to change. That's why our brains work so hard to resist change, preferring to stick to old habits and patterns. But with all the disruptions that the pandemic has brought, from work-life balance to childcare to online schooling to endless Zoom meetings, our previously predictable world has been turned upside down. What to do?

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?

It's out! My new book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," is now published and available wherever books are sold. You can get your copy here. I am thrilled that it's now out in the world, telling the stories of 11 women, myself included, who refused to believe the myths that (male-dominated) society was telling them about their capabilities and what they could and couldn't do. Today, women all over the world are stepping out, taking the lead, and pursuing their dreams and ambitions, not allowing gender biases to stop them. 

Photo courtesy of Texas Monthly

"We didn't hire Becky to make history," Popovich said. "She earned it."

When Becky Hammon joined the San Antonio Spurs pro basketball team as an assistant coach in 2014—the first woman in NBA history to hold this position—Barack Obama congratulated her on Twitter. Boy, have times changed!

And when the Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected from a December 30th game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Hammon replaced him to become the first woman to act as head coach in a regular-season NBA game. More change!

Barriers being broken, glass ceilings being smashed