November 23, 2020

Hello,

It's Thanksgiving week! I'd be remiss to not say how thankful I am for the BOSLady community, for the intelligent, dedicated and supportive people who make it up and have sustained it for the last two and a half years. However you can celebrate this year, I wish you all a relaxing and restorative holiday.

Just in case you missed it, next month's read is Dare to Lead by Brene Brown, the real life Messiah as Mandy humorously has referred to her (it gives me a big old grin whenever I see her name now). We will be meeting for the last time in 2020 at 5:30 PST / 8:30 EST on Tuesday, December 8th via Zoom, invitation to follow. Side note - Zoom announced that they are lifting the 40-minute free call restriction for family Thanksgiving calls.

The Weekly Three

1. Something about why so many incompetent men lead: In response to last week's note, Emily Schell sent me Harvard Business Review's "Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders". The thesis of the article is that

"the same psychological characteristics that enable male managers to rise to the top of the corporate or political ladder are actually responsible for their downfall. In other words, what it takes to get the job is not just different from, but also the reverse of, what it takes to do the job well...

So it struck me as a little odd that so much of the recent debate over getting women to “lean in” has focused on getting them to adopt more of these dysfunctional leadership traits. Yes, these are the people we often choose as our leaders — but should they be? "

The article's author wrote a book of the same name and did a TEDX talk on the topic. Here also is a fascinating interview he does with The Wharton School of UPenn.

Thanks Emily!

2. Something about remote work's absence of work culture and spontaneous collaboration: Earlier this week, Catherine pointed out how important it is for new hires in a company to physically be in the workspace to observe peers and develop a sense of work culture. In person, you see when people come in and go home, how and when they speak to one another, and things like how often it is acceptable to step away from your desk for a breather. Working remotely, these examples are absent. Also missing are the questions coworkers ask one another that you may overhear and learn from or sporadic brainstorming sessions that emails don't lend themselves to.

The entrepreneur group Boss Babe that Mandy is part of has a clever solution to this. There are "office hours" of sorts that you can sign up for every week. You then log on to a video chat with a number of other people and work while muted while they all do the same. If a question comes up, unmute yourself and ask the group. Anyone can answer, everyone can listen. Does anyone have an office that does something similar?

3. Something kick ass that one of our members is doing: Mandy Waryasz's Inherent Worth Project deserves the spotlight. Months ago, she described a vision that she had and a passion project that she wanted to pursue. Ladies and gentlemen, she crushed it. She is building a community of like minded people with whom she is sharing the message "self-acceptance begins when we realize our inherent worth". Take some time this week to check out her website, blog and the inaugural Inherent Worth zine. As you do, it will be impossible to miss the conviction with which the creator has given life to her belief. Thank you for the inspiration

Thank you for reading, Amber