Tag: business

Women Serving On Boards

Posted on by Rachael Melot in business

This morning while reading through my daily dose of eNewsletters I came across this article about California requiring women on Boards of Directors.  I would like to know how my readers feel about a law requiring publicly traded companies to include women on their boards of directors.  The measure requires at least one female director on the board of each California-based public corporation by the end of 2019.

A fourth of publicly held corporations with headquarters in California don’t have any women on their boards of directors. These companies have not done enough to increase the number of women on their boards despite the Legislature’s urging, making government intervention necessary, Jackson said

I have been researching the topic since I started writing my book, and I have been experiencing this for decades.  I am seeing some change where I live locally, and while you would like to think it happens organically to place women on the boards – it does not.  It is most often mandated, whether officially or unofficially, to change the demographics of the board.

Some of the repetition (same ole’ white guys) is simply because that is who their natural network is both professionally and personally.  Some times it is fear of change or opposing views assumed by anyone NOT in your inner circle.  But the truth is that change on boards will result in changes in practice and direction and men have had decades to figure out how to do it differently and they HAVE NOT figured it out so now the law must intervene, if even only for a short time period.

There will be wins and their will be woes, but I believe this unnecessary law (because we should be able to figure this out as smart people running major public corporations) is a good thing.  I believe it is needed at this time and place, when equal candidates are available and ready to serve on these boards.  I am open to hear your opinion for or against, but I believe this is good.  I give the #win2California  #MoreWomenInHighPlaces

Ep 15 The Attorney That Cares, Jennifer Jackson, Joins Rachael to Talk About Balancing Motherhood, Billable Hours and Defining Yourself

Posted on by Rachael Melot in business, Success Without Apology Podcast
Jennifer Jackson and I ran track together in college and now she and her husband raise three beautiful, athletic children while both pursuing professional careers.  Jennifer tackles social injustices through her career as an attorney and through the mission field.  She will encourage you to define your version of success.

 

Show notes:

Jennifer Jackson is an attorney who cares — about her clients and her community. Her professional and personal philosophy includes giving back in ways that make a meaningful difference to the local and global communities. Jennifer is a firm believer in Gandhi’s idea of “being the change you want to see in the world.” Being a mom of three provides critical time management and conflict resolution skills that prove invaluable in and meeting the needs of clients. Experienced in workers’ compensation, products liability, employment and trucking, Jennifer evaluates the case in order to provide early and efficient resolution. But litigation is not the only concern for clients so she provides a holistic approach with care and attention combined with loads of experience and knowledge. When not devoting her time to the practice of law since 2002 she is helping various non-profits offer free legal services to the underprivileged, rescue women and children from trafficking and connect kids with mentors to help keep them off of drugs and out of gangs.

She Has a Really Big….

Posted on by Rachael Melot in business

Rolodex.  Of course.  A rolodex.  For those of you under the age of 30 you may not even know what a rolodex is, but way back in the time of paper we had these things that sat on our desks called a rolodex.  The rolodex was a desktop card index used to record names, addresses, and telephone numbers, (or business cards) in a rotating spindle or a small tray to which removable cards are attached.

 

Nowadays we call them phones.  🙂 . But in a recent retreat I participated we were asked to describe our self with one word and the first letter of that word had to be the first letter of our name.  So going with “R” I used the word relational.  I believe that I am a relational personal who builds long-lasting relationships.  I value my relationships with friends, business acquaintances and family a great deal.

I confess I am not the quickest to build the relationship.  I think I have mentioned before that I don’t make very good small talk.   But if we get past the small talk in our conversation then I dig in – I really get to know you.  I have known this about myself and I have a few close friends who know this about me, but honestly when the Mayor of our City described me to a consultant as having a really big rolodex, I was kind of shocked.

Should I be shocked that he thought of me as having a big rolodex? I guess I kind of thought that was my little secret.  Isn’t that kind of weird that I felt exposed and kind of “found out” when I was described as having a big rolodex.  You know, I know people.  haha

After weirding out about it just a little, I have come to take great pride in my rolodex.  I believe the people in my rolodex (or phone) are one of my greatest prized possessions.  I know people.  I know people who know people and everyday I love expanding my network of people.

John Maxwell once said in a training session that he always asks his new friends or acquaintances, “Who do you know that I should know?”  Maybe that is because he too values his rolodex.  He values the people he knows.  I believe I am in company with the likes of someone like Maxwell who is always focused on building his rolodex to grow and develop as a human, a leader, and a mentor.

#GoGrowYourRolodex

Ep 6: Emma Otto Visits With Rachael about the Art of Negotiating

Posted on by Rachael Melot in business, Success Without Apology Podcast

After listening to the podcast please leave me your comments here.  I would love to hear any of your stories about how you or one of your rockstar girlfriends negotiated creatively.   At every turn of my career I have negotiated a day job that allowed me to take my personal days to officiate basketball.  Your needs may be different – tell me about how you make it happen.

#b2bnetwork #MediaLife #Negotiate4Life #CreativelyNegotiate

WWOD

Posted on by Rachael Melot in business

Anyone remember the wrist bands that us young Christians were wearing in junior high that simply said WWJD? Well today I ask you, WWOD? And not to compare the two religiously at all, but lets be honest we always want to know, “What Would Oprah Do?”

Well I came across a great article this morning about what Oprah did when she found out her male co-worker was making more money even though they were doing the same job. The story is not much different than the one I reference often about Mika Brzezinski on the Morning Joe show.

I believe this is an important article because it goes through two stories for Oprah.  The first demonstrates how she stood up for herself and the second shows how she stood up for other women.  So today I challenge women – stand up for yourself AND stand up for other women. The statistics need to change – we have so far yet to go for equality.  See below an excerpt from the aforementioned article.

While gender equality today has made great strides, women in the workforce are still underrepresented in leadership roles. For example, there are only 24 women helming Fortune 500 companies as CEOs. And in the aggregate, they are paid less than men. Women working full time in the U.S. in 2016 earned $0.80 for every dollar earned by a man, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy and Research (IWPR) and the American University of American Women.

#NotGoodEnough  #KeepAsking4More #SuccessWithoutApology

Sounding Board Save Me

Posted on by Rachael Melot in business, successwithoutapology

When I was participating in the Women In Fellowship program I heard that the greatest indicator of a woman’s success is her network.  At the time, I found this to be a very fascinating statistic and every since then I have continued to observe women and their networks for affirmation of said research.  While I believe a woman’s network is an indicator of future success,  I’m convinced a woman’s inner circle of her network, professional sounding board is even more indicative of her potential.

By definition,  a sounding board is a person or group on whom one tries out an idea or opinion as a means of evaluating it.  I believe my greatest indicator of success is the quality of my sounding board, more importantly than my full network.  Recently I was having a business issue that I was trying to solve for and after trying my damnedest to figure out how to solve for it, I simply asked two people in my sounding board for their advice.   The question at hand was, “How do I differentiate my business from the other salons in a way that stylists want to stay, have a sense of loyalty, and feel a genuine desire to see the salon success?” Continue reading “Sounding Board Save Me” →

All Men: When to Challenge

Posted on by Rachael Melot in business

The board room has an attorney, a facility manager, an office systems business owner, a banker, a pharmacist, a trucker, a retiree and me.  They are brilliant leaders in our community and they are in the dark when it comes to digital media.  I love serving on this board and I love that my background is so diverse from theirs – that I am younger than them, and that I am the “girl” in the room.  One thing that sometimes tickles me is that my ideas are often times completely foreign and outlandish to them, not because I am trying to be different but because my lens is just different. It sometimes leads to some ridicule and comments like, “Yeah, hey Randy – go ahead and twit that out would you?”

Continue reading “All Men: When to Challenge” →