I had the pleasure of hearing Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post speak a couple weeks ago at the NAPW National Networking Conference.  To say she was inspiring would be an understatement.  One of the main themes running through many of Arianna’s anecdotes and advice was the concept of learning to lean back.

Sheryl Sandberg’s recent book, Lean In: Women, Work & the Will to Lead, has successfully created a much needed (and sometimes heated!) dialogue about the importance of “leaning in,” or taking an active role in our own career management.  But Arianna takes this advice a step further, stressing the need to recharge regularly so that we can lean in reinvigorated, with a clear mind and sound judgment.  She says that -

In order to be effective at leaning in, we must learn to lean back.  

Leaning back means taking care of ourselves, inside and out.  Here are a few ways to get started:

Get Enough Sleep.
Make sleep a priority.  Arianna’s wakeup call came in the form of a broken cheekbone when she fell asleep at the desk and hit her face out of sheer exhaustion.  Now she makes sleep a priority and is a self-described “sleep aficionado.”

Arianna spoke about how in today’s society it is almost seen as a badge of honor to be sleep-deprived.  She has found that businessmen, especially, brag about how few hours of sleep they get as though it makes them more macho.  Quite the contrary.  It makes them less effective.  Nothing beats a good night’s sleep and the feeling that you are ready to take on anything.

As Nate Anglin says in his “Where Fitness Meets Corporate” blog, in a post specifically about lack of sleep:

Sleep deprivation is a nasty habit by most business professionals and you’re the one that pays for it. Not enough sleep lowers your ability to deal with stress. All the small things become large and all the large things become life or death situations. Being able to manage stress is a MAJOR factor in controlling your life and your business.

Regenerate Often.
Take time to regenerate.  Recharging is more than just getting your zzzzs.  Even if just for a couple minutes at a time, Arianna suggests we check in multiple times a day and assess our stress level.  She has developed a free app, GPS for the Soul, to help us do just that.  The app begins by gauging our stress level and then interrupts this cycle by connecting us with that which helps us de-stress and put things in perspective, for example, music, poetry and pictures of loved ones.

Whether you use the app above, or just take a few minutes for a walk, to phone a friend or do a little light stretching, the point is to consciously build time into your day to de-stress.  In the long run, this ability to “reboot” will make you much more effective and able to make better decisions at work, and in other parts of your life!

Redefine Success.
Arianna also stressed the importance of redefining success.  In the traditional male model, money and power equals success.  According to her calculations, successful businesswomen pay a very high price based on that definition of success, with a 40% higher incidence in heart disease and 60% higher incidence in diabetes.  No matter what the statistics, there’s no denying that if you are not taking care of yourself, your health will suffer.  Thus, the new formula for success must include well-being.  All the money in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have your health or peace of mind.

It’s one thing to hear about the importance of taking care of oneself and overall work life balance from doctors and health experts.  They don’t understand; they aren’t in the business world.  But when we are given the advice to “lean back” from super successful businesswoman, entrepreneur, author and media mogul, Arianna Huffington, I think we’d be wise to listen for a change.

The post Why Leaning Back is as Important as Leaning In appeared first on Career Girl Network.

“Danielle, that’s why, as a woman, you only make 73% of what a man makes.”

Now, before anyone gets upset, this friend is a major advocate of women’s rights, and we like to give each other grief whenever possible. My comeback is typically, “Actually, it’s 77%. And don’t forget it.” But after several articles I’ve read recently, it seems that the trend may be (albeit at a snail’s pace) changing slightly. However, it always leaves me wondering exactly where women are in business today. Today, I found an infographic that I find extremely thought-provoking. Did you know that female MBA graduates make 93 cents on the dollar compared to their male co-workers? Sharing this, I wonder what your thoughts are. What is most surprising (or not at all) to you?

The post Where Are Women Today, Anyway? appeared first on Career Girl Network.

About Beth Santos:

Beth Santos is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of TravelGoGirl.com. Go Girl is a community of 6,000 women in 110 countries around the world — and growing. We tell stories and share tips about places we’ve been, we network with one another both in person and online, and we challenge the women of the world to be bold, brave and adventurous. We are pioneers, even in the smallest of ways. We live to challenge our mindsets, expand our horizons and embrace our world. And Go Girl is the community that connects us together when the earth is perhaps too big to cover completely on foot.

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By all accounts, Trish Spaulding was doing well as a PR and Marketing Manager for a construction company in 2007. She had a reliable and revered position, but saw the market for housing and construction slump all the way to its lowest point. She realized that she could benefit from supplemental employment and wanted the added security of something to rely on in case her industry continued to flounder. Trish wanted a small business that she could run on the side—something fun and relatively easy that wouldn’t interfere with her full-time work.

Brainstorming, Trish considered a sweet shop. She imagined having fun creating tasty treats and imaginative packaging in cute boxes. She sought advice on the viability of her plan, noting the one flaw: “I’m not a baker.” The professionals she asked advised against this type of business and encouraged her to research other ideas.

It wasn’t until her daughter started planning a wedding that Trish got a new idea. What about the wedding business? Trish believed she could provide a service to brides to do two things: first, she could make their weddings prettier, and second, she could take care of a detail with as much ease as possible. Trish saw that now, unlike when she got married, people are more willing to pay for someone to provide a service in order to take stress off of the bride and to give the family more time to enjoy the day instead of acting like the event crew. That’s when she began researching a relatively new decorating trend: chair covers.

Trish looked into the idea and spoke to business professionals about the viability of her plan. With their approval, she priced the covers she would need to purchase, and got a loan from family to buy her small initial inventory and samples. Trish then went to a bridal show and began selling her service of chair cover rentals and setup.

When she had a list of orders and no idea if her plan would work or not, she sought help from Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women (GROW), a women’s business center that helps entrepreneurs start, grow, and maintain their businesses. Trish took advantage of the business services that GROW offers, and with free business counseling she worked through the early stages of starting her business. She was able to expand her inventory, build relationships with wedding planners and venues, and now has a great reputation for quality products and services with her business—Sitting Pretty.

Trish has a small group of employees that help set up and tear down for weddings, and she is able to match nearly any color with the array of covers and ribbons in which she has invested. She even does business with women in other states, sending them samples to make sure they know what they will see on their wedding day.

Trish loves being able to provide beautiful options for brides that they can get without having to stress or rely on their families to set up and tear down on their special day.

When asked if she was planning on turning this into a full-time business, Trish said she’ll maintain her sales until she retires in a few years. At that time, she will do her fun and profitable business as much as she’d like. For now, she’s continuing to foster her relationship with local venues and planners, and growing her social media presence.

According to Forbes, Baby Boomers are quickly become the “hottest group” of small business owners, choosing now to become successful entrepreneurs. Trish Spaulding is a woman who rocks because she developed a profitable business with the help of other women, to help other women, and to make the world just a little bit prettier.

To find a Women’s Business Center near you, visit SBA.gov.

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Big news hit Washington this week when the glass ceiling of the United States Secret Service cracked. President Obama appointed Julia Pierson the first female head of the Secret Service. She was sworn in on Tuesday.

Why should you care?

• The Secret Service doesn’t just protect the President. In fact, they have over 150 offices nationwide and deal with everything from identity theft to terrorism.
• Not only is Pierson a woman, but she’ll also be reporting to a woman, Janet Napolitano, the head of Homeland Security. Pretty cool girl power team, right?
• The Secret Service has been veiled in controversy the last couple of years for choices surrounding officers and prostitutes. Julia is well respected and will be charged with “cleaning up” much of the media mess that was made last year.

What should you know about Julia Pierson?

• She rose through the ranks! President Obama appointed not just a woman, but a senior Secret Service member. She spent over 30 years with the agency.
• She’s originally from Florida and started her career as a law enforcement officer in Orlando.
• She served on the personal protective detail for Presidents Bush, Clinton, and Bush.

No matter your political affiliation, I know we can all wish this non-partisan female appointee the best in her new position!

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Deb Tacoma’s story is one of true entrepreneurship and invention.

The creator the Freedom Wand has a strong bond with her customers because she was in a similar situation a few years ago. Deb was in an accident that left her with limited mobility for the first time in her life. Luckily, she lived through the ordeal and would someday have the same abilities she used to have. As she started down the long path to recovery, she found that the embarrassment and anxiety of not being able to do one’s own personal care caused so much stress that it hindered her healing process. Deb desperately wanted her independence back, and knew that it must be a pain felt constantly by people who were permanently limited in their abilities.

Deb tried several personal hygiene tools to help her, and found they were lacking in several ways. They were not long enough for her frame, not portable, or not able to hold more than one item. Frustrated, she considered a better way and started working to make the idea into a reality.

Deb drafted the idea of what she named the Freedom Wand—a versatile, multi-purpose hygiene tool. With retracting fingers on the end of an extendable and washable handle, the device can hold any number of things that people need for personal care. She then worked with others to get it manufactured, and took advantage of local resources for entrepreneurs. Deb now runs her own business, Freedom Creators, selling the Freedom Wand to grateful customers around the globe.

The Freedom Wand, made in Michigan, has seen success in many forms. It is sold on Amazon, through local pharmacies, and distributed internationally through other retailers. Deb even traveled to the International Medical and Health Care Trade Show in Dubai to represent her company in January. More than 3,500 vendors were at the show, and the demand for products made in the USA was high. The Freedom Wand is made in Holland, MI by Ess Tec.

“It went over really well. Buyers were pharmacies, suppliers of hospitals, durable medical equipment sellers, and other professionals from all over the world,” Deb said. She now has a litany of contacts, noting that they are located in France, Italy, India, Iran, Belgium, the UAE, and more.

Deb was part of the Pure Michigan booth featuring six kiosks with Michigan companies and individuals at the International Medical and Health Care Trade Show. She received a grant from the STEP program, or State Trade Export Promotion, which is “designed to assist small- to medium-sized businesses diversify their customer base and enter new global markets.”

Deb Tacoma notes that her success has been due to support from several organizations. She thanked Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women (GROW) for assisting her in the early stages of her business development and for continued help with growth and transition to larger markets. Deb has taken advantage of business counseling and microloans that GROW offers to entrepreneurs. She also thanked the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), a division of GROW, for their continued support and use of their Leadership Development Fund to help cover some of the cost in attending the trade show.

Bonnie Nawara, CEO of GROW, received details from the Van Andel Global Trade Center regarding opportunities for Michigan businesses to apply for a spot at the international show. Bonnie immediately thought of Deb Tacoma and the Freedom Wand. “It’s the kind of product that we can imagine being sold internationally, and Deb is a perfect representative of what it means to be made in Michigan,” Nawara said.

Tacoma also said that she is grateful for the work Governor Snyder has done to help Michigan businesses sell their products internationally, and she was thankful for help received through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Deb Tacoma is working on building relationships with her international contacts, and looking forward to a steep expansion in sales because of the trade show. Deb’s goal is to triple her business in 2013.

Deb Tacoma rocks because she had an idea to help people take care of themselves, be independent, and improve their quality of life. She made the idea an affordable reality, accessible to everyone, and will continue helping people well into the future.

For more information on the Freedom Wand, visit FreedomWand.com.

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Sure, we’ll be watching the Oscars this weekend. It’s going to be a fun night filled with great dresses, meaningful speeches, and dreams coming true. But if we had our way, there would be a second kind of Oscars – the “Career Girl” Oscars celebrating the best of women in business, whose names aren’t as big as those of silver screen celebrities, but who are just as deserving of praise. And in 2013, the nominees are…

Best Female CEO in a Corporation

• Sara Blakely, Spanx
• Ursula Burns, Xerox
• Irene Rosenfeld, Mondelez (formerly Kraft Foods)
• Denise Morrison, Campbell Soup
• Karen Katz, The Neiman Marcus Group

Best Author, Books for Women in Business

• Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In
• Courtney Templin (with Brad Karsh), Manager 3.0: A Millennials Guide to Rewriting the Rules of Management
• Mika Brzezinski, Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth
• Marilyn Carlson Nelson, How We Lead Matters
• Elizabeth Lombardo: A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness

Best Newsletter for Women

• Little Pink Book
• Daily Worth
• LearnVest
• The Skimm
• Daily Candy

Best Organization Changing the World for Women and Girls

• Step Up Women’s Network
• WomenThrive
• WomenVenture
• Girls on the Run
• Girls in the Game

Lifetime Achievement Award

• Hillary Clinton
• Sherry Lansing
• Melinda Gates
• Oprah Winfrey
• Meg Whitman

So there you have it? Who are your “Career Girl” nominees this year?

The post The “Career Girl” Oscars: Best in Biz appeared first on Career Girl Network.

Leaving the C-suite, especially when you’ve run a large company whose business is visible on the global stage, can be a lot like leaving the Presidency. What do you do afterward? Can you take another job? Do you become a lobbyist? It might seem like the opportunities are endless, but a person in the public eye must be careful what they do and who they align with.

When she left her very publicly criticized position as CEO of HP, Carly Fiorina spent quite a few years trying new things and deciding what worked. She wrote an incredible memoir called Tough Choices, she ran for Senate in California, and became a regular on the political news pundit circuit. And while I don’t always agree with Carly politically, I respect her as one of the biggest risk takers in the history of women in business, and look up to her with great honor.

With that respect, I was so excited about Carly’s new venture – joining forces with Opportunity International to empower women in poverty. Here’s what OI has to say about the new partnership:

Opportunity International today announced a dynamic partnership with Carly Fiorina and the One Woman Initiative to empower an additional two million women living in poverty through financial resources, education and training to build sustainable futures.

As a Global Ambassador to Opportunity International, Fiorina will lend her voice and influence to Opportunity’s efforts to build a network of women investing in women to end the cycle of poverty. Now under Opportunity’s umbrella, the One Woman Initiative will honor its legacy of supporting women and their ‘multiplier effect’ by continuing to grow, following Opportunity International’s approach to achieving sustainable change using microfinance as an entry point. One loan made to one woman can kick start a successful entrepreneur who will reinvest her success in her family and community.

“Both Carly and I believe in the power of women uniting around their shared commitment and experience. Together, we hope to engage women in the United States to serve as passionate advocates to address the needs and expand the choices of women in developing countries,” said Vicki Escarra, CEO, Opportunity International.

All I gotta say is, “GO CARLY!” I love to see a former CEO doing amazing work in the world, and can’t wait to see what comes of this incredible partnership. Make a difference! You are truly a woman who rocks!

The post Carly Fiorina: Her Big New Project appeared first on Career Girl Network.

We found this great infographic from a designer on Visual.ly and wanted to share it with all of you. Did you know how the President’s Day Holiday came to be? Now you do! Let’s hope another section can soon be added to this infographic about a female in the White House!

The post President’s Day: Why We’re Talking About It appeared first on Career Girl Network.

There’s s new documentary making waves in the world of women. It’s called Makers: Women Who Make America. Tonight, I’m excited to get a preview in Chicago, but all of you can watch Makers on February 26th on PBS. What is it? A documentary featuring testimonials about the ground breaking changes for women of the last 50 years from “Makers” like Christiane Amanpour, Judy Blume, Carol Burnett, Ursula Burns, Lauren Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and many many more.

Check out the PBS trailer below and mark your calendars now!

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