Workplace Wisdom... Discover Fulfillment in Life and Work with Michelle Y. Drake
The ability to embrace what inspires us in life and work and the tools to live in fulfillment exist in all of us.
Are you sleepwalking through your life and career?
Wake Up!
And Emerge as the Leader You Were Born to Be!
Friday, October 31, 2008
New Business Speak: "Manage Up"
As I was perusing The Wall Street Journal website, I came across an interesting article that introduced me to a new "business speak" term: "manage up."
Elizabeth Garone writes in her article "What It Means to 'Manage Up'" that "when someone tells you that you need to 'manage up,' what he or she is really saying is that you need to stretch yourself. You need to go above and beyond the tasks assigned to you so that you can enhance your manager's work, says Rosanne Badowski, co-author of 'Managing Up: How to Forge an Effective Relationship With Those Above You.'"
Communication above all else is the key. Do you know your boss's communication style?If not, find out! You may be more comfortable talking about the big picture, but he or she may prefer bullet points of facts and figures...and if you can't present your ideas in that manner, it's likely that they're falling on deaf ears.
The article goes on to list other ways to "manage up" - there's a lot of great info so I suggest you give it a read-through. I want you to ride out our economy's current crisis on a wave of success!
"My mother, Mabel Tse, taught me that a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, and you should never ever give up, even if there are obstacles or disappointments along the way.
Our family encountered life-shattering obstacles such as murder, utter poverty and the isolation of being an immigrant family. My family and I have kept moving forward step-by-step and finally, I can say that I've achieved my dreams and those of my mother - becoming an attorney, award-winning restaurateur, and successful author of our family's memoir, Sweet Mandarin."
Lipstick Leadership: Appreciate the Beauty of Art - Barbara Taylor Bradford's Story!
"My mother had a good eye for antiques. Not that we had any, but she loved paintings, furniture and good china. For years she dragged me to country houses like Harewood House in Yorkshire. She would say to me: 'That's a Georgian piece; that's a Constable. You must always keep your eyes open.' She imbued in me a love of beautiful things. And as all of my readers know, the pages of my novels are often filled with detailed descriptions of items just like these."
Whew! I've got a busy, busy week ahead of me. So before I get too towed under, I wanted to stop by and drop a quick line.
My new book "From the Kitchen to the Corner Office: Mom's Wisdom on Leadership" has been well-received by everyone who's read it. It's so flattering and gratifying to see the fruits of my labors! I hope everyone has a chance to read it and to visit its website to share their own stories of "Mom's wisdom." We're going to be launching a "Lipstick Leadership Stories" series soon, so feel free to drop by and tell us about the amazing women role models in your life!
Now I'm off to do one of several radio interviews I have scheduled for this week. I'm also taping two TV shows, "Mystic Matters" (a local CT show hosted by the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce) and a segment with CT State Representative Diana Urban. I'll be sure to post more details - including where and when you can watch - soon!
Until then, here's to a profitable week ahead! Remember to take time out to breathe! (Hey, that's good advice. I should remember that!)
Exciting news, my friends! The long-awaited and highly-acclaimed new info publishing and sharing site YouPublish.com from Mark Victor Hansen (of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame) is now LIVE!
YouPublish.com is an amazing site where users can publish and download all kinds of files: books, music, videos, software, photos, documents - pretty much any type of file you can think of! Some are free; some have costs associated with them, and ALL are worth a look around the site.
As you know, I offer a wide array of audio CD sets on the SHOP page of my website MichelleYDrake.com. YouPublish.com gave me the chance to offer similar products - audio and article bundles, video series, and even separate chapters of my new book "From the Kitchen to the Corner Office" - all at affordable prices. I welcome you to check them out at: YouPublish.com/MichelleYozzoDrake! I've even included a few FREE products to give you a taste of what's available in my product line.
Be sure to check out this fantastic site and have fun exploring!
With Mother's Day being celebrated a few short days from now (hint, hint to those who've forgotten!) and all eyes on the primaries and election in November, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to marry the two topics and discuss how the candidates' mothers have influenced who they are and what they bring to the table.
Mom's influence has helped to shape all of us into the people we are, and to get a feel for our Presidential candidates, let's take a look at who their mothers are, starting with Hillary Clinton. Hillary's mother, Dorothy, really taught her daughter to fight back. I remember reading a story about how at the age of four, Hillary was being picked on by some of the neighborhood girls. When she went crying to her mother, Dorothy told her to stand up for herself and that there was no room in their house for cowards. Empowering advice for all of our daughters!
This experience explains a lot about Hillary and the image she often projects in public. She's come out fighting with both gloves swinging and has taken what is traditionally a masculine stance on many of the issues. With all of the adversity and attacks Hillary's faced, the influence of her mother and being taught to be a fighter is very clear in how she's been handling herself.
But is this image of her as a fighter costing her votes among the female population?
Possibly. My personal opinion is that being a fighter is a positive image to be projecting; however, it cannot be at the expense of the unique compassion and softness we as women bring to what we do, whether in the workplace or with our families. To really connect with all the voters, Hillary needs to balance being a strong fighter with being a compassionate woman and mother so that she can relate to both men and women. So far she's had a difficult time reconciling those two sides of her personality.
I find it interesting that when she broke down a bit and cried in New Hampshire, she won by so many more votes than they had predicted. It wasn't sympathy that drove people to vote for her; it was that suddenly she was much more relatable. People who were very familiar with seeing her as a fighter were given a glimpse into this whole other side of her as a person, and they connected with that. Sometimes always being on guard for a fight can alienate people; to truly reach out to people, Hillary needs to temper that with her own natural female instincts and traits.
I've been hearing a lot of people grumbling about Hillary still being in the race and how she should drop out for the good of the Democratic Party so that it can be united come election time. Well, all I have to say to that is: I'd bet good money that if Hillary was a man in the running, those same people would be commending her for sticking with it to the very end and not giving up. I've seen the same type of situation happen in the workplace, the old "double standard", and with such a huge opportunity at stake, I commend Hillary for giving it all she's got to the very end.
Why I wrote My New Book From the Kitchen to the Corner Office: Mom's Wisdom on Leadership
In a radio interview a couple years ago I was asked who my mentors were...I had to stop and think. When I started out there were only a few women in the workplace in leadership roles...but the first person that popped into my mind was my Mom! Mom was a nursery school teacher, hardly the typical role model for a young cosmopolitan business woman.
After the interview I dug a little deeper to understand why she popped into my mind...and the conclusion I came to was that she had been leading my family with faith, finesse, composure, compassion, and sometimes an iron fist. Then I looked further back in time and relations and found a wealth of "mom" figures to draw from. What perfect mentors for me to follow as I tried to become the leader I was born to be...the first flicker of my book, From the Kitchen to the corner Office, had begun.
I have over 20 years of experience as an executive coach specializing in strategic communication. My years as a radio talk-show host have given me additional tools to provide communication coaching to entrepreneurs, as well as executives from Fortune 100 comapnies.
I've been a keynote speaker for corporate events, universities and industry conferences.
I'm a the author of From the Kitchen to the Corner Office: Mom's Wisdom on Leadership!" (Morgan James Publishing).
I'm a wife, a mother, an artist and an active volunteer in my community.
