Today we are going to hear a story that I hope will stimulate you to look inside yourself to discover what you can offer others. We are each here for a reason and we each have unique gifts to offer the world. As you listen to my guest, Jeanne Staples, today, think about what it is that you have to offer and how you can help others with your unique gifts and talent.

Featured Guest

Jeanne Staples has spent her entire professional career working in the arts. She is a full-time, professional artist who lives and works on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, and is represented by galleries in Boston, New England and beyond. You can see firsthand the beautiful work she does on her website, www.jeannestaples.com.

She is also the Founder and Director of PeaceQuilts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, humanitarian organization dedicated to relieving poverty in Haiti by establishing independent, self-managed and self-sustaining sewing cooperatives, and connecting them to international markets. This organization is best described in a book called Patience to Raise the Sun: Art Quilts from Haiti and their power to change women’s lives.

Listen to the May 16th show at 12 noon EDT or download the podcast.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought it would be fun to share some of these quotes I found after doing some research on Mother’s Day.

I hope you enjoy them!     

The best advice my mother ever gave to me was: ‘Strivers achieve what dreamers believe. If you put your mind to it, you can do it. Be careful what you wish for because you might get it. And, listen to me, I’ve been through it already.

Usher, singer. Mother: Jonnetta Patton

 

When I was young, my mother always used to quote to me First Corinthians 15:33 which, paraphrased, says bad associations spoil youthful habits. As I came to understand, what my mom was telling me was to be careful who you let into your life. That one piece of advice has saved me countless heart aches, and I’ve never forgotten it to this day.

    Gerald Levert, singer: Mother: Martha L. Levert

 

My mom once told me to always believe in yourself. Even if your chances are slim, or everyone else doesn’t believe in that, people will look up to you because you’re sticking to what you believe in, and they will admire that in you. That was the best advice I ever got from my mom.

            Lorin, 12, Pennsylvania

Be happy. For we have only one life and that too is very short.

            Jyoti, Surat

 

The best advice my mother ever gave me is “Don’t let other people make the choices for you and don’t let no one push you around.

             Gabriela, 11, Canada

 My mom is always telling me to be independent and follow my dreams and I will live a good, happy life.

              Chris, 12, Alabama

 

 When I was young and dating men, my mom always told me to watch how my boyfriends treated their mothers. She said they would treat me the same way. I found this to be so true. I have a husband who thought the world of his mom and shows that same love to me. It’s the best advice my mom ever gave me.

             Mary Bentrup

What was the best advice you received from your mother?

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day!      

Bonnie

Many women are juggling the stress of full time employment and family. As a mother and wife, we are always faced with challenges about spending quality time with our spouse and children and what we need to accomplish with our business or career. It’s stressful to work in a corporate environment that does not support your talent and advancement. It’s stressful to run a business and run a family and try to maintain some balance in our lives. That being said, we may not be able to control all the factors that contribute to our stress at work or at home, but what we can control is the way we react to this stress. We can, in fact, learn some simple tools and practices to help us manage our stress level so that we are happy, healthier, and productive. Today we’ll learn some simple techniques to manage our stress to improve our lives and increase our performance at work.

I’m delighted to welcome Dr. Fred Luskin to GPS Your Career. Dr. Luskin is one of the world’s leading authorities on the teaching and researching of forgiveness. He lectures throughout the United State on managing stress, developing emotional competence, and enhancing positive emotions. His work is the foundation for the Maximize Your Talent programs  which you will hear more about today. Later in the show, Dene Vitali and Collette Gambino will join us to talk about their personal experience with the Maximize Your Talent program and how it has positively impacted their personal and professional lives.

Dr. Luskin teamed up with Dr. Kenneth Pelletier at Stanford University School of Medicine to develop ten proven skills for eliminating stress, anxiety, and pain that occurs in our daily life. This partnership produced the book, Stress Free For Good, which explains in detail the simple skills we can all learn quickly to manage our stress and lead happier, healthier lives.

Listen to the Wednesday, May 9th show or download the podcast.

We live in an age of great stress. We are bombarded daily with more information than we can possibly assimilate, and we are always connected to this flow of information with our iPhone, Blackberry’s and computers. There is no end to the information that is at our finger tips 24/7. It seems there is no place to hide either. Our personal and professional lives are now publicly displayed across the Internet. The job market is tough, the economy weak, and competition for advancement has increased dramatically with more and more highly educated women in the workforce. And many of us are trying to balance our careers with a family as well.

It would seem only logical that we should strive to eliminate the stress in our lives in order to achieve more equilibrium, health, and happiness.

I thought it was interesting, therefore, to read a recent post, Stress is Not Your Enemy, by Tony Schwartz in Harvard Business Review that states that we need stress in our lives in order to reach our full potential.

Tony says, “Subjecting yourself to stress is the only way to systematically get stronger — physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. And you’ll get weaker if you don’t.”

This is the “use it or lose it” mentality that maintains that if you don’t exercise your mind and body “muscles”, you will atrophy and, as a consequence, will  not be able to grow and improve.

We live by the myth that stress is the enemy in our lives. The real enemy is our failure to balance stress with intermittent rest. Push the body too hard for too long — chronic stress — and the result will indeed be burnout and breakdown. But subject the body to insufficient stress, and it will weaken and atrophy.

Few of us push ourselves nearly hard enough to realize our potential, nor do we rest, sleep, and renew nearly as deeply or for as long as we should.

The real message here is that moving outside your comfort zone can be stressful, but it also allows you to increase your skill set to advance your career. Stretching yourself to take on new responsibilities at work, volunteering for high profile projects, speaking up in meetings and voicing your opinions when you’d rather keep silent can certainly be stressful, but if you want to get out of the trenches and move your career forward, it’s important to take the leap even though it gives you some anxiety initially.

Tony Schwartz’s point is that we need to do these things to grow personally and professionally but we also need to learn how to better manage our stress and know when it’s right to take a break and rest. We are not going to eliminate all the stress from our lives, but we can certainly learn to control our reaction to stressful situations so that it does not derail us.

This Wednesday, May 9^th, at noon EDT, Dr. Fred Luskin from Stanford University will be my guest on GPS Your Career: A Woman’s Guide to Success to discuss the simple techniques we can all do to manage the effect stress has on our personal and professional lives. I hope you can join us.

We hear a lot these days about bullying, mostly with teenagers. There seems to be a news story every week with some tragic incident due to cyber bullying. As parents, this is very upsetting and of course, no one wants their children to be subject to this type of behavior, but how many of us are also the target of bullying at work? Do you work for a corporate bully?

According to Susan Annunzio, CEO of the Center for High Performance in Chicago, here are the warning signs:

• If you disagree with him/her, you are labeled “incompetent”, “risk-averse”, a “naysayer”.
• They fall in love with an idea, position or deal and won’t listen to anyone else’s point of view.
• In your meetings, there is little room for disagreement or debate. It’s their way or the highway.
• Your accomplishments are never recognized.
• You are afraid to let him/her know any bad news, so you don’t say anything.
• You must always acknowledge their being right.
• They have a sense of superiority.
• You are always blamed when things go wrong. They never take any credit for their part.
• They never admit mistakes or apologize.
• You always seem to be in this game of “gotcha” and under a microscope.

We are often outraged when we hear about children being bullied, so I am curious how many of you subject yourselves to this every day in the workplace?

Experts will tell you to not get caught up in the  emotions of these toxic relationships and make sure that you take care of yourself first and foremost and focus on your work and have gratitude for the other wonderful things in your life, but how do you do that? We spend so much of our time at work; so much of our identity and self-esteem is related to our performance, so it is easy to see how working with a bully can have a damaging effect to our health and well-being and also our careers. If you feel stuck in a bad situation, one that you don’t have a lot of control to change, you can literally “quit” giving your best, speaking your opinions, bringing any creativity and enthusiasm to your work. This is toxic to your career and your future.

So what do you do? How do you work around bullies at work? Well, if detaching emotionally is still not helping you and you find this is affecting your health, sleep, and happiness, I would initiate an exit plan and begin to look for other opportunities either in the company or with another organization. It’s a shame. Maybe this company is great and you have a pension and you don’t want to really leave. You feel like a victim. Sometimes you need to make a move. It may not be what you wanted, but you have only one life and one career. Find a place where your unique value and talent is appreciated and you will thrive professionally and personally.

Do you work for a corporate bully? Are you doing anything about it?

Tune in this Wednesday at noon EDT to GPS Your Career: A Woman’s Guide to Success, when I discuss executive bullying with my guest, Susan Annunzio.

Leading an organization presents many challenges in today’s business environment. There is an atmosphere of continual change and economic pressure to survive and to be on top of the curve in terms of marketing and delivering exceptional service. So how do senior executives lead successfully in this environment? On Wednesday’s show, May 2nd, I’m going to discuss the challenges facing executives in business today and what leaders and managers need to know to create a culture that embraces the flexibility required for today’s environment and supports inclusion and high performance.

Featured Guest

My guest is Susan Annunzio, CEO of the Center for High Performance in Chicago. Susan is a strategic advisor to CEOs of leading global companies on strategy attainment and business transformation. Susan partners with senior executives to increase their ability to simplify complex strategic decisions through enhanced collaboration and creativity. She is a globally recognized speaker and thought leader on shaping and maintaining high-performance business environments. She has a strong track record helping leaders maximize returns on strategic, financial and human-capital investments. A former Adjunct Professor of Management at the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, Susan still teaches the most popular Executive Education Program, High Performance Leadership. She is the author of Contagious Success (Portfolio, 2004), a dynamic management book that revealed a global standard for high performance. Contagious Success was voted Fast Company’s Readers’ Choice. selection in January 2005. Additionally, Susan authored two more prominent business books: Communicoding and Evolutionary Leadership. Susan has been a guest on numerous local and national television and radio news programs and has been quoted extensively in the business press, including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, BBC, USA Today and Bloomberg.

Listen to the May 2nd show or download the podcast.

The show today is about the power of women’s friendship. My two guests, Janina Serden Sebesky and Kitt Moran,  are friends. Both are extremely talented, amazing women in their own right. They met, became great friends, and together created something very special, a musical called Chick Soup, which celebrates women’s friendships across generations.  There is great power in friendship and collaboration, and when women work together harmoniously something very very special happens. That how Chick Soup was created!

Featured Guests

Janina Serden Sebesky is a Grammy and Emmy nominated artist and producer who loves to nurture and inspire people through music. The Velveteen Rabbit: Love Can Make You Real 2008 Grammy nominee Best Musical Album for Children features her narration and vocals. She was music director for the Emmy nominated children’s television series Allegra’s Window on Nickelodeon and has sung on many radio and television commercials such as G.E.,Kraft, Pepsi, and DHL. She has recorded an album of original songs titled “Small Inspirations” and created a unique greeting card line called “With a Card and a Song”.

Kitt Moran is a jazz vocalist and recording artist whose CDs include duets with Rosemary Clooney, John Pizzarelli, Jack Sheldon, Merv Griffin and more. Kitt was ranked as the premiere chanteuse of Atlantic City for 10 years and always seems to find her way to friendship and connection with people through music. She is also a stage and film actress, a radio personality, and an award-winning painter. Kitt currently resides and works with her husband, composer, lyricist and pianist Mike Moran in the Sarasota area of Florida.

Listen to the April 25th show or download the podcast.

Our feelings about money can be a very complicated issue. Most of us want to make enough money to maintain our lifestyle and pay our bills. Some of us look at our income as validation of our success and continually strive to make more money. Many of us shy away from the subject of money and don’t want to embrace the fact that money can be a positive force in their lives.

Whatever your attitude about money is, it’s important to understand how it plays into your business and career success. In fact, your “money mindset” can help you be successful and live in abundance or it can continually sabotage your efforts to make a decent living.

I grew up in an upper middle class family in a wealthy suburb of New York City. We lived in a beautiful home, belonged to a country club, and my parents traveled all over the world. I didn’t lack any thing. I had dance lessons, music lessons, went to camp, went to the best schools. However, I thought we were poor. Honestly, I always thought we were on the verge of poverty. Why? Because my father, a child of the depression, instilled in my mother, my brother, and myself the belief that there was never enough money in our household. That was not true. It was his attitude and it became my attitude. The belief  that there would never be enough money started in my childhood.

Years later, I realized where my belief system originated and how it was sabotaging me in my business and worked vigorously to change my mindset (and continue to work on it every day). One great resource who helped me change my mindset about money is David Neagle and I have adopted his mantra that “making money is part of my spiritual path”. There are many resources available and I strongly suggest you find a coach or mentor to help you through this because negative feelings about money can literally hold you back from a successful business or career.

Money means a lot of different things to different people, but to me it represents freedom, the freedom from worrying about paying my bills and to live my life the way I choose to live. I realize now that I have much to offer and that my talent is a gift that I offer others to help them be successful.  Yes, money is the end result but because I understand my value and how I can help others, I no longer focus all my energy on the lack of money. Money is no longer a mental roadblock for me. I know that by helping professional women achieve their goals, feel self-confident and empowered by their unique value, I will be successful. Their success is my success.

 What are your feelings about money? Are they working for you?

Today’s topic is about multi-generations in the workplace. For the first time, we now have three highly influential generations working together. All three generations, X, Y, and Boomers, have the opportunity to make a major impact in business. But these generations are very different. They have different perspectives, opinions, values, habits, and goals based on their demographic. What are these generations looking for from their employers today? What do they need? What is the key to having them all work together harmoniously? What can today’s business leaders do to keep them happy?

Featured Guest

Today, I have a fabulous guest who will help us understand the challenges of having these generations working together. Cheryl Cran is a sought after consultant and speaker on trends in the workplace and a leadership and generations expert. Her research on generations led her to write a book, “101 Ways to Make Generations X, Y, and Zoomers Happy at Work”. Other books include, The Control Freak Revolution , 50 Ways to Lead & Love It ,Say What You Mean – Mean What You Say For more information on Cheryl and her books and services, her website is cherylcran.com. A sought after expert on workplace trends, Cheryl has been a guest commentator on Fox’s The Mike and Juliet Show and The Fanny Kiefer Show. She has been interviewed and written articles for a wide range of publications including Forbes Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Profit Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Metro NY, The Globe, Selling Power, and many more.

Listen to the April 18th show, 12 noon to 1pm live or listen to the podcast recording. Call in with your questions: 248 545 7685.

I got married right after college. I had never lived on my own.  I had no idea who I was. I knew that I wanted a career. I wanted a family. I wanted it all.

Well, the family came quickly and I had two children, but then I began to feel very unfulfilled. I loved being a mom, but knew that I needed more in my life in terms of my “own thing”. I was lost and unfortunately, because I lost myself in this marriage, I ended up divorcing my husband.

I can’t be too hard on myself. After all, I saw my mom give up much of her identity in her marriage to my father. It was my role model. She built her life around him, his family, his friends and it worked fairly well. I think they had a good enough marriage, but I wanted more in my life and I had no idea where to begin to find myself.

In her Huffington Post article, author, Vicki Larsen addresses this.  She quotes Psychoanalyst Beverly Engel, author of Loving Him Without Losing Yourself, who calls this the Disappearing Woman — what happens when women lose track of what they believe in, what they stand for, what’s important to them and what makes them happy just because they happen to be in a relationship.

No matter how successful, assertive, or powerful some women are, the moment they become involved with a man they begin to give up part of themselves — their social life, their time alone, their spiritual practice, their beliefs and values. In time, these women find they have merged their lives with their partners’ to the point where they have no life to go back to when and if the relationship ends.

Why can’t we stay true to ourselves in a relationship? Engel says that we want to be nice because we’ve learned that being nice is important in order to sustain a relationship. Engel says,

She’ll pretend to agree when she doesn’t really agree, she’ll go along with things she doesn’t really believe in, and if she does that long enough, she’ll no longer know what she feels.

Author Larsen says,

How many women do you know who will break plans or give up a favorite activity for a guy? Not that it’s not OK to do that from time to time or for certain situations; it’s just that somehow in the togetherness of coupledom too many of us forget to have a life of our own. Instead, we look to our partner to fulfill all our needs — and get frustrated and resentful when he doesn’t. Then we see the problem as something wrong with him, and not us.

What are your thoughts? Are we just fulfilling the nice girl syndrome or is it that we don’t have a clear picture of our identity and core essence as a woman before we enter a relationship?