A New Kind of Working Woman in the White House

June 21, 2008 · Filed Under Feminism, Politics, Work · Comment 

Yesterday Michelle Obama spoke at a luncheon for the National Partnership for Women and Families. According to the New York Times, Obama “called for an expansion of family and medical leave benefits, health care reform and equality of wages between men and women. “Believe me, when we’re paid less, we know it,” she said.“I’ve always been, and will probably always be in some way shape or form, a working mom,” Mrs. Obama told the mostly female crowd, adding that she and her husband have been able to make their busy lives work.” She continued, “I used to get up in the morning and go to an office. Now I get up and go to a plane. … My kids still don’t care where I am,” she said. “They’ve always known two parents to work in the household and as long as we’re back in time for bedtime, they could care less where we are.”

Of all the issues a potential first lady could talk about, I feel this is the most crucial. Our legislators are slowly making positive changes to family and medical leave (the most recent was the House’s passing of the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2008). This act allows federal workers “four weeks of paid administrative leave, at regular salary, to federal workers, to be taken within one year of when babies are born or adopted. Right now, 75 percent of Fortune 100 companies provide an average of six to eight weeks of paid leave to new mothers, but federal employees who become parents are entitled only to unpaid leave under the Family & Medical Leave Act. Many cannot afford to take the unpaid leave that law provides.” One hopes this would provide a model for companies in the private sector to restructure their paid leave policies.

But it’s not just about maternity leave. Two working parents means something must give. I say it’s the outdated notion that work consists of eight (or 10, or 12, or 14) straight hours at a desk. And I’m not alone. There are many movements afoot to create structural changes in how we work, from ROWE’s (Results Only Work Environment) to MCC (Mass Career Customization). But you don’t need an acronym to start talking about change. I’m so glad Michelle Obama is doing just that.

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Presidential Leadership Qualities and Why They Matter

June 20, 2008 · Filed Under Internet Media, Politics, Psychology · Comment 

I just wrote about this in Huffington Post. I study leadership- and it’s a skill as well as an inherent quality. But what are the leadership qualities a president needs to possess? Are they similar to those a CEO needs? A military leader’s suite of skills? A parent’s, bringing along unruly toddlers?

“Imagine if you were interviewing John McCain and Barack Obama for a CEO post. You might ask:

Tell us about a high performing team that you’ve built. What made it high-performing?

Can you give us an example of how you have overcome resistance to bring about a needed change?

Please share some examples of your ability and willingness to be decisive. Can you tell us about a time when a lack of decisiveness got you into trouble?

These are questions recently drafted for Barack Obama and John McCain by a room full of leaders from many walks of life. While we would consider such questions crucial insight to gain from a potential senior executive, to my knowledge we’ve never asked them of our presidential candidates. Here are some more leadership questions for our potential chief executives:

What are the attributes and competencies you value most in yourself that will serve you well in the White House?
The internet and technology have flattened the political playing field, allowing for more participation and collective decision making. How will you create a more participatory democracy and give people the opportunity to influence decision making?

The president’s role requires decisiveness. Please share some examples of your ability and willingness to be decisive. Can you tell us about a time when a lack of decisiveness got you into trouble. In retrospect, what would you have done differently?

Tell us about a time when your judgment was tested in crisis. What do you want us to appreciate about your judgment?

And so, a group of eminent leaders from many domains, from popular leadership authors such as Ken Blanchard and Patrick Lencioni, to social entrepreneurs to military leaders and clergy gathered at Harvard to develop a list of core questions about presidential leadership.

Leadership is not a soft skill. It directly impacts the bottom line in business, and I hope good leadership will lift our country’s bottom line. Research from the consulting firm Hay Group shows 35% of the difference in employee engagement and discretionary effort is directly a result of the work environment leaders create. How would that translate into Congress’ ability to get things done? Plus, the climate a leader creates accounts for up to 25 percent of the variance in an organization’s performance - and this is the bottom line: productivity, growth, profit.

But what does presidential leadership mean? What, indeed does leadership mean? It’s an overused word, aligned more with airport paperbacks than the true test of one who can help us find our way in the dark. When I spoke with many of the day’s participants, their answers varied, but they came back to the same core qualities: a leader must serve as well as lead. A leader must listen, learn, and be willing to fail. A leader can’t go it alone. Sounds trite. But imagine if our current Chief Executive had developed such attributes. Would you ever hire a CEO without knowing how he makes decisions? What if George W. Bush had said to the American people when asked, “well, I prefer to make unilateral decisions based on the advice of a small, inner circle of advisors and I never, ever listen to people outside that group.” Next candidate, please.

For more, click here for the Center for Public Leadership

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Proud of Nicco

June 17, 2008 · Filed Under Internet Media, Politics · Comment 

This site is about to undergo major changes as I formally launch my new career as an organizational development consultant and leadership scholar-in-training. In the meantime, I want to crow about my husband, Nicco Mele!!

Nicco is going to be a fellow this fall at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. This is a huge achievement and I’m so excited. Here is the press release:

HARVARD’S INSTITUTE OF POLITICS ANNOUNCES FALL FELLOWS

Cambridge, MA – Harvard University’s Institute of Politics today designated six Resident Fellows to join the Harvard Kennedy School community for the fall semester. Resident Fellows interact with students, participate in the intellectual life of the community and pursue individual studies and writing projects.

“This extraordinary group of Fellows range from one of the preeminent governors in America, to the highest ranking woman in the Central Intelligence Agency, to one of the most respected diplomats in the Muslim world, to America’s foremost expert on internet politics, to a talented presidential media consultant, to a gifted young journalist and television analyst,” IOP Director and former U.S. Representative (R-IA) Jim Leach said.

The following Resident Fellows will join the Institute for the fall semester and lead weekly, not-for-credit study groups on a range of topics:

  • Alex Castellanos, founding partner, National Media, Inc.; served as senior strategist for Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and as a creative member to Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign;
  • Jennifer Donahue, political director, New Hampshire Institute of Politics; on-air political analyst and contributor to broadcast networks during past three New Hampshire presidential primaries;
  • Mary Margaret Graham, former deputy director of national intelligence for collection, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and retired senior CIA officer;
  • Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom (2003-08) and ambassador to the U.S. (1994-97, 1999-2002); a diplomat, journalist and academic, considered one of the most accomplished women professionals in the Muslim world;
  • Nicco Mele, founder and president, “EchoDitto;” former internet operations director, Vermont governor Howard Dean’s presidential campaign;
  • Tom Vilsack, governor of Iowa (1999-2007); former Democratic candidate for President of the United States; former chair, Democratic Governors Association; former executive committee member, National Governors Association; and co- chair of U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

“The Harvard community, particularly undergraduates active in Institute of Politics programming, will benefit from the opportunity to engage with this group of extraordinary leaders who have such vast experience in international as well as domestic politics,” Leach continued.

The Fellows program is central to the Institute’s dual commitment to encourage student interest in public life and to increase interaction between the academic and political communities.

Harvard University’s Institute of Politics (IOP), located at Harvard Kennedy School, was established in 1966 as a memorial to President Kennedy. The IOP’s mission is to unite and engage students, particularly undergraduates, with academics, politicians, activists, and policymakers on a non-partisan basis and to stimulate and nurture their interest in public service and leadership. The Institute strives to promote greater understanding and cooperation between the academic world and the world of politics and public affairs. More information is available online at http://www.iop.harvard.edu/.

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Sex and the City: not for women

June 2, 2008 · Filed Under Feminism · Comment 

I saw Sex and the City last night, and hated it. It made me so sad. I felt the movie was what would happen if a gay fashionista and an 18 year old girl got together and wrote Sex and the City: The Movie. I can’t imagine a grown up woman would honestly embrace the film. It was an unfeminist, materialist montage that had more to do with pushing Louis Vuitton and Vitamin Water than portraying our favorite quartet of girlfriends and their travails.

Mostly, I wanted the movie to show the girls a little kindness. The blue palette and harsh lighting did nobody any favors. The film reflected a lot of what’s awful about fashion and the men who run it. Anorexic looking Carrie in her weird outfits, harsh hair, beaky makeup and super labels betrayed very little femininity to my eye. I felt as I often do when I see models on the runway these days: who is art-directing this and please tell me they don’t have ovaries and hope to bring children into the world.

As for the teenage girl part: I take SATC seriously. It was a friend to me all through my twenties and while it often depressed me, I always felt like the essential character of the characters shone a light. There is one scene in that last season that highlights the maturity of the women, the fulfillment of not only their quest for love but their quest to learn how to love. Miranda searches for Steve’s elderly mother in the streets of Brooklyn, finds her, bathes her, comforts her. Magda, Miranda’s long-suffering nanny says something like, “You know how to love.” I cried like a baby in that scene, seeing one of my screen heroines in the fullness of her life. So when in the film Miranda moves out and goes silent on her husband of five years, father of her child, I thought, really? Have two educated New Yorkers in a committed relationship never heard of therapy (apparently there’s a six month lead time required to begin couples counseling in their world, because that’s how long it takes them to make it to the couch). When Carrie and Mr. Big split and go radio silent after his moment of indecision…well, whoever’s been about to head down the altar must have shook her head twice. Maybe it’s because Big was about to marry Andre Leon Talley’s devil creation rather than a real woman.

I didn’t want SATC to be a Vogue story. I wanted it to be a human story.

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