Bossed Up

What do you think of when you hear the term “glass cliff”? I have been pondering this concept for a while, especially in light of the upcoming election. In today’s episode, I share my thoughts on the problems, and potential opportunities, inherent in the social construct that so often presents women with their opportunity to lead only when the ship is sinking. If you have ever sought or been offered a promotion that seems a bit doomed to fail, this episode is for you.

Consider the glass cliff on your way through the glass ceiling as we explore:

• The origin of this term and the research that backs it up;
• The potential dangers of accepting a leadership role in a crumbling company;
• The potential opportunity waiting within this gender-biased blind spot.

Related Links:

• Episode 465, What Kamala’s Candidacy Means for Women Leaders - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode465
• New York Times, When That Promotion is Really a ‘Glass Cliff’ - https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/business/glass-cliff-effect.html
• Harvard Business Review, How Women End Up on the “Glass Cliff” - https://hbr.org/2011/01/how-women-end-up-on-the-glass-cliff
• Kathryn Kincaid’s thesis, Why Can Why Can’t a Woman Fail Like a Man? - https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1401&context=ugtheses
• LEVEL UP: a Leadership Accelerator for Women on the Rise - https://www.bossedup.org/levelup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

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What individual, organizational, and policy changes will help us transform the daily grind into the good life? The conversation around work-life balance and women in the workplace can feel stalled. You might speak out and speak up about the problems and inequity you see every day, yet insufficient individual solutions remain the most common recommendations. This lack of progress highlights a widespread systemic problem.

Brigid Schulte has quite literally written the book on what’s up with our ongoing struggle to balance a good life with a sustainable career. Her latest book, Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life, is available today! Brigid joins me to discuss what her research has revealed about our continuing struggle to make work actually work for us.

Learn what needs to happen to transform our hustle culture into something healthier, including:

• The declining of the American Dream;
• Why we need to look beyond paid labor when we talk about “work”;
• The importance of good middle management;
• Where the U.S. should look for policy inspiration.

Related Links:

• Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life - https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250801722/overwork
• Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time - https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250062383/overwhelmed
• Discover More About Brigid - https://www.brigidschulte.com/
• Connect with Brigid on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brigidschulte
• Learn More About the Better Life Lab - https://www.newamerica.org/better-life-lab/
• The Economic Policy Institute’s Productivity Pay Gap - https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/
• Harvard Business School Study - https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Documents/The_Caring_Company.pdf
• The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-sum-of-us-what-racism-costs-everyone-and-how-we-can-prosper-together-heather-mcghee/14618549?ean=9780525509585
• Workism Is Making Americans Miserable by Derek Thompson - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/
• The Story of Work: A New History of Humankind by Jan Lucassen - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-story-of-work-a-new-history-of-humankind-jan-lucassen/18399262?ean=9780300267068
• Episode 452, Redefining Success: Women and the Fight for a Fair Economy - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode452
• Episode 440, The Problem With Self-Help - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode440
• Episode 468, Disrupting Elder Care: We Need To Talk More About Working Daughters - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode468
• Episode 456, How Connection Can Cure What Ails Us - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode456
• TAKE ACTION with Bossed Up - https://www.bossedup.org/takeaction
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/
• Follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/emiliearies

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How do you handle the sting of being passed over for a promotion? Unfortunately, for ambitious women, this frustrating experience tends to be part of the package deal. We’re always pushing ourselves outside our comfort zones—so, of course we won’t get every opportunity we go after. In this episode, I share how to manage the emotional aftermath of this normal but distressing experience without losing your drive.

Tackle these three tips for coming out on top after a promotion pass-over:

• Why you need to let yourself feel all the feelings;
• How to get clear on what your career future looks like now;
• When it’s time to think about moving on.

Related Links:

• Episode 323, How To Lead With Emotional Intelligence - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode323
• Episode 295, How to Make Career Progress in the New Year - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode295
• The Progress Principle, Harvard Business Review - https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=40692
• Permission To Feel: The Power Of Emotional Intelligence To Achieve Well-Being And Success by Marc Brackett, Ph.D. - https://bookshop.org/p/books/permission-to-feel-unlocking-the-power-of-emotions-to-help-our-kids-ourselves-and-our-society-thrive-marc-brackett/9879244?ean=9781250212832
• LEVEL UP: a Leadership Accelerator for Women on the Rise - https://www.bossedup.org/levelup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

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How do you navigate grief in the workplace in an empathic and supportive way? We all experience loss, and we might default to assuming the only place for grief is in the home. The truth is that a loss permeates every aspect of our lives, sometimes for years or even decades, and it certainly crosses into the workplace. 

Krista St-Germain experienced a devastating loss in 2016 when her husband was killed by an impaired driver. That trauma propelled her into grief, then therapy, then research. Today, she is the founder of the Mom Goes On group coaching program and the host of the Widowed Mom podcast. She shares her hard-won wisdom on what we need to know about grief and how to navigate it in the workplace, both for ourselves and in support of others.

Question your assumptions about grief and learn to better support yourself or others who are navigating it, including:

• How we’ve come to misunderstand the grieving process;
• The role time plays when we are healing from a loss;
• How to navigate interactions with grieving coworkers;
• The possibilities of life beyond grieving and post-traumatic growth.

Related Links:

• Learn more about Krista’s work - https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/
• Follow Krista on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lifecoachkrista/
• Connect with Krista on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/coachingwithkrista
• The Widowed Mom Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-widowed-mom-podcast/id1468127632
• The Grieving Brain by Mary-Frances O’Connor - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-grieving-brain-the-surprising-science-of-how-we-learn-from-love-and-loss-mary-frances-o-connor/16976128?ean=9780062946249
• Report from the Death Studies Journal on the Dual Process Model - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10848151/
• Brené Brown - Silver Linings Clip - https://brenebrown.com/videos/rsa-short-empathy/
• On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy & Their Own Families by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross - https://bookshop.org/p/books/on-death-dying-what-the-dying-have-to-teach-doctors-nurses-clergy-their-own-families-elisabeth-kubler-ross/9165298?ean=9781476775548
• On Grief & Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross - https://bookshop.org/p/books/on-grief-grieving-finding-the-meaning-of-grief-through-the-five-stages-of-loss-david-kessler/6699869?ean=9781476775555
• Episode 468: Disrupting Elder Care: We Need To Talk More About Working Daughters - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode468
• LEVEL UP: a Leadership Accelerator for Women on the Rise - https://www.bossedup.org/levelup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/
• Follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/emiliearies

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Deloitte recently released their 2024 Women @ Work report, which surveyed 5,000 women across 10 countries. In this episode, I highlight three unexpected trends that warrant further discussion and that I plan to explore in upcoming episodes of this podcast. 

Explore the state of work for women around the world:

• What does the study have to say about women’s rights overall?
• How does new intel about burnout reflect a change in workplace mental health programs?
• How are issues impacting older women at work finally getting long-overdue attention?

Related Links:

• Read the Deloitte Women @ Work 2024 report - https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-shared/docs/collections/2024/deloitte-women-at-work-2024-a-global-outlook.pdf
• Take Action with Bossed Up - https://www.bossedup.org/takeaction
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

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How do you balance caring for your aging parents and your career without burning out? We organize so much in our lives, from our workdays to our childcare. The care of our aging parents or other loved ones, however, can blindside the best of us. When this responsibility suddenly falls into your lap while you’re in the thick of leveling up your career, staying on top of daily expectations, and maybe even raising young children, what do you do?

Liz O’Donnell was faced with this situation, and after more than a decade in the field, she is a recognized expert on working while caregiving. She is the founder of Working Daughters, which supports women balancing elder care on top of their careers and all the other demands of adult life, and the author of Working Daughter: A Guide to Care for Your Aging Parents While Making a Living. In this episode, she shares her wealth of knowledge about navigating elder care without losing yourself.

Discover what to expect if you find yourself caring for an aging loved one, including:

• Why we aren’t talking more about this widespread issue;
• Where policy and workplace elder care support are lacking and how they could improve;
• How to integrate elder care into your life with compassion for yourself;
• Why a post-caregiving plan can give you back a sense of control and purpose.

Related Links:

• Connect with Liz on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz3point0/
• Find resources on Working Daughter.com - https://workingdaughter.com/
• Implement the Caregiving Basics - https://workingdaughter.com/caregiving-basics/
• Order “Working Daughter: A Guide to Care for Your Aging Parents While Making a Living” - https://workingdaughter.com/book-2/
• U.S. Department of Labor, “Older Women and Unpaid Caregiving in the U.S.” - https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WB/WBIssueBrief-OlderWomenAndUnpaidCaregiving.pdf
• Deloitte “Women @ Work 2024” Study - https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-shared/docs/collections/2024/deloitte-women-at-work-2024-a-global-outlook.pdf?dl=1
• “The Crisis Facing America's Working Daughters” by Liz O’Donnell - https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/working-daughters-eldercare/459249/
• The Wall Street Journal, “When Caring for Your Parents Comes at a Cost to Your Career” - https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/elder-care-parents-workers-e1fa53f9?mod=world_whatsnews_pos3
• The Working Daughter Bill of Rights - https://workingdaughter.com/working-daughter-bill-rights/
• Episode 466, How Gen X Navigates Career Change -  https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode466
• McKinsey & Co. Women in the Workplace Report - https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace
• Level Up: a Leadership Accelerator for Women on the Rise - https://www.bossedup.org/levelup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

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Our world is still conflicted about whether or not it likes assertive women. In recent months, I have received both positive and negative feedback about my outspokenness. When I’m confronted with the opinion that my assertive approach to communication might leave a poor taste in people’s mouths, I still have to fight the urge to hide or get defensive, but I have developed a few skills that make these interactions more productive.

The road to owning your voice and raising it confidently when you have something to say can be a long one, especially if you were raised to keep quiet. In this episode, I lay out three tips to help you navigate the situation the next time someone gives you negative feedback about your communication style.

Challenge yourself to start putting these tips into action. Listen now to learn:

• Why it’s better to ask for more information than to get defensive;
• How to decide whose feedback really matters;
• Why you don’t have to act on all the feedback you receive.

Related Links:

• Read “The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness” by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-courage-to-be-disliked-the-japanese-phenomenon-that-shows-you-how-to-change-your-life-and-achieve-real-happiness-ichiro-kishimi/6691584
• Get Emilie’s book, “Bossed Up: A Grown Woman's Guide to Getting Your Sh*t Together” - https://www.bossedup.org/book
• SPEAK UP: An Assertive Communication Course- https://www.bossedup.org/speakup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

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Gen Xers have a wealth of experience and talent to offer the workforce, and yet Millennials and Baby Boomers tend to receive the majority of the media focus and career advice available today. Even Bossed Up doesn’t have as much information for this generation as it could.

In doing my part to correct this oversight, I speak with Vince Chan, host of the Chief Change Officer podcast. A Gen Xer herself, Vince supports Gen X professionals as they traverse critical career crossroads. In this episode, Vince shares how the shared traits of this group result in a resilient generation with so much to offer—often more than even they realize.

Discover how Gen X navigates career transformation, including:

• How Gen X’s deep respect for institutions can help them and hold them back;
• The lifetime of technological shifts Gen Xers have navigated
• Why Gen X needs to set aside a fear of judgment and love themselves more.

Related Links:

• Connect with Vince on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thevincechan/
• Listen to the Chief Change Officer podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chief-change-officer/id1735006441
• Episode 176, Changing Careers After 40 - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode176
• Episode 64, A Feminist Take on F.I.R.E. - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode64
• Episode 456, How Connection Can Cure What Ails Us - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode456
• Episode 434, The Economic Imperative of Affordable Childcare - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode434
• HIRED: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

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The last week’s historic political events warrant a totally new, unscripted episode. 

On July 21st, the news that President Biden would no longer pursue re-election and would endorse Vice President Kamala Harris left me excited and energized for the future, feelings that only grew as I spoke with so many women in the week following the announcement. Just imagine what this candidacy could mean for women, particularly women of color and those in leadership positions.

In today’s episode, I share my thoughts about what Kamala’s candidacy means for women.

Join me to consider the possibilities this election year, including:

• How we can  embrace the “audacity of hope” and not sit back in silence;
• How the words we choose when speaking about Kamala’s candidacy - whether we support her or not - says more about how we view women and power overall;
• Why we should focus on electing the best future president, not the perfect one;
• And three ways you can join me to take meaningful action today.

Related Links:

• Register to vote - https://vote.gov/
• Donate to the campaign - https://secure.actblue.com/donate/potuskamala
• Volunteer to give support - https://kamalaharris.com
• Learn more about Rank Choice Voting - https://rcvforcolorado.org/
• The Audacity Of Hope by Barack Obama - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-audacity-of-hope-barack-hussein-obama/12721004?ean=9781606860731
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/
• Follow Emilie on Instagram: www.instagram.com/emiliearies

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Content warning: this episode briefly touches on alcoholism, substance abuse, and abusive relationships.

Why does setting boundaries sound so simple, and yet is so hard to practice? My guests on this episode know that it takes practice to make any difficult communication practice permanent.

Jan and Jillian Yuhas are twin relationship and conflict resolution specialists who help leaders, families, and organizations build stronger, growth-oriented relationships and set boundaries that stick. They’re also the authors of a new book, Boundary Badass: A Powerful Method for Elevating Your Value and Relationships.

Uncover the benefits of setting values-based boundaries at work and at home:

• Why it can be harder to set personal boundaries than professional, despite a lot of similarities;
• How to balance setting boundaries and remaining a high-value employee and leader;
• The importance of identifying values and boundaries from a place of logic, not emotion;
• Practicing assertive communication in a society where women’s voices are often misconstrued.

Related Links:

• Learn more about Jan and Jillian - https://www.janandjillian.com/
• Buy “Boundary Badass: A Powerful Method for Elevating Your Value and Relationships” - https://www.boundarybadass.com/
• Speak Up: An Assertive Communication Course- https://www.bossedup.org/speakup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/
• Bossed Up EP 251: The Difference Between Assertive V. Aggressive Communication - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode251
• More Bossed Up Episodes on Assertive Communication - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/category/Assertive+Communication

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