The Broad Experience

By The Broad ExperienceSociety & Culture Business Careers

The Broad Experience episodes

March 31, 2020 Episode 152: Young Breadwinner
My guest in this episode started working right around the time most of us started school. Marie was just five years old when her acting work began supporting her entire family. But as she got older she noticed all the best parts were going to the boys, while the roles she was getting relied on her looks. Her dreams of continuing in acting were dashed when she realized what she was expected to do to get better parts.

Today she has a totally different career, but she’ll never forget what show business taught her - about professionalism, teamwork, and sexism.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
25 min
March 10, 2020 Episode 151: Mary Lou at 94
In this episode we meet a true broad - a 20th century woman who has bucked convention in more ways than one.
Mary Lou landed her first job as a telephone operator in 1941, and went on to become a social worker and then a teacher. Along the way she married, had six children, divorced, and became a (very) independent woman. Today, at almost 95, she’s settled down with her partner Al and tells me, ‘I’ve had a fantastic life.’

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
30 min
January 22, 2020 Episode 150: Who Do You Think You Are?
A lot of women have a voice in their heads that asks them that question. In this episode we explore women's confidence, or the lack of it, and why it matters to our livelihoods. We discuss why women often struggle to recognize their value, and how much of our experience depends on our backgrounds. We meet Chicago business owner Denise Barreto, who is enviably confident, and NPR journalist Stacey Vanek Smith, who shares some of my hangups.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
23 min
August 07, 2019 Episode 149: Forgiveness at Work
In this episode we look at forgiveness as a career tactic. A lot of us stew for weeks or months over things that have happened at work. My guest Christie Lindor decided the way to get ahead in her career was to forgive the aggressions - micro and otherwise - she was subject to at the office. She talks about how and why she chose forgiveness as a way forward, and how focusing on what you want to come out of a bad situation can help you deal with hurt, anger and resentment. If you're fuming over a work situation right now, tune in. This is the last episode you'll hear for a while as The Broad Experience goes on hiatus for a few months.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
18 min
July 15, 2019 Episode 148: So Many Incompetent Leaders
Most leaders in business and politics are male, and most of us rate our leaders poorly. Would that change if more leaders were women? In this show I meet up with Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of 'Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?' We discuss confidence versus competence, learning to distrust our instincts, and how bad leadership can drive a lot of us out of a job (voluntarily).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
24 min
June 24, 2019 Episode147: Forced Out (re-boot)
Most of us have a bad breakup with work at some point. You don't have to be fired for things to end on a sour note, but however the end comes, leaving a job in difficult circumstances is one of the hardest experiences to go through. In this show we meet two women who know this first hand: Marion Kane, longtime food writer at some of Canada's top newspapers, and Heather McGregor, a frequent guest in this show's early years and now executive dean of the Edinburgh Business School. We hear their stories and get some advice on how to recover your confidence and your livelihood after a rocky exit.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
25 min
June 06, 2019 Episode 146: Ageism, or Prejudice Against Our Future Selves
This is the second of two shows on what happens as women in the workforce get older. And a lot of it isn't good. Women can experience a double whammy of prejudice that men don't, and it's affecting our bank accounts apart from anything else. In this episode we meet women's leadership professor Terri Boyer, and founder of Magnificent Midlife Rachel Lankester. Each discusses age discrimination (which is perpetrated by both men and women) and suggests ways we can tackle it, beginning with women not buying into the narratives we've been fed over the years. OK, centuries. And we meet late-in-life lawyer Kate Wiseman, who's having a positive experience of being an 'older woman' at the office.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
27 min
May 07, 2019 Episode145: Working through Menopause
You're commuting to work and you start overheating; you're suddenly feeling more anxious about everything; you can't sleep properly, and your colleagues and family are driving you nuts. Many women in their forties start feeling these signs of peri-menopause. And in the UK, some employers are actually moving to support their female staff as they go through this transition. But menopause still remains largely under-discussed, particularly in the youth-obsessed US (why would you admit you're menopausal when the workplace is already sexist and ageist?) In this show we meet a menopause coach and an employee who are both determined to bring more transparency to one of the last workplace taboos.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
27 min
April 23, 2019 Episode 144: Class and Career (re-release)
In this show, originally released in 2016, we look at how class can play out at work. Each of my guests works in a professional setting but both grew up in blue-collar households. Each has had trouble navigating the white-collar workplace and some of its attitudes. We also meet Daniel Laurison, a sociology professor at Swarthmore. He co-authored a study on the 'class ceiling' in Britain. It showed that on average, people in high-status professions who began life in a working-class household earn less than their more privileged peers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
30 min
April 08, 2019 Episode 143: True Equality: When it's OK to be Mediocre
We all need inspiration in the form of successful women. But sometimes the pitches I get about the latest amazing, do-it-all star who's 'killing it' can make me feel tired rather than inspired. Financial Times columnist Pilita Clark is in the same boat. She argues that true equality means not having to be utterly stellar to receive recognition. In this show we discuss her theory that women should be allowed to be as mediocre as any man.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
21 min

About The Broad Experience

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Women’s experiences at work can be challenging, rewarding, and downright ugly – sometimes in the same week. The Broad Experience sparks candid conversations about women, men, careers, and success. We…