Mutiny

On Friday, I attended the NAFE (National Assoc of Female Executives) annual Awards Brunch, with keynote speakers Nicholas Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn, authors of Half the Sky. They told fascinating storeis about women from around the world who gained an education by some fluke (like the gift of a goat, freeing a nine year old girl from lugging water, or an American bank error that paid Chinese girls’ school fees for a decade or more) and the resulting prosperity – not just for those particular girls turned women, but for their entire regions. In a very moving talk, they laid out statistics that show over and over again how discrimination against women worldwide has kept countries and regions impoverished. It was eye opening. That book is definitely on my Christmas list.  (Does Santa read my blog?)

Furthermore, the very inspiring NAFE Award winners shared some pearls of wisdom that I’ll reiterate here. Each winner gave us a last tip:
1. Go off script and take chances. Life is a learning experiment.
2. Don’t be shy to ask for help, or dig in and offer help.
3. Cultivate your EQ – it’s more important than your IQ.
4. Dare to be true.
5. Give credit to others. It will come back tenfold.

An excutive of a Fortune 500 company asked me a very scintillating question that I’m still contemplating. She said, we all still work in a man’s world, with hours and expectations that don’t accommodate a growing family… and we patiently wait for changes. What would happen if instead of waiting all the women in all the jobs just staged a mutiny? What if there was a flexibility strike?!! MUTINY.

Intriguing thought. Do we get eye patches? Or cinched-waist corsets? I’m in.