NewsonWomen What's new in 2008?

I spend my time blogging about women’s achievements on www.NewsonWomen.com because I love to see women getting ahead. I think there are lessons we can learn from each other by sharing these experiences. It is the people who harness the power of sharing and building community, like Google and Facebook, who are successful in today’s economy. Sharing is the key to our future.

So what is the news that we can share so far in 2008? I felt this year was starting out slowly but, as I look over January, I am surprised and pleased to see many important things going on. While the number of corporate board appointments were fewer than usual, what we lacked in number we made up for in power - Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon Products joining Apple’s Board, Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox joining The Washington Post Board, and Patricia Woertz, CEO of Archer Daniels Midland, joining Procter and Gamble’s Board – important women going on the boards of important companies.
As Meg Whitman steps down from the CEO job at eBay, I would be sad were it not for the women I see stepping up. While we didn’t get the CEO job at eBay, although Lorrie Norrington stepped up to be President of eBay Marketplaces Operations, we did see some big corps giving big jobs to women like Sabrina Simmons becoming CFO at Gap, Inc., and Barbara Turf becoming CEO at Crate & Barrel after starting as a part time sales rep.

The importance of marketing and global strategy in today’s economy is reflected in the significant number of women put in high level marketing and strategy jobs so far this month, such as Michelle Gass at Starbucks and Sue Kroll at Warner Brothers Pictures.
And I continue to be impressed by the women in technology and engineering I write about like Jocelyn Scott, to be a chief engineer at DuPont; Irene Qualters becoming SVP of Software for SGI; Sona Wang and her group funding Connie Li’s TrafficCast; and the young women of MIT, who spent January traveling the country to encourage high school girls to study math and engineering.
eBay announced it was adjusting its business strategy going forward to include more fixed price items to go along with its auctions, an indication that we all need to retool now and then to stay at the top of our game. Retooling the workplace is also an option as we saw how law firms are beginning to move away from their traditional business model of billable hours, a business model that is difficult to mesh with motherhood. I loved Deborah Epstein Henry’s “Facts” approach (Deborah is the Founder of flextimelawyers.com and her plan is to have options; Fixed - lower profile work and predictable hours, Annualized - high energy periods followed by lulls, Core - blocks mapped out for work and family, Targeted - agreed goal for hours, or Shared). This should have application in the corporate environment as well.

At work or at home, it is important to stay connected, to stay up on what’s happening and to be interested in each other. Read more about what's happening and share your news with us at www.newsonwomen.com.

Alice Krause
Founder
NewsonWomen.com
www.newsonwomen.com
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