Monday, October 20, 2008

From Career Ladder to Career Lattice

Last week I attended a women's leadership luncheon sponsored by Deloitte LLP at the invitation of the Women's Foundation of Colorado. Sharon Allen was the keynote speaker--she's the Chairman of the Board of Deloitte, an accounting and consulting firm (yes, they still call her the Chairman though she is a woman). She's also on the Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.

Ms. Allen spoke about how they have implemented the concept of the "career lattice" at Deloitte in order to replace the traditional "career ladder." Gone are the days of the traditional step-on-everyone-to-get-to-the-top philosophy. Gone are the days of fighting for the next promotion and the next raise. Gone are the days of having to leave if you're going to have a family.

It took me a while to wrap my head around the idea, because I was taught to believe that if you aren't forever getting more money and power, you're lazy, boring, or incompetent. And if you did take time out for family or anything else, well, you'd pretty much have to start over at the bottom. This was the price we paid for being women in a man's world.

But Sharon Allen talked about being able to "dial up" or "dial down" your career at various points in your life without having to give it all up. Flexibility and respect seem to be the cornerstones of this approach. After it sank in, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. The world is starting to understand that women can add infinitely more value when they contribute from within their own framework.

If one of the most traditional, male-dominated industries in the U.S. has seen the light, we're closer to electing a woman president than I ever thought possible.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Joy Comes in Small Packages

The sun is shining and the weather is warm, warm, warm. I contributed time to Smart-Girl this afternoon that was meaningful--I built relationships and used my knowledge and skills. I scheduled a phone interview for an organization I believe in where I could most definitely WOW them as the CEO.

And I got a package in the mail today--the written evaluations from the class I taught at DU this summer. I was a bit reluctant to teach the Financial Management and Fundraising class in a condensed format--how would I ever fit it all in and keep them engaged? But I earned an "A"! My numerical scores were often 5.9 on a 6.0 scale. Here are some of the comments:

"Erin really cares about this subject and she is able to convey her vast knowledge succintly and effectively. I was impressed with her enthusiasm, preparation, and skill."

"Engaging teaching style"

"Erin did a wonderful job of finding ways to incorporate multiculturalism..."

"Instructor was knowledgable and able to go into specifics with real-life examples."

"Challenging both to experienced and inexperienced students"
Happy, happy, joy, joy! These are the days I live for.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

I Don't Know How to Be a Superhero

I mentor a 13-year-old girl named Consuelo through an organization called Denver Kids. She's a good kid with a loving mom and two sisters who will be her friends for life. She's lucky because she's got a better start than a lot of kids in the program. I'm lucky because other mentors have to deal with drugs, pregnancy, and abuse. I may still face some of those issues with her, but I hope not. I want to see her graduate from high school and college without going through any major trauma. I want to see her be happy.

It was a huge decision, this committing to being a mentor. Frankly, I was terrified that I would do or say something wrong--that I would screw up somehow and mess up a kid for life. But I did it anyway. I jumped through all the hoops, including orientation, interviews with different organizations, fingerprinting and the background check, and lots of other stuff that I've blocked from memory because I want to convince my friends to become mentors too.

In mentor training, they said that every mentor is afraid of doing something wrong. They told us that we don't have to be superheroes; just being ourselves is good enough. They told us that our first responsibility is to always meet our commitments to the mentee. Our second job is to be a friend rather than a parent or teacher. Our third task is to be calm and nonjudgmental at all times and to set boundaries when necessary.

When Consuelo told me how she fights with her sisters, I told her that she was filled with light and love and to try to remember that in the moment. It's what I would tell my best friend. I hope it was right and good. It was me.