One aspect of working that can be profoundly impacted by having children is business travel. The issues around travel can be both philosophical and practical. When my children were very little I tried to limit my travel. But in the last few years my travel has increased and they seem to be none the worse for wear. On the practical front, I’ve developed a few strategies for helping my family…
There’s a lot of bad career advice in the world. But early in my career I read an article with this tip: Any time you get significant praise, drop it into a file marked “Hooray.” Then, when you have a bad day, pull out your hooray file and flip through it. It will remind you of all the great things you’ve done and all the great people you work with.…
This weekend’s episode of Bullseye, an NPR show hosted by Jesse Thorn, featured legendary TV producer Norman Lear. It’s worth a listen for many reasons, but at the very end of the interview Thorn asked Lear what it was like to be producing six network sitcoms – all of which were in the top 10 in the ratings – at the same time. His answer was wonderful. He said “Was…
Everyone knows that networking is the way to get ahead in the world. Everyone also knows that networking, for most of us, is hard. There is a ton of great advice out there about how to network without networking. It’s worth seeking out. But one tactic that has worked for me is making fabulous introductions. So let’s start with a basic principle: connecting begets connections. When you connect two people for…
According to the smart folks at Working Mother today is National Flex Day. Nice! At Path Forward we are fans of flexibility. In my life, flexibility has been the key to making my work/life work. After my daughter was born almost nine years ago (!!), I worked from home three days per week. I also worked part-time for a bit. I kept the three-days at home schedule, working full-time, until…
A story this week on Quartz.com (a publication I’m becoming increasingly obsessed with) was both fascinating and not the least surprising: a study found that mothers outperformed their childless peers, as measured by output of academic research. There are a million caveats to this study, which looked at PhD economists, including the bias found in a pool of high-powered academics. But I think there’s something to this theory, in part because…
The internet revolution has been a boon for parents and caregivers in so many ways. We can use a variety of platforms to connect with each other across states and time zones and also find others like us, right around the corner. The internet has also made working from home possible in a whole new way. And for those looking to restart their careers it is now possible to launch…
Name: Brittany Rhea Luebke Return Path position: Social Media Marketing Coordinator, Digital and Brand Marketing Career past life (What did you do?): Most recently, I worked in marketing and communications for an insurance and financial services company. Prior to that, I was a human resources consultant, specializing in benefit communication and employee wellness programs. How long were you out of the workforce? I was out of the workforce almost two years.…
Name: Rick Simkins Return to Work Internship position (and company): Service Delivery Support at Return Path. Career past life (What did you do?): I was a Regional Channel Manager, selling data center solutions, networking, data storage and other solutions to companies. How long were you out of the workforce before entering the Return to Work program? I was out of the workforce for 2 years. I started a business and was looking for…
The media narrative on working moms isn’t always pretty. Generally they seem to revolve around questions like: How do they do it? Can they have it all? There are many mornings that begin with #facepalm because of some story that seems to reinforce a tired narrative that doesn’t describe my life or the lives of many women I know. So it was with relief, amazement and joy that I read…
