Speaker Articles

Why You Need a Sponsor and How to Get One at Work

By John China, Head of Technology Banking, Silicon Valley Bank

I’m a living, breathing example of how sponsorship works—literally. A decade ago, my sponsor saw something in me and started grooming me for the bank’s executive suite. I wasn’t a perfect fit, so eager to jump in every conversation that I would literally gasp for breath. But because of my sponsor’s willingness to put his credibility on the line, coupled with my willingness to embrace an executive coach, I made it. Today, I am a vocal advocate of sponsorships at work. Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Career Choices, Job Advancement Tagged , |

This Entrepreneur Was Sued for Hosting Events for Women

Claire Wasserman, founder of Ladies Get Paid, a career development platform, is committed to closing the wage and leadership gap. If anyone is about equity and inclusion, it is Claire.

So imagine her disbelief when she was informed last October that she was being sued for sex discrimination.  Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Marketing Yourself & Your Small Business, Small Business Tagged , |

How Nice Leaders Say No

At work, as in life, there are always going to be jerks. They seem to climb—or claw their way up—fast, but you don’t have to join them to succeed.

“You don’t have to check your true self at the door,” says Fran Hauser, author of The Myth of the Nice Girl: Achieving a Career You Love Without Becoming a Person You Hate. “Nice and strong are not mutually exclusive traits. I believe that the most effective leaders have both.”

A former media executive, Hauser is talking from experience. She helmed the digital teams of some of Time Inc.’s most important brands—People, InStyle, Entertainment Weekly and Essence—while scooping up industry accolades along the way, including Advertising Age’s “Women to Watch” award. Still, her door was always open to people who wanted her help; one question she frequently got from young women was, “How can you be so nice and successful?” Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Communication Skills, Success & Leadership Tagged , |

How Women Entrepreneurs Can Beat the Odds

By Claire Lee, Head, Early Stage Practice, Silicon Valley Bank

The numbers continue to be depressing and disappointing. Startups that are founded by women get between 2 percent and 4 percent of venture capital globally. Compiled from more than 1,000 tech and life science executives, our “Women in Technology Leadership 2018” report highlights the issues and confirms what I am seeing firsthand at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Financial Fitness, Marketing Yourself & Your Small Business, Small Business Tagged , |

Office Hours: How to Own Up to a Mistake at Work

Admitting to a work screw-up is like knowing CPR. You want to be good at it, but not because you’ve had a lot of real-life practice. It’s also like CPR in the sense that the slower you are to act, the worse the outcome is likely to be.

To help you know what to do on the spot, we asked two senior executives—both have seen and heard it all—for their advice on the best way to own up to a mistake. Read More →

Posted in Speaker Articles, Communication Skills, Office Hours Tagged , , |