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Tag Archives: women and work

Would you expect a circus elephant to work this hard?

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Guest

England’s reigning Queen Elizabeth holds a place in my history. My family bought our first television set and allowed me to stay home from school to watch her coronation. We cheered the new queen from Temple TX. For years after that, I had a recurring dream that Queen Elizabeth was coming to dinner and I had nothing prepared. I would awaken in a cold sweat after trying unsuccessfully to cobble together a dinner from leftovers I found refrigerated in my grandmother’s multicolored Pyrex dishes.

After reading this lovely piece by Suzan St. Maur, I think I would not stress so much over an unexpected visit from the queen, but rather would order in Chinese and look forward to a chance to chat with a hardworking woman who prepares her own breakfast cereal. Of course, I’d want to ask her about the upcoming royal wedding and what advice she’d give to the soon-to-be princess Kate. What would you ask the queen if she came to have dinner with you?

Although this old lady lives in comfortable surroundings, she is nearly 85 years old and still works a full week from 9 to 5 plus several evening shifts and on weekends. She has to be nice to thousands of people every week, shake hands with hundreds of them, share her mid-day and evening mealtimes with dozens of them, and look absolutely perfect at all times no matter what.

She’s been doing it since 1952. And she has to travel thousands of miles every year to gigs in far-flung places where she’s expected to be charming, and perform.

An inhumanely overworked elderly circus elephant, perhaps? Nope. She’s the Queen of England.

Or to be more correct, she is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, (titular only) Head of State of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland plus 15 other Commonwealth realms. Those realms include Canada and various Caribbean nations plus Australia, New Zealand and some further nations in the south-west Pacific.

Of course the British Republicans sneer and snort, waving anti-monarchy banners and saying how dare a woman like Queen Elizabeth complain about her workload when she lives in several different palaces and doesn’t have to worry about paying bills or maxing out her credit card.

Well, I don’t care what the Republicans say: this woman, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, to my mind is a huge inspiration to all of us who value the work ethic.

Posted in Know Your History | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Leadership Development Power Tool Breakout Sessions

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Gloria Feldt

No Excuses is now a workshop too!

I had the pleasure of keynoting the Leadership and Business Development Workshop sponsored by Valley Leadership and the ASU Alumni Association in Scottsdale, February 9, 2011.

After the keynote, I moderated a panel of local leaders, Luz Sarmina, Carol Poore, and Jessica Pacheco for the enthusiastic, sold-out audience that packed the room. Then participants broke into smaller groups where they talked the nitty gritty–specific and practical ways to apply the 9 Ways power tools in their own work and lives–and received peer coaching. It made my heart sing that two women announced their intent to run for office, while many others talked about how the power tools would help them expand their businesses or careers within their organizations, write books, or start nonprofits.

This post’s comments below are facilitator notes from a breakout session.

I was very excited to apply No Excuses ideas in a workshop format and thank the conference committee, Rebecca Kennell, Jan Miller, and Tammy Bosse, for organizing an amazing, inspiring event.

If you’d like to create a No Excuses workshop for your professional or community group, contact me here. I am fired up to share the 9 Ways power tools with you!

PS. Here’s what people said about the workshop: “It was truly inspiring to see that all the answers were really in the room. By you opening the dialogue and spurring the conversation important topics came forward and great resources were given to them. I heard from both facilitators and participants that during the breakout session they were able to see their challenges more clearly and a road forward.”

Posted in Power Tools, Workplace | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments
 
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