WITI Business
Tools to Minimize Workplace Conflict and Maximize Productivity
By Merle Rein
Once upon a time, there was a young woman, who, upon receiving her degree; got a job; worked hard and was respected by her co-workers and supervisors. She was acknowledged to be an excellent employee and within a few years, she was promoted to department manager. And just as all fairy tale endings, she was happy. Well, almost, because this wasn't a fairy tale and she found herself dealing with the very same situations that people in the workplace often experience.
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Three Key Strategies For Handling Price Negotiations For Your Consulting Services
By Tessa Stowe
Has a prospect for your consulting services ever said to you, "Your price is too high and I'd like a discount"? In this article I outline three key strategies for responding to this. One of these strategies even has the potential for you to make a larger sale of your consulting services than you originally anticipated. Curious?
First, giving discounts in the right way may well be the most appropriate thing to do. Conversely, giving a discount in the wrong way can not only lose you consulting business but could lose you all possible future consulting business from a potential client. Read on to see what I mean.
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WITI Careers
Mr. Mom Goes Back to Work
By Clarice Kennedy, WITI New York Leadership Council
Originally Published in The NY Enterprise Report, May 1, 2008
A business owner and mother of three shares her struggle to adapt to domestic duties after her stay-at-home husband returns to work
My husband, John, recently returned to work after spending the last 10 years raising our three sons and caring for my elderly and disabled father. He took his role very seriously and made it look very easy - food shopping, laundry, cooking (great cook!), dry cleaning, school trips, Little League, lacrosse practice, football practice... should I go on?
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Growing Within Your Company: Dragonflies and Pelicans
"I'd like to network with you." How do you feel when someone says that to you? After surveying a countless number of professionals in my seminars, I see the same reaction: they cringe. People don't like the concept of being "networked with." There's an implication of being used, of being put on the spot, of being asked for names when you're not sure that you want to share any. Although we all realize networking is important, we have an instinctive reaction against it when we're on the receiving end. How do we change that reaction so that both teams want to play ball, especially when you're the one who is seeking new information or relationships?
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WITI Health
No One Diet Works for Everyone
By Laura Brown
Diet and Nutrition expert Laura Brown discusses why no one diet works for everyone, and discusses how to create sustainable, lasting weight loss without dwelling on calories, carbs, fats, proteins, restrictions and lists of good and bad foods, in a way that is flexible, fun and free of denial and discipline.
There are many differing dietary theories on the market today. It doesn't require a very close inspection to notice the many contradictions between these theories and to wonder how it could be that the field of experts is so far apart on what works and what's healthy.
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Staying Healthy in the High Stress Job
By Laura Brown
Throughout the twenty-plus years I've spent as an IT and business consultant, I've seen and experienced firsthand the results of high stress work environments. They include burnout, health problems, stress-based eating, and weight gain, among other problems. Due to many years spent coping with on the job pressure, many busy professionals find themselves facing chronic disease and its precursors: high cholesterol, hypertension and insulin resistance.
So what can you do to stay healthy when you're in a busy, stressful job?
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WITI Leadership
Leadership Skills: Building Your Intellectual Capital (Part 1 of 3)
By Marian Cook
Given layoffs, outsourcing, off-shoring and the destruction of the traditional job and job security, we desperately want to own our future now more than ever. How can you do that when so much seems out of your control? Control what you can: you. Make yourself as valuable as possible by actively building a strong career platform from which to operate despite job changes. Ensure that your marketable skills portfolio is current, strategic and aggressively growing in ways the market will reward through increasing pay and employment opportunities. Putting together that proactive plan for career buoyancy is what this series of articles is about.
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YES WE CAN!
By Carolyn Leighton, Chairwomen/Founder, WITI
At age 67, I have seen decades of racism and discrimination. I was born white, but every time I witnessed an attack - large and small - towards someone because their skin was a different color, because they looked, dressed, thought differently - from the time I was a young child - I felt as if I was being assaulted. I never thought the day would come when the MAJORITY of the population would rise above the lowest level of human behavior - racism - but my heart was singing last night, as I watched, through tears of joy our new President Elect Barack Obama being swept into Office.
This morning, I have renewed hope and inspiration - and renewed appreciation for the difference each one of us can and has made in shaping the future of America, the future of the world.
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WITI Personal Growth
Tools for Quickly Regaining Your Perspective When You Are About to "Lose It"
We all need something to restore our perspective when it gets out of whack - when we find ourselves in difficult situations - when the tension, anger or anxiety are growing and our self control and logical thinking are going out the window. Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check is vital both at work and in your personal life. That is why it is essential to pre-arm yourself with tools you can use to restore your balance when you begin to tip over the edge.
When things get difficult you need techniques to "self soothe" - to calm yourself down and relax your body and mind so that you can deal with the situation or "let it go" without doing long term damage to your self, your relationships, or your reputation.
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Try an Expiriment
At some level we all understand the concept that experience is a good teacher and that some things can only be truly learned or understood though personal experience. Yet we often strive to figure out our lives (careers, relationships) or solve our problems at a strictly intellectual level and downplay or ignore the importance of experimentation - the "learn by trying/doing" part of the equation. We cling to the idea that we should be able to simply "figure things out" by mulling things over, applying logic, and mentally weighing alternatives, and thus we become armchair examiners of, and theorists about, our lives. Relying on thought is a natural human tendency but why do we do this? Is there a better way?
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WITI Technology
Ten steps to Service-Oriented Architecture Success
By Sandy Carter
For every service-oriented architecture (SOA) success story, there lays an abandoned SOA project stuck in one of the various stages of deployment.
Underscoring the successes and challenges of an SOA project is the popularized theory that 50 percent of IT projects are deemed unsuccessful. This, of course, can make embarking on an SOA strategy rather intimidating.
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The Women's Tech Community Has Launched
By Dana Thorat
WITI members can have their voices heard! A major global technology company is actively recruiting new members into its private, online community of professional women to get insights from women about the technology products and services that really matter to them. This is a unique opportunity to interact and have a meaningful impact on the company's product directions and marketing efforts while also networking with your peers.
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WITI Women
LOOKING FORWARD - How Can We Make 2008 a Great Year?
By Carolyn Leighton, Chairwoman/Founder WITI
I like starting the year looking forward, thinking about what I can do to make a difference for WITI members, partners and stakeholders. With a fresh slate, and a new year ahead, I always feel optimism and excitement about taking a fresh look at our goals, our vision and how we can play in a satisfying, meaningful way in the universe we continue to create
As always, I wanted to share my ideas and perceptions and ask you to write me yours, since it has always been your feedback, your perspectives, that have moved our WITI team to achieve greater heights and take on new challenges.
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Follow Your Heart, but Listen to Your Gut
By Sharon Elshaug
Have you ever been working on a project, with everything running fairly smoothly when you realized there was a little knot in your stomach? Some little nagging, aching feeling right in the pit?
So many of us - especially we women - are caught up in the pressures of meeting customer expectations, commitments to deadlines, and dealing with the stresses of a project that we fail to listen to that inner voice. I've had the experience described above on many occasions, but only recently learned to listen to it. I had to learn the hard way.
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