Episode 85: Far From Home - Women in Aid

“I once had to deal with two male staff, one of whom was accusing the other of threatening to kill him using witchcraft...I have to take it seriously and not disregard that person’s feelings and fears. ”

— Jessica, aid worker

Photo by SimplyCreativePhotography/iStock / Getty Images

A lot of us give to causes we care about. But how many of us ever think about the workers at some of these nonprofits - aid organizations like Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, or Oxfam? The aid world is full of women, and in this show we meet one of them. 

Work/life balance? Not easy when you and your partner need a UN helicopter to visit one another. The job can be physically grueling and also dangerous. Sexual harassment is common. But the work is also rewarding and challenging in ways my guest couldn't have imagined.  

You can also read a transcript of the show.

Further reading:  Why gender matters - but not just gender - in aid work by University of Southampton sociology professor Silke Roth (a 4-page paper). She's also the author of The Paradoxes of Aid Work - Passionate Professionals. 

This piece by Megan Norbert is about her sexual assault by another aid worker, and the relative lack of response. 

Reporttheabuse.org contains aid workers' personal accounts of harassment and assault. It was started after Norbert wrote about her experience. 

Episode 84: When Women Decide

“People often think a woman leader who’s made a mistake should be demoted. Whereas a male leader who took a risk and it didn’t work out, sure, he made bad judgment, but he doesn’t lose as many status or competence points.”

— Therese Huston

For centuries women didn't have the opportunity to make decisions outside the home. Now they do. But even today, after decades in the workplace and in public life, our decisions are questioned more than men's. In this show we meet Therese Huston, author of the new book How Women Decide: What's True, What's Not, and What Strategies Spark the Best Choices. 

Therese Huston

We discuss myths around women and decision making, why we're still second-guessing Marissa Meyer two years after she canceled Yahoo's work-from-home policy, and what's at stake when women take a risk.

You can also read a transcript of the show. 

Thanks again to Write/Speak/Code for supporting the show during the last five months. Their conference kicks off on June 15th.

Further reading: Here's that Pew Social Trends study on women and leadership that Therese Huston mentioned during the show. 

This piece by Caroline Paul on girls and fear got me thinking about how much our childhoods affect our risk taking.

Episode 83: I Did It My Way

“Every woman across the board had this moment in their early to mid-teens where they were like, ‘Wait a second, I really have to rely on myself.’ The Prince Charming fantasy totally evaporated.”

— Joanna Bloor

Photo by swissmediavision/iStock / Getty Images

Joanna Bloor

This is the second of two shows on generational conflict at work. This time we focus on Gen X women and some of the ways they can differ from their younger colleagues and fail to understand them - and vice versa. 

You'll hear from four guests - Nora Mathews, the millennial employee featured in the last show, Joanna Bloor, a longtime Silicon Valley executive and now CEO of The Amplify Lab, Anne Loehr, and Rachael Ellison. We discuss Gen X women as the archetypal 'good girls', the different generations' approach to work and parenthood, and whether younger women expect too much support from older ones. 

You can also read a transcript of the show.

This week's show is supported by Lola - like The Broad Experience, it's a woman-run enterprise focused on something we think about a lot, but don't always talk about.

Episode 82: Generation Clash

“All of the women I’ve worked with have felt like...they are trying to help, but they’re trying based on what things were like when they were coming up through the workplace.”

— Nora Mathews

Nora mathews at one of her side hustles

This week we look at generational conflict between women at work. We all know it’s there, lurking, even if we talk about it behind eachother’s backs.

This show features generation expert Anne Loehr plus a baby boomer and a millennial on the gaps in experience and understanding between women. Why won't millennials use the phone at work? Why can't older women understand this isn't the same workplace they came up in? 

This is the first of two shows on this topic. Next time we take a deeper look at Generation X's perspective. 

My other two guests are Broad Experience listeners Nora Mathews and Lynne Testoni - thank you both for contributing to the podcast. 

You can also read a transcript of the show.

Episode 81: Money vs. Fulfillment

“For the person who says money isn’t everything I would push back and say OK, if money isn’t everything, what would you do if you didn’t get your next paycheck?”

— Jacquette Timmons

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Jacquette timmons

“When women give up their careers for their husbands they perpetuate this dynamic where only men and a few women make it to the top with a stay-at-home spouse.”

— Jodi Detjen

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Jodi Detjen

In this show two guests take on two listener questions. The first asks whether women have to strive so much for equality. Can't they just be happy if they enjoy their jobs, even if they know the guy before them got paid more for doing the exact same thing? Another listener says there's a huge gap between her and her husband's salaries. She likes her job, but wonders if she should give it up to stay home with her child so her Silicon Valley spouse can have what his colleagues do: a stay-at-home wife 'who makes his life happen.'

You can also read a transcript of the show.

My guests are financial behaviorist and author Jacquette Timmons, and management professor and author Jodi Detjen.

Thanks again to Write, Speak, Code for sponsoring this episode of The Broad Experience.

Episode 80: Daughters in Charge (re-release)

“I think in all cultures a woman still has to prove herself…a boy will from birth be named CEO of the company some day. ”

— Daphne Halkias

Traditionally it was always men who followed their fathers into the family business. But the number of women joining family firms in the US has almost quintupled since the late 1990s.

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Tlllie Hidalgo Lima (l) and her daughter, Jessi Lima Bollin (Photo: AP)

Something similar is happening around the world. As women gain more education - and families have fewer children, including fewer boys - patriarchs are being forced to consider something they might never have thought about: the possibility of their daughters entering and eventually running the family firm. But women coming into these situations face quite different challenges than their brothers. This show explores some of those.

You can also read a transcript of the show.

Show notes:

Amy Katz runs the online community Daughters in Charge.

Daphne Halkias is the co-editor of Father-Daughter Succession in Family Business.

Marty Betagole is president of Mike Albert Fleet Solutions in Cincinnati.

Jessica Lima Bollin is director of marketing and communications for Best Upon Request, also in Cincinnati.

Sara Corey is director of agronomy at Daniel Corey Farms in Maine.