Parquet Shortstop

Instructor, Caroline BenderNearly 30 years ago, a well-meaning (but now painfully outdated) book called Games Mother Never Taught You attempted to explain the mysteries of the male corporate world to us career gals. Among the skills we were advised to learn were "locker room talk" and the art of the sports metaphor.Most days I think I fall back too easily on my sports metaphors, to the point of cliche. But recently I stumbled onto one which summed up for me an experience I had been trying to define and express for the past year.I realized why I felt so crowded, so frustrated, so elbowed on the job. "I am a baseball player," I said to my Boss....

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10 Great Working Woman Movies

an occasional list of diversions from the Faculty and Staff of the BWFS&SC1. The Best of EverythingIndeed, the best of the best. And doesn't Hope look great in those wool suits?2. Woman of the YearThere are a lot of Kate Hepburn at work movies. This is the queen.3. Working GirlThe movie that taught us there is no sisterhood in the workplace.4. 9 to 5The movie that taught us there is.5. Private BenjaminCan a woman find her self-identity through her work? Even if it is in the Army?6. The ApartmentBecause Shirley MacLaine is the center of the panelled universe, moral-wise.7. Designing WomanPeck & Bacall? You're thinking, "I've never seen...

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The Little Email Thread That Could

Instructor, Caroline Bender This is the story as it was told to me -- with the usual changing of names, ranks, and serial numbers.An Individual Contributrix (Trixie) was working on a high profile project for someone other than her boss. The sponsor said, "Let me know when you get into trouble," and so she did. When another department planted its feet in the way of progress, Trixie knew that she could not just plead at her own level across the hierarchy. She needed the project sponsor to do a little politicking at his tier in order to get the blockage removed. But the sponsor was not at his desk, and his calendar showed him as out for the next...

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Be the Chicken

Instructor, Caroline BenderI would like to comment briefly on the new business allegory that is making the rounds, and of which I am already sick to death. This is the kind of Move My Cheese story told by blustery Boss/Presenters to inspire and delight us into giving "more" (which see our earlier entry on getting a life).The parable uses the commitment made by both the Pig and the Chicken toward the outcome of the project, in this case a bacon and egg breakfast. Presenter makes the point that while the chicken "showed up" for the endeavor, the pig "really committed."Presenter will stick her tongue in her cheek and wiggle her eyebrows, meaning...

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