Hear how to pause your career and still thrive
This was such a great interview with Lisen Stromberg that I’m reposting it for Women’s History Month. Before our original conversation, I read her book for a second time, “Work PAUSE Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood without Killing Your Career,” and I know why it has become such a bestseller. It is great! She focuses on many of the same themes as in my new book, “Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business,” which you can buy here. It never ceases to amaze me how so much more is expected of working women. How can we excel at our jobs, leave to have a family and then return to the workplace and not fall behind? Listen as Lisen tells us.
During our interview, Lisen and I realized that our professional lives have a great deal in common. I managed my career, raised my family and even cared for parents, without a pause. And like Lisen, I managed to thrive.
Early on, Lisen learned that it was really hard to pursue a career in advertising and marketing while raising her children. She paused, pivoted and became an award-winning journalist. Along the way, she realized that other working women were struggling with the same choices. Could they pursue a career and have families or was it an either/or that would forever change their career growth and personal lives?
Like a true entrepreneur, Lisen determined that maybe it didn’t have to be this way. Maybe it was time, finally, to rethink how to balance home and work in a culture that devalues the care giving roles we all must perform at some stage in our lives. With the growing dependence of parents on their children, typically their daughters, she recognized that the work/family conundrum was quickly demanding a realistic answer, and fast.
In this episode Lisen and I discuss:
- Where her inspiration for her book came from
- Her research on women in the workforce
- Trailblazer women navigating their own paths
- How “the pause” affects women in the workforce
- “Momtrepeneurs”
- Serious change coming to the workplace through Millennials and work/life integration
- The shift of employee demand in the workplace
- Workplaces that accentuate work/life integration and how they thrive
- Couples strategizing together to make their future flourish
- Availability of return-to-work internships
- The future of gender-equal leadership
Additional resources for you
- My best selling new book: “Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business“
- My award-winning first book: “On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights”
- Simon Associates Management Consultants website
