Points of view
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‘Big girl’s blouse’: The workplace language that feels like death by 1,000 cuts for women
Have you “girled” someone at work or in sports? This is when someone intentionally or unintentionally belittles, demeans or excludes someone using sexist language. Calling a woman “girl” or a man a “big girl’s blouse” may diminish their authority and imply they are...

Managing a family business doesn’t need to resemble an episode of Succession
Family succession dramas are bankable “popcorn viewing” for TV, film and the media as seen with Succession, Yellowstone, Game of Thrones and real-life drama in the Murdoch, Gucci and Guinness families. When the cameras turn on you and your family, though, it’s...

How a one-page strategy can make your business more profitable and easier to sell
You’re standing on stage at an award ceremony, and the event host hands you a microphone and says: “Five years ago, your company wasn’t making money, and nobody knew who you were. Last month, you sold the business for millions to a large firm, and everyone knows your...

Mankeeping – why it’s bad for women and men
Women are exhausted. Not only are 71.2 per cent of women aged 15-64 working, but many with a partner and children are still doing most of the housework, cooking and looking after the kids and older relatives. There’s the emotional labour as well: the endless...

How to cope with the loneliness of being a CEO
It’s lonely at the top. The burden of responsibility, the complexity of leadership and the speed of decision-making weigh heavily on a CEO. Although little research exists on this topic, a small recent Canadian survey of 106 chief executives (46 of whom were...

AI’s inbuilt biases threaten to undermine women in the workplace
The age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here, whether we want it or not. And although it is already proving a useful tool for some tasks, both mundane and incredibly complex, its all-too-human biases are reinforcing discrimination against women, undermining them in...

Making fatherhood work: ‘The feeling you get from caring for your child, I’d swap it for a few zeros’
The clueless dad, the silly dad, the dad who always forgets, the messy dad, the sport-obsessed dad, the handy dad, the reckless dad. Then there are the bad dad jokes, the shrunken laundry memes, the burnt dinners and the honey-I-don’t-know-how-to-use-the-dishwasher...

I’ve seen men watch porn in my workplaces. I reported it and was called ‘a prude’
The age of the topless Page Three girl in newspapers and calendars featuring naked women in workplaces is long gone, but has been replaced by some men and boys openly viewing online pornography at work or on public transport. Last week, it was revealed that more than...

I was the first pregnant senior manager in the organisation. My employers were shocked.
You’re having a baby? Congratulations! It is a special time with a great many joys; first breath, first smile, first walk, and challenges like sleep, feeding and managing the never-ending laundry. Until recently, the skills for coping with this new world were...

How to reset your life, career and happiness with the help of one simple tool
What would you write in a graduation card to yourself, age 21, from your current perspective? Would it be the usual “The World Is Your Oyster” or “The Adventure Begins” or even the Dr Seuss-inspired “Oh The Places You’ll Go!” My advice to myself at that age? After...