What's Going on With Women?

This week my Shifting Careers column, "Women Build Businesses Their Way," will appear in two places, its traditional online home at the New York Times online, and as the Thursday Small Business feature in the print edition of the paper. It's about Ladies Who Launch, a social networking group for entrepreneurial women, and the bigger subject of whether women run their businesses (and their lives) differently than men. As I reported this story, I could have taken quite a few detours since the topic was rich. And I have a feeling it's a subject I'll be circling around for a while.

A few interesting links I stumbled on while working on this story:

• A great post at Blogher, about different approaches to corporate women's networks: "BusinessWeek Takes a Second Look at Women's Networks"
• "The Real Reason So Few Women," a post from Marty Nemko (who has appeared in my Coach's Roundtable) about why there are so few women at the top. Perhaps it's just that women want different things than men, or that we have differing definitions of "the top." Marty's archives are encyclopedic. He's got an article or a handful of articles on pretty much any work-related topic you've ever thought of. And often, they are smart and provocative, like this one.
• Penelope Trunk, whose archives are also rich with smart posts, wrote this post last week about male CEOS.
• Commentary from The Center for Women's Business Research, that ". . . both sides (of the opt-out debate) ignore what at least some of these women are doing at home in addition to raising their children: they are starting businesses. Read more here."

I have a feeling we are closing in on a time when referring to a feminine style of doing business might be seen as a compliment.

Good Self-Promoter, an Oxymoron? (www.nytimes.com)

This week my Shifting Careers column at the New York Times online talks about getting comfortable with self-promotion, something we all need to do these days. Read the column here.

Last week, my friend Gretchen over at the Happiness-Project, wrote about reframing. That post helped me to figure out that my biggest problem with being called a good self-promoter was the language. I know I'm good at self-promotion. Just not sure I like those words. It's a lot like how I feel about networking -- essential skill, bad image.

Creating buzz around your ideas (NYT.com)

Yesterday, my Shifting Careers column at The New York Times online focused on ways to create buzz about your ideas. Based on the flood of reader emails I've been getting, I'm not the only one interested in this subject. If you have any tips to share -- especially ideas for those who are uncomfortable about self-promotion and/or who can't afford outside p.r. help, please share them in the comments. (There's no way to comment on the NYT website yet, so leave your comments on the blog.)

Here's the article, "Tools and Tips to Create Buzz Around Your Ideas."

Note: Through some weird URL glitch, the link to the 360 Profiler mentioned in the first paragraph was published incorrectly. If you want to try the tool, click here.

Is self-promotion a women's problem?

The avalanche of emails responding to my Shifting Careers column on self-promotion continues. When I wrote that column, I didn't think self-promotion was a women's issue and I know that many men -- and many folks who were just raised to think being humble is good manners -- also have a problem with it. But a lot of the experts and commentators believe that women have a harder time with it than men.

Lisa Cullen, Time.com's workplace blogger (the unidentified friend who called me a "master of self-promotion"), blogged about my column. For her, it all came down to the estrogen factor. Read what she has to say here.