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WBA Panel 3 - Personal Strategy

A quick strategy lesson is all you need to remind you of where you are going with your life. Dean Bradford served us a refresher course in strategy and how to apply Porter’s five forces to personal strategy. I never imagined writing a personal business plan, but when the dean asked who has written one and several of the women rose their hands I thought that maybe there is logic to it. As the presentation progressed I saw exactly why writing a plan was not only a good idea, but seemed almost crucial to further career development. Writing any business plan forces us to think of the future and consider pros and cons of the proposed solutions. It also asks where you want to be in five or ten years. And suddenly personal strategy has a whole new meaning – it focuses us and gives us direction. And the best thing is that we learn what we really want and what awaits us on the way.

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Marriage woes of the career minded

In today’s world a woman getting an MBA is very likely to end up in a dual career household. And his career might be on a different track then yours, going as fast but in a different direction. So what do you do? A panel of three successful women and one successful husband answered questions about juggling your career and your marriage (and kids) in a dual career household. We discussed various techniques from using outlook meeting requests to block out family time to division of chores and the main takeaways from the discussion were communication, and learn how to do it well, financial responsibility of each partner – participation upkeep of your home, and lastly, how not to sacrifice your career for him and/or for the kids.

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How to return to the workforce?

It’s not the question of quitting a job, but taking a break for what ever reason one chooses. Be it raising kids, taking time off to come back to school, or be an expat wife in some exotic (or not so exotic) country, there will be a time when we want to take a break from being in the workforce. This might primarily apply to women, but don’t be fooled, there are plenty of men that take a break and have no idea how to get back “on the horse.” The first seminar was very interesting, because it touched upon many fears and uncertainties of re-entering the workforce. We discussed strategies to enhance the resume, like putting your home experience on your resume – after all, we are often the CEO’s, CFO’s, COO’s and other C’s of our homes, and how to stay on top of ever changing technology. We even touched on working for non-profits and volunteer work – both of which can be great resume assets if used properly.

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WBA Panel 1: Dust Off Your MBA - Tim Vogus

The first Dust Off Your MBA panel ran, and it went very well. Professor Vogus gave a presentation on negotiating and how gender effects that process. He had some very interesting insights, and I got to listen to women share about their own experiences - from negotiating a salary to a deal with other companies as part of their job. There was a lot shared in the room, and it was another great example of how this Symposium has brought together women from various backgrounds and given them a chance to share their experiences. Everyone seems to be really enjoying the weekend - so back to work I go!

WBA Keynote: Beth Canavan

Wow. The keynote just finished her prepared speech and is taking questions from the audience. She gave a wonderful speech that was very inspiring. She made sure to point out that balancing a career and a family will never be easy, and there is no plan for everyone to follow, but the hard work will pay off. A fulfilling career and family life takes a great employer, a great partner, and a lot of optimism. You can go to our homepage to hear the speech, which I highly recommend you do, and below you can see a picture of Beth in action.

WBA Breakfast

The morning has started and we are waiting for the keynote to speak. We've had a great turn-out for a Saturday morning, and the breakfast was pretty good, too. Chocolate chip muffins, quiche, cinnamon buns, bagels... definitely a good start to the morning. We also had people break out of their circles and sit with women from all over in order to meet others and network. Each table had a fishbowl in the middle with a couple of questions on them in order to spark conversation. They ranged from "Who's your role model" to "Can a woman have both a career and a family". All in all a great start. I'm off to listen to the keynote, but enjoy the picture below of some participants at breakfast.

WBA networking night

It’s not all that easy to describe what a room full of business women feels like. You may ask why it’s difficult. On one hand it’s simple, we behave differently. On the other it’s more then that. There is no boasting how great we are, what we have achieved. There is no ego trip or a power struggle to dominate the room, the conversation, or what ever else one wants to show off. But last night at the Women's Business Association
Networking Conference there was a buzz of excitement as business women, at various stages of their careers, talked about how to be successful. Conversations ranged from babies to startups, and went through the whole array of “what are doing,” “what do you want to do,” and “here is my card, let me know if I can help you in your career search.” It was a great evening, and having a massage therapist giving a quick pick me up massages was a spectacular idea. I can’t wait for today’s events, to meet all the wonderful women and to hear their stories of success.

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WBA Networking Hour

The WBA Symposium kick-off, the Networking Hour, went very well. The participants there were everyone from Vandy Alum to women who currently work in Nashville. I got to meet lots of businesswomen who had a great sense of humor, experiences and work-life. After spending a lot of time working on this I might seem a little more excited than normal, but it's all been going so well. I can't wait to hear some of our speakers tomorrow and meet more of the participants for this weekend. As someone said towards the end of the night, "I never want to leave Owen." Perhaps she had a few glasses of wine, but another event here again cements how awesome this school is. Enjoy the picture below of the wonderful Owen MBAs who helped put this event together.

WBA Symposium Kick-Off

The WBA Symposium is here! The team spent the morning putting together goodie bags, picking up balloons, finalizing last minute details with panelists, setting up for the networking hour tonight and more. Now that the symposium is finally here, and all of the hard work we've done is paying off, it's becoming very exciting. We have some great speakers, our faculty are delivering amazing workshops aimed at women and the variety of people attending the symposium is amazing. I have to get back to getting everything together tonight, but I am so excited about this weekend - the work behind it was not always easy but it's definitely coming together great. See some of you tonight!