Austin has no shortage of leaders who are respected, and even revered. But it’s safe to say that, among them all, Cookie Ruiz is our most beloved.
As executive director of Ballet Austin for 13 years, Cookie Ruiz has successfully led the company, alongside artistic director Stephen Mills, onto the national and international arts scene. Even more than that, her vision, savvy, and soul have touched almost every part of the Austin...
Not unlike many of my high-octane coaching clients, "Maria" faced a constant problem. She got so caught up in the non-stop demands of her professional and personal life that she found herself stressed out to the point of shutdown. Physically exhausted, psychically stuck. It's a sort of extreme protection-reaction I call "clenching."
When we "clench," it becomes impossible for us to move or take action--literally and metaphorically. Like a muscle...
Power isn't complicated: Power is the capacity to get things done. To have impact. To make a difference.
Power isn't a thing that you have or you don't have. Power is fluid. It is constantly circulating and being negotiated. You ignore it at your own peril, your own impotence.
The UT Center for Women in Law just released a comprehensive report summarizing the Power Summit it hosted last...
When "Marie" began coaching with me, she felt unrecognized and unappreciated in her job. Like so many talented women at mid-career, she had become so proficient at her work that everyone depended upon her to "get things done." She was so busy with her head down, putting out fires and saving other people's butts, that she had not developed any kind of executive profile. When a...
Once upon a time, when managers made implicitly gender-biased judgments about which staff got the pay raises and the promotions, we called a spade a spade: gender discrimination. When Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Betty Dukes et al. was recently heard by the Supreme Court, we gained a new euphemism for structural sexism in the workplace: “excessive subjectivity.”
This phenomenon is no news to most women: When a company fails to establish objective...
