Lean In D.C.

A Crash Course in Compensation Negotiation

Earlier this season, nearly 100 women and their allies gathered at Hogan Lovells to participate in Lean In DC’s Compensation Negotiation Workshop, featuring Kim Keating, Lean In Board member and a trusted advisor to numerous industry-leading organizations. Keating tapped into lessons learned from more than 20 years of experience working with leaders to align their strategy, organization design, and compensation practices to deliver improved performance and results.

Workshop attendees took part in mock negotiation scenarios to learn one’s worth and master the art of negotiating for fair and competitive pay.

“One of the great things I have found about this workshop and actually having dialogue and practicing is that, even just from sitting in this room, trust me, you’ll have more comfort when this happens to you,” Keating said. “It’s really important, when you get that job offer, that you’re thankful and that you say how excited you are for the opportunity. I like the strategy of [leading with] X, Y, and Z, which are positive, and then you can say, “However, here is what I was actually expecting and looking for.”

Keating walked attendees through a mock scenario, in which a woman applies this approach to negotiating her salary and benefits package after receiving a job offer.

Speaking on behalf of the woman in the simulated negotiation process, Keating said, “‘Thank you so much, I deeply appreciate the offer. This is the kind of firm I want to work for. Joe seems like a great manager, and I’m really excited to be part of the team; however, I was expecting a salary that is commensurate with my experience and with what I found in the market data.’”

To this point, Keating also emphasized how valuable real data can be for the negotiation process.

“If you’re able to say, ‘My requirements are based on my research of the market and I’m looking to get a fair, competitive range for the role,’ that will help demonstrate that you came prepared,” she said. “Use your judgment in how far and how hard you want to push. Don’t be afraid to say, ‘According to the Robert Half Legal Salary Center…’ or ‘According to Salary.com, my data shows that this position has a range of $X to $Y in this area for a company this size.’ That way, you can have that common ground of establishing what the market for this job is. From there, you can talk about what you bring to the table and why you should earn a salary at the high end or middle portion of the salary range.”

Additionally, Keating talked about understanding the added challenges women face in the negotiation process.

“When you’re asking about negotiation, and you feel that there may be some resistance, know that we do have some momentum behind us through which we can say, ‘I’m sure you’re aware that there is a gender pay gap,’” Keating said noting that pharmacy is the only industry in which men and women are paid equally across the board. “You can approach the negotiation process by saying, ‘I’m sure you’re aware that there is a gender pay gap in this field, and I would be remiss not to negotiate on my behalf.’”

Lean In DC executive board member Emma Fisher echoed this sentiment by stating, “Today, we need to be acutely aware of how what we do, inside and outside the workplace, perpetuates our values and beliefs. And, we need to understand how such actions ripple across our country.”

Fisher, a Fulbright alumna, began her career working at the White House before transitioning into the nonprofit world, where she has focused on improving the education-to-work continuum by increasing access to viable tools and resources.

“While I believe it’s important to work at the 50,000-foot level to improve our shared systems, it’s just as important to make choices every day that reinforce your values and beliefs,” Fisher said. “Over time, those choices build upon each other. They allow you to create your narrative history and our collective history, as women in the working world.”

Lean In DC would like to thank Kim Keating, as well as event partners Hogan Lovells DC, Next Girls Network, Cava, and Plush Skin for helping to make this year’s Compensation Negotiation Workshop possible.

#salarynegotiation compensation equalpay equalpaydc
7 years ago / 1 note

Power Hour: Bossed Up & Lean In DC Team Up

To mark the midway point of the summer, Lean In DC joined forces for a Power Hour event hosted by Bossed Up, an organization founded to help women craft sustainable careers.

In front of a capacity crowd at Darlington House, Bossed Up Founder and CEO Emilie Aries spoke about her career path and the challenges she confronted when faced with burnout.

“I started Bossed Up a few years ago because, quite frankly, during the first three or so years of my career, post-college, I was working really, really hard and didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere at all,” Aries said, confessing that she often worked through her lunch and rarely saw a decent night’s sleep.

“When I completely burned out – found myself just bone tired, exhausted from feeling exhausted, tired of feeling like the way I was working wasn’t actually working – I realized that if I wanted to be in this fight for the long haul, I was going to have to change the way I was getting stuff done,” Aries said. “I was going to have to change my approach.”

The experience ushered in a two-year “rocky road” in which Aries realized she “needed to put on an oxygen mask.”

“I needed to take care of myself physically, emotionally and spiritually,” she said. “I needed to think about the people I chose to surround myself with, the choices I made about how to spend my time… and yes, I had to learn to advocate for myself in a way I never had to do before.”

More than 100 women and their supporters turned out for Power Hour – an event Bossed Up regularly hosts to encourage networking and idea-sharing.

“This is a safe space, we are here to mirror back to one another the most courageous versions of ourselves that we can muster,” Aries told attendees. “I want for you to ditch the inner critic and, instead, let’s give voice and energy and attention for what our goals are for the rest of the summer. And, step two is: dare to be generous with your recommendations, advice, thoughts, feelings and emotions. This is a space where your opinion is warranted, is asked for, is called for – don’t be shy.”

During the event, Lean In DC co-director Megan Downey spoke about her own journey working to support women in their pursuit of leadership roles.

“[Lean In DC] wanted to create a space for discussing the gender leadership gap,” she said, noting that much of her passion for educating others about the gender gap stems from her experience in electoral politics and campaigning for women leaders. “I came to D.C. after working on a couple campaigns for women, and I was so excited about making headway here, only to realize that women make up about 20 percent of Congress. That was something we were cheering about as a milestone! And, the numbers in the corporate world are even more dismal. And so, we formed the DC chapter of Lean In because we wanted to create a space for all these amazing, high-powered, driven women in Washington, D.C., to come together and talk about how we can bridge this gap, how we can work for equal pay, how we can get more women in leadership.”

#BossedUp LeanIn
7 years ago / 1 note

Circle Spotlight: DC Moms

Recognizing the myriad challenges working moms face on a daily basis, Alyssa Ross and Elisabeth Bradley independently connected with Lean In DC with the goal of providing D.C.-area moms a place to discuss the challenges of balancing career goals with the responsibilities of motherhood. After meeting one another through the Lean In DC Circles Hub, the duo decided to join forces and launch the “DC Moms” Circle.

“I know that in my job – and in other jobs I’ve held – I have been one of the few, if not the only, mother on staff,” said Ross, the mother of two daughters, the older of whom is three years of age and the younger, 18 months old. “I was always the person who stayed in the office until 9:00 at night, and when I became a mom, I couldn’t work so late in the office anymore. It was important for me to put my girls to bed at night, even if it meant I had to log in again around 9 pm. That pressure is real, and I think just knowing other women who are facing the same challenges and who can relate to those pressures is so important.”

"This phase of life - when you’re raising young kids and growing a career - is so rewarding, but it can also be really challenging,” added Bradley, the mother of a 15-month-old boy. “I wanted to create a space to explicitly address those challenges and connect with other women trying to figure out what success looks like for them."

Both Ross and Bradley know firsthand the types of challenges women face when aspiring to “have it all.”

“You have to redefine what having ‘it all’ means,” she said. “There are only 24 hours in the day, so when you talk about ‘having it all,’ you have to be cognizant of how you will need to divide your time. Yes, you can work and have a family at the same time, but you definitely need a support structure in place to help you pull it off.”

“My husband and I try to balance things as close to 50-50 as possible, and we’re both lucky to have very family friendly work environments,” Bradley said. “I leave the house earlier in the morning and get back earlier in the evening, and he spends some quality time with our son in the morning and works a little later in the evening. We both work from home one day a week when we can. But there’s still the feeling of not having enough time, or wanting to be in two places at once.”

This is a unique challenge in cities like Washington, where so many working moms are also transplants and don’t have a built-in family support system available to them, Ross noted.

“You have to prioritize what is important to you and form the rest of your life around that,” she said. “And, you have to build support structures to execute it. Sheryl Sandberg’s observations about choosing a partner are very true. It’s important that your partner understands your career goals and personal aspirations.”

“[My family and I] recently moved to D.C. from Austin, Texas, where we had lots of in-town family, and that’s been a much bigger adjustment than I expected,” Bradley added. “Kids are non-stop, whether you work or not, and the demands of a two-career household just further complicate things. We’re still figuring it out and building out network here, but having a supportive partner makes all the difference in the world.”

But, having other moms to lean on is critical, both Bradley and Ross noted.

“Having other moms as friends has been helpful for me,” Ross said. “These are people I can turn to for advice on how to negotiate more time working from home or strategies for planning out a day. I found out about grocery delivery services during my first Lean In circle meeting!”

Knowing just how challenging it can be for moms to coordinate schedules while taking into account both work and personal responsibilities, Ross said she and Bradley are planning to host both virtual and in-person DC Moms meet-ups to provide as much flexibility with scheduling as possible. While the group currently consists of 13 moms – many of whom live in Virginia – Ross and Bradley hope to draw as many as 30 members or more so that area moms could help launch smaller separate Circles for moms in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Each of the area-specific Circles could then plan to meet together in-person every so often to keep all the moms connected and supported, Ross said.

“[Bradley and I] want the DC Moms Circle to be a supportive group that can serve as a sounding board for ideas,” Ross said. “It will be a group that allows moms to commiserate with one another and laugh and cry with one another, and celebrate achievements.

“And, it will be a group of people that actually want to hear your baby stories,” she joked.

Most importantly, both Ross and Bradley hope DC Moms will serve as a safe space for working moms to talk about the pressures they feel and the roadblocks they face in working to pursue new career goals and discuss strategies for making “it all” possible.

“I think women are finding greater equality in the workplace, until they become parents,” Ross said. “Then, everything changes. The motherhood penalty is real.”

And, men are not immune to the challenges working moms face, she added.

“Men also face pressures when it comes to family responsibilities, but they’re also different,” Ross said, citing an article by Andrew Moravcsik, in which he writes about his life as a lead parent in support of his wife’s career, and the career penalties and social stigma associated with doing so.

“When my daughter was sick a few years ago, my husband faced criticism at work for taking off,” she continued. “The perception was that I should be home with my child so that my husband could be in the office. It is hard to co-parent in those circumstances. How do other families handle situations like this? That’s one of the things I’m hoping to discover with our Moms circle.”

For more information or to join the DC Moms Circle, please visit http://leanincircles.org/chapter/lean-in-dc.

#DCMoms WorkingMoms LeanInDC LeanIn
8 years ago / 1 note

Congresswomen, Equal Pay Advocates Take Part in Lean In DC’s Equal Pay Day Event

On Tuesday, April 12, Lean In DC teamed up with Washington metro-area businesses to raise awareness about Equal Pay Day, the date on which women’s wages catch up to what men earned the previous year.

Marking the third year of Lean In DC’s Equal Pay Day event, 18 businesses offered discounts to women and their advocates to draw attention to the fact that, per the national average, women make just 79 cents to a man’s dollar.

Lean In DC hosted an official Equal Pay Day happy hour event at Bar Deco, during which Congresswomen Carloyn Maloney (NY-12) Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) stressed how critical it is to spread the word about pay inequality.

“What I’ve been doing today is speaking out with [actress and equal rights advocate] Patricia Arquette on putting women in the Constitution and giving us the dignity we deserve,” Maloney said. “They say, ‘Equal means equal,’ while we have learned that it’s not fair for us.”

“In 2016, we shouldn’t have to work an extra three months to catch up to what our male coworkers made last year,” said Hilary Badger, Lean In DC Executive Board Member. “At the current rate of chance, we won’t close the pay gap until 2058. We need to value a woman’s work the same way we value a man’s. The pay gap holds back women, families and our economy – but the D.C. community can change that. The first step is drawing attention to the problem and supporting businesses that are committed to closing the pay gap.”

In fact, hundreds of women and their allies joined Lean In DC on April 12 in supporting area businesses committed to the cause. This year’s participating businesses were Ivy & Coney, DCanter, Centrolina, Biker Barre, Pure Barre, UrbanStems, Balance/Burn DC, the Black Squirrel, Libertine, Penn Social, Barre3 DC, Violet Boutique, Hank’s Oyster Bar, Tryst DC, Yoga Noma, Cork Wine Bar, and Rent the Runway – Georgetown.

“We’re half the voting block of America,” Maloney told happy hour attendees. “What I urge all of you is, when you go out to vote, research where people stand on the issues. And, if someone is not willing to be a co-sponsor for the Women’s Equality Bill, don’t vote for them. Run against them! We have to vote to make this change. We have to stand up for our rights.”

#EqualPayDay EqualPay EqualPayDC
8 years ago

Perfect Your Pitch: Lean In DC Members Take Part in Confidence-Building Workshop

Nearly 50 women joined forces to participate in Lean In DC’s “Perfect Your Pitch” confidence-building workshop held at Cove on Tuesday, March 15.

Five panelists—as pictured from left to right: Ashley Shillingsburg (Deputy Chief of Staff, Congressman Dave Loesback), Simone Ward (National Political Director, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee), Jessica Rosenblum (VP of Communications, nonprofit advocacy group), Julie Verratti (Co-founder, Denizens Brewing Co.), and Maggie Thompson (Executive Director, Generation Progress, Center for American Progress) —shared insights on the paths they took to achieve career success in their respective fields.

Before participants broke into groups to practice their own pitches, the panelists tackled topics and fielded questions on everything from how to finesse the “elevator speech” to strategies for negotiating a raise.

“In terms of perfecting the pitch, my elevator speech is something I’ve worked on quite a bit the past couple of months,” Shillingsburg said, noting that she strives to focus her speech on the person she is rather than who she works for. “That’s something that I also think that people in D.C. historically have a hard time with because we all work for organizations we care about or people that other people have heard of. But, being able to talk about yourself is as important as being able to talk for your organization. Your organization is only going to identify you as long as you work for that organization. And, if you don’t have a parallel explanation for you, your goals, your expertise, your experiences… that explanation is only going to last as long as your job.”

A reoccurring theme throughout the panel presentation and workshop was that of gaining confidence to recognize one’s own value.

“What I would urge you all to think about is putting yourself in a situation where you are valued,” Rosenblum said when asked to weigh the pros and cons of taking a “step back” to pursue a career change. “What does it mean to be valued? It means, certainly, that you should be paid what you’re owed – and, I’m not saying to be afraid of doing your time. Everyone needs to do the time and they need to be willing to do the time in order to advance. But, put yourself in a situation, intentionally, where you are valued—where you are paid what you’re worth, where you are given the resources and support you need to succeed and grow.”

“You should always be asking for raises,” added Verratti, who began her career doing policy work before deciding to co-found Denizens Brewing Co. “I personally have done that many times in my career, and I have never once been told, ‘No.’ I may not have always gotten the amount I wanted, but I was getting paid more at the end of that conversation than I was when I walked into the room. Having measurable numbers, having examples of how you improved the company or whoever you’re working for, and having a specific [salary] number in mind is key because that’s going to be the starting ground for your negotiating.”

To add perspective from the employer’s side, Ward discussed the importance of entering a job interview with questions for the prospective employer already in mind.

“Do your homework,” she said. “You should be prepared with your own questions for the employer for two reasons. One, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. That comes back to being confident enough to know your value and to know that what you’re pursuing works for you and the career path you have chosen. The other piece is, as an employer, I’m always looking for diversity of thought—especially in an advocacy organization or electoral organization. That is something that always stands out with any candidate—[when someone asks good questions] it means they put some thought into coming into my office and interviewing for the job.”

Recognizing that the job market is ever-competitive, each of the panelists offered tips and lessons learned on how to take a leap of faith and pursue big-time opportunities to advance.

“I think that, because we’re in D.C., we’re in this magical place where—unless you want to climb the ladder in government, which is a different ballgame because it’s more credential-dependent; or, if you want to go into a very specific professional field—I think that, for the most part, being in this city and being young in this city, there are just so many opportunities not only to build your résumé but also to learn,” Thompson said when asked how to decide whether or not to pursue a graduate degree. “For me, I think those opportunities are in some ways more powerful than graduate school. There are certainly great graduate schools out there. But, if you’re going to go, know exactly why, for what skills, and how you’re going to pay for it.”

Perhaps most importantly, the panelists emphasized the need to be willing to make mistakes in one’s career path.

“One of my biggest mistakes was not making enough mistakes in my career,” Shillingsburg said, adding that accepting challenges is the best way to hone one’s skills and gain new experience. “Over time, I learned that I need to be okay with making mistakes—and, I need to always push myself.”

Did you attend our Perfect Your Pitch event? We want your feedback! Email us at lean.in.dc.1@gmail.com.

#leanin #confidence #branding
8 years ago

x 8 years ago f 133,278 notes j view photoset

afternoonsnoozebutton:
“ Have you heard of Ban Bossy? It’s the new initiative from Lean In and the Girl Scouts that’s trying to ban “bossy” and similar words that are used to bring down girls that are ambitious, take risks, and speak up. By changing...

afternoonsnoozebutton:

Have you heard of Ban Bossy? It’s the new initiative from Lean In and the Girl Scouts that’s trying to ban “bossy” and similar words that are used to bring down girls that are ambitious, take risks, and speak up. By changing the way we treat girls who lead, hopefully our generation will someday see more women in leadership roles.
You can watch the 1:00 video with Beyonce, Jane Lynch, Condeleeza Rice, and Jennifer Garner here, or visit the Ban Bossy website.

8 years ago / 133,278 notes

" So please ask yourself: What would I do if I weren’t afraid? And then go do it. "

- Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)

8 years ago / 117,229 notes

Circle Spotlight: Government Gals

Launched in December 2014, Lean In DC’s “Government Gals” serves as a support network through which women in federal government discuss their career challenges and opportunities.

After learning about Lean In through a TEDTalk, Larke Williams, an environmental engineer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, explored what it would mean to start a Lean In Circle for women looking to climb the career ladder in government.

“The next member to join my Circle was Cherice Fraine,” Williams recalled. “We met for coffee [in December 2014] and chatted about a variety of things. Then, we had another meeting in January, and two more women showed up so, just like that, we had a Circle of four.”

Today, Government Gals consists of 18 members online, with a core group of six to eight women who meet monthly, Williams noted, adding that the Circle put into place an attendance policy to ensure active members remained close-knit.

While the group does not limit membership, it has focused on drawing specifically D.C. women actively employed with a federal department or agency to ensure all who participate in the monthly meetings can speak openly about the unique challenges they encounter.

“We invite anyone who is interested to come sit in on one of our meetings,” Williams said. “There’s certainly a need for these types of networking groups for women in government, and I highly encourage anyone who might be interested in something like the Government Gals Circle to consider starting a similar Circle.”

Each month, participants in the Government Gals meeting take turns sharing a specific professional challenge or opportunity impacting their work life.

“We all weigh in on how to tackle each challenge,” Williams said. “Sometimes, we talk about pretty serious professional issues – how to handle management, how to deal with a co-worker who’s undermining you… We also cover topics very unique to life in government, such as steps and grades and how to network with others in government to leverage the detail process.”

But, for Williams, the Government Gals Circle has become more than a professional network, too.

“It’s been really fun to watch people grow both professionally and personally,” Williams said. “We not only celebrate each other’s promotions, we also share stories about personal growth. Someone in our group recently bought a house for the first time, I’ve had a lot of support [from Circle members] as I planned my own wedding… it’s really exciting to share those moments.”

Additionally, being able to confide in others who are driven to succeed in a similar career path has heightened Williams’ awareness of the challenges women uniquely face – such as sexism in the workplace.

“I’m looking to serve at a pretty high level of management in the government, and having talked about these issues and dealt with them as a younger employee, my hope is to carry what I’ve learned with me as I move forward in my career,” Williams said. “One of the things I like most about the Lean In DC Circle and leading it has been working to help women reach their full potential. By having the Circle – a space in which we can exchange ideas – we have all shared in each other’s successes. As a leader, I want to embody someone who doesn’t lead with a top-down approach; rather, I want to be someone who gets input from others. And, that’s exactly how our Circle works.”

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#leanindc #circles #government
8 years ago

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Be sure to like us on Facebook! fb.com/leanindc1 !

8 years ago

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skillshare:

Photo by Samer Kaki.

8 years ago / 70 notes

x 8 years ago f 18,350 notes

risarodil:

“You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there” - Viola Davis

(via the-daily-feminist)

8 years ago / 18,350 notes

x 8 years ago f 557 notes

timemagazine:

10 Inspirational Quotes From Female Business Leaders
Including Sheryl Sandberg, Sara Blakely, Melinda Gates, and more
See the rest

(via timemagazine)

8 years ago / 557 notes

x 8 years ago f 6,448 notes j view photoset

kateoplis:
“ Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg‘s nonprofit organization, LeanIn.org, has partnered with Getty Images to “to create a line of stock photos that depict mature, professional businesswomen, rather than ones who appear dumb,...

kateoplis:

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg‘s nonprofit organization, LeanIn.org, has partnered with Getty Images to “to create a line of stock photos that depict mature, professional businesswomen, rather than ones who appear dumb, subservient, sexualized, or sometimes all three at once.”
“One recent study found that only 3% of creative directors are women. In journalism, men continue to fill the majority of top editor roles — and this likely extends to photo editor roles as well. We’ve all seen Mad Men. This isn’t the 1950s, but the advertising industry is not exactly a model for gender equality. None of this is to say that men can’t accurately depict women in visual imagery, but if we’ve learned anything from the research, it’s that gender equality in every industry leads to better and more representative outcomes.”
“The new library of photos shows professional women as surgeons, painters, bakers, soldiers and hunters. There are girls riding skateboards, women lifting weights and fathers changing babies’ diapers.”
Jessica Bennet: Will Lean In & Getty Rid the World of the Media’s Subtle Sexism?
Changing Women’s Portrayal in Stock Photos | NYT
Making Stock Photos Less Sexist | Bloomberg

8 years ago / 6,448 notes

"
We were lied to. The women of my generation were told that we could ‘have it all’, as long as ‘it all’ was marriage, babies and a career in finance, a cupboard full of beautiful shoes and terminal exhaustion – and even that is only an option if we’re rich, white, straight and well behaved. These perfect lives would necessarily rely on an army of nannies and care-workers, and nobody has yet bothered to ask whether they can have it all.
We can have everything we want as long as what we want is a life spent searching for exhausting work that doesn’t pay enough, shopping for things we don’t need and sticking to a set of social and sexual rules that turn out, once you plough through the layers of trash and adverts, to be as rigid as ever.
As for young men, they were told they lived in a brave new world of economic and sexual opportunity, and if they felt angry or afraid, if they felt constrained or bewildered by contradictory expectations, by the pressure to act masculine, make money, demonstrate dominance and fuck a lot of pretty women while remaining a decent human being, then their distress was the fault of women and minorities. It was these grasping women, these homosexuals and people of colour who had taken away the power and satisfaction that was once their birthright as men. We were taught, all of us, that if we were dissatisfied, it was our fault, or the fault of those closest to us. We were built wrong, somehow. We had failed to adjust. If we showed any sort of distress, we probably needed to be medicated or incarcerated, depending on our social status. There are supposed to be no structural problems, just individual maladaption.
"

- Mainstream feminism is tepid and cowardly: Work, sex, race, “having it all” and true liberation - Salon.com (via becauseiamawoman)

(via becauseiamawoman-deactivated202)

8 years ago / 4,064 notes

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leanin:

Today, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) launched Lean In Military Circles across all branches and with DoD civilian personnel. (Join the chapter: leanin.org/military)
The military is the largest employer in the United States and it has a huge role to play in getting us to an equal world. Circles have already been forming organically in the military, and we’re thrilled that the DoD is expanding a program that empowers women.
An enormous thank you to Secretary Carter, the DoD, and to every woman who serves in uniform to protect our nation. ‪#‎LeanIn‬

8 years ago / 13 notes