Sass & Bide – Madame Clicquot would be proud!…

Sass & Bide’s Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton are the Australian winners of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award 2010.

The award commemorates Madame Clicquot, who was arguably the first woman entrepreneur. Janet Holmes à Court, a previous winner of the Award and chair of the Australian judging panel, said: “Madame Clicquot was an innovator with global ambitions; creative, brave, tenacious, unconventional and ahead of her time.” said Janet Holmes à Court. “These are qualities the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award recognises and celebrates, and which Sarah-Jane and Heidi possess in abundance.”

The Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award began in France in 1972 to commemorate Madame Clicquot, and to honour women who possess her qualities of vision, innovation, entrepreneurial drive, leadership, individuality and tenacity.
read on…

aCE talentNET Professional Edge Feb2010

The latest from the aCE talentNET Professional Edge…
Enjoy!

Congratulations to those of you that have successfully completed Feb Fast… and for those of you a bit more like me (i.e. totally committed to abstaining from alcohol and bad food during the week but with waning resolve during the weekend) well done for giving it a go!!! Fortunately it was a short month, made even shorter by promising pipeline activity. It seems that my predictions made at the beginning of the year are indeed holding true, with much evidence of a general upturn in recruitment activity for HR and L&D teams. Whilst a lot of activity is in Sydney, in my experience there is only a short time lag before the same activity hits the Melbourne…. so be ready!

There is also increasing evidence that more budget is being directed to leadership development. So with this in mind, it is timely to direct you to a recent article headed ‘Dirty Words’ by Jay Cross in the Chief Learning Magazine. Needless to say the article title caught my eye. But so too did it’s content. It is always a good heads up to us professionals to be reminded about how our lingo and jargon can be construed by weary executive teams. Jay considers that typical words and phrases used ad nauseum can have a negative impact on those very people we need to support these important initiatives. Read this article to find out why we should stay away from using such words as learning, learner, social learning, knowledge management, informal learning, ROI and more. You may not entirely agree but the overall sentiment of the article is indeed food for thought.

All the best for March-Madness!
Deirdre
continue…

Having it all but missing out on so much…

A thought provoking gem from Emma Alberici
this is only a snippet so be sure to read on

…Contrary to popular opinion, when a mother works she does have it all … all the burdens of home that is. This includes the burden of guilt about the lack of time she has to devote to her children. This is made worse by the constant research papers that must surely be designed to exacerbate that guilt. Recently there have been a spate of studies showing that the children of working mothers are overweight, unhealthy, unhappy, watch too much television etc. Where are the fathers in all this?…

…Many women are enablers. Equality must start at home if it’s to be achieved in the workplace. If men aren’t demanding flexibility at the office, the women who work alongside them won’t get it either and it shouldn’t then be a surprise that women will continue to feel frustrated by a society that expects so much of them and so much less of their spouse…continue

common sense….

I’m not sure where this actually came from, but it speaks for itself really…

An Obituary printed in the London Times* – Interesting and sadly rather true.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

– Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
– Why the early bird gets the worm;
– Life isn’t always fair;
– Maybe it was my fault;
– The laws might actually be there for a reason.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

why ‘mother’ is a verb….

why we love our mothers (thank you Denise den-Bakker)…

Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, ‘I’m tired, and it’s getting late. I think I’ll go to bed’.

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day’s lunches. Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning. She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button. She picked up the game pieces left on the table, and put the phone back on the charger. She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk, wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.
She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.

Mom then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails…
Dad called out, ‘I thought you were going to bed…’
‘I’m on my way,’ she said.

She put some water into the dog’s dish then made sure the doors were locked and the patio light was on.

She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and TV’s, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.

In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers, and visualized the accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. ‘I’m going to bed’
And he did. without another thought.

Anything extraordinary here? Wonder why women live longer…?
Cause we are made for the long haul….(we can’t die to soon anyway, we still have things to do!)

To all the mothers reading, I salute you!

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