On Gaps, Gender, and Mitigation

C.O.O. of Facebook, Inc.,  Sheryl Sandberg, spoke in Switzerland, on 1/27/2012 and Laura Berger, of Women in the Boardroom (thank you linkedin.com groups) sent out an invitation to have a conversation around the "ambition gap" on 1/31/2012. I may reply to the Berger invitation later, but while I was engaged listening to Sandberg outline the gap it was her comments on success and likeability as a gender issue that sent me looking for more information. I did not complete a scholarly search, but did find 579,000 results in 4.5 seconds all pointing to conversations and data on how women in leadership roles are not as well liked as male counterparts. One Wellesley University study by Linda L. Carla provides a good reference list at the end of her Chapter 5, if you are of a mind to go exploring.

Now in addition to the gap discussed in Switzerland by Sandberg, Carli has added to my knowledge on types of power my gender may not possess:

1. Legitimate power: Seems one gets by being in social roles with great authority and/or in high status positions.

2. Expert power: Appears one gets this simply by being male and being perceived as having high levels of expertise and competence.

Was also interesting to read about mitigating communication and gender, I may be wrong here and I guess others maybe would like to weigh in on the conversation, but it appears my gender is seen as lacking two kinds of important power and is seen as hedging way too much.

While families are working on raising daughters differently, as Sandberg suggest is one solution, is it possible for organizations to use research to improve things in the workforce for both genders?

Digitally Distinct: About 212 people named Deborah Proctor

Well, it has been awhile, at least 15 months, but who is counting?  Recently, I popped in to look at Denise Felder  on linkedin.com, followed it to her blog and personal web site, while there found her badge, indicating she is 'digitally distinct'.  
I wondered, am I? Went there, turns out I am,  got the the badge, and put in on my eFolio.  I  encourage individuals who are job hunting, developing businesses, and in contact with others who may want to do a search on them to visit executivecareerbrand.com to find out if they are 'distinct', and if they are what kind of 'distinct' they are.

So after a one year stint as an administrator,  I am on a self-funded sabbatical to research, write, blog, network and seek new venues as a professional in education.  I am using pseudo science to guide my sabbatical, see my horoscope from the Star Tribune below:

 "Who you are on the inside will make a certain reality outside of who you come into to being. Be clear about what you are creating. Feel the energy of what you want your future to be and you'll begin to move toward it."  ~Mathis, H. (January 19, 2012) Horoscope for Scorpios

Who I am is an individual with a keen interest in education, technology, areas where technology helps and hinders learning, and an accreditation geek. Also went to look at, the  is this your name web site? It told me that  I am,  Harobed Rotcorp ( My name backwards) also Eborahday Octorpray( My name in pig latin). More importantly, the site let me know that my my personal power animal is an American Eagle Harpy. But ,I digress. So now you, go seek, and find out how digitally distinct you are.  Check out is this your name ? Let me know what you find out and also let me know if you are on a self-funded sabbatical.

Framed Conversation: National Challenges from PSOL 2009

Enjoyed my first time attending and presenting at a Minnesota State College Student Association (MSCSA) Conference on Friday, October 22, 2010.   What an energetic audience! The students were active, engaged, and provided Minnesota Online with theirthoughts on challenges identified by online learners in state and national surveys.

In the conference session I used graphic facilitation to frame a student conversation on challenges connected to online learning. The image on the right is a collage of the images used in the student conversation, the image below is the graphic record of what students had to say.

The MSCSA student conference has an emphasis on building student leadership skills as well as promoting knowledge of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.  The MSCSA "is an association of the Minnesota public two-year college students, which works to ensure accessible, quality, and affordable public higher education while providing students with representation, leadership development, and communication across the state. Students in this organization are representatives on many of our system standing committees.  They take on the job of representing students admirably as the work to on important issues in higher education.

Individuals interested in student leadership may also want to check out the Generation Yes Blog.  This blogs focus is on empowering students with technology and in a recent post provided some information on the topic of ,Student Leadership - Building Authentic 21st Century Skills.



Blog Slacker, but not a total slacker

Have been busy since March.  Not writing or blogging, but have been working on improving my graphic faciliation skills and using them in focused presentations. Two topics over the past few weeks have kept me busy.  One a conversation on perceptions of and pursuing quality in institutions of higher education (in September) and the other on priorities of online students at a student association conference in Bloomington, MN(October, 2010). 

In each conversation issues of quality are key.  Have also been continuing my reads about women's leadership and qualities of our leadership as this topic continues to intrigue me.  Lots of good articles out there, but for tonight share the following thoughts from a  Caliper Study:

About Women's Leadership Qualities


1. Women leaders are more persuasive than their male counterparts.

2. When feeling the sting of rejection, women leaders learn from adversity and carry on with an "I'll show you" attitude.

3. Women leaders demonstrate an inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making.

4. Women leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks.

Overcoming the Stall

It's been a while between posts, but current research on gender, marriage, and a recent report titled The White House Project: Benchmarking Women's Leadership jump started my thinking about all this again and inspired me to submit a presentation proposal to The Chair Academy in Minneapolis, MN March 15-18, 2009.

If you read the The White House Project research and PEW research you will find:

1.Women's leadership research indicating a stall for women leaders in all sectors of the workforce (The White House Project, 2009),
2. Research that indicating women are surpassing men in earnings (PEW, 2010),
3. Gender and leadership research indicating that both men and women make good leaders (PEW 2009).

So, voila paradox. The good thing about paradox is that it gets the brain all fired up and energized (at least it does my brain) and so while the blog stalled for awhile (13 months) I am back at it and through the required paper that is a part of the conference I sort of met a goal posted in 2008.

Any writing that helps the thinking process is good and maybe with the push the conference proceedings and the recent research provides I will get back on track with the paper and webinar thing. Maybe the blog thing too.

George Siemens Needs Help

This is an interesting way to pose research questions and to gather answers. In a blog post in elearnspace Siemens wrote, "I often hear educators talking about “education needs to change” and then he asked people to respond to some questions. I admire George's writing and had the privilege of hearing him speak at the ODCE 2007 . So, I decided to respond to his request and provide my answers to his questions.



1. Does education need to change?

Yes, education needs to change and improve.


2. Why or why not?

Education should not change for changes sake, but should take a look at its history, practice, and all of the educational research that is catalogued and make needed changes. Education is research based, but does not seem to reflect on and use information to improve its monolithic self.

3. If it should change, what should it become? How should education (k-12, higher, or corporate) look like in the future?

Improvement, rather than just change, would mean that education (all) would take on a serious look at practices, policies, and methods and begin the hard work of reinventing itself. Much of what we do in education is based on what has been done in the past and does not appear to be connected to the here and now or to looking at the future.

Are there other Toffler fans out there? In a recent Edutopia article he said, "Shut it down." The idea of starting over is frightening in terms of human capital and the amount of time and money it would take to rebuild, but the fundamentals proposed in Toffler's School of Tomorrow do sound better suited to how we live today.

Here they are copy and paste from Edutopia.org and Alvin.

Toffler's vision for education in the twenty-first century:

• Open twenty-four hours a day
• Customized educational experience
• Kids arrive at different times
• Students begin their formalized schooling at different ages
• Curriculum is integrated across disciplines
• Nonteachers work with teachers
• Teachers alternate working in schools and in business world
• Local businesses have offices in the schools
• Increased number of charter schools

P.S. Edutopia posted a poll asking readers whether education would be better off in four years.

YouTube Video on Innovation

Sharing a video that illustrates innovation and accretion at work.This is a lovely piece of work created by a student at Lewis Clark College on innovation. Information Heyadan provides is that he “specializes in animation, especially the type of explaining concepts quickly with pictures and animated graphics / graphs to convey points.” I'll say.