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If you've been anywhere near the news of late, you've probably seen stories about Sheryl Sandberg and her bestselling book, Lean In, which "dissects the roles of working women and shares her three biggest mistakes working women make," says The Huffington Post. Sandberg’s words are important, even in today’s age. The workplace has come a long way to address gender equality, but there are still certain cultural touchstones that perhaps still need to be discussed, debated, and delved into. This is all part of what it means to lean in.
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| Source: Huffington Post |
But what does lean in really mean?
- In a general sense, to lean in is to take time to think, share, and communicate the things you can change in your professional and personal lives so that you have a better chance of achieving your goals.
- In a more specific sense, lean in can amount to many things: achieving the right balance between work and life by starting at home with the right partnership in a spouse or partner; finding the right way to combine success with likeability; sticking up for what you deem you are worth; and many other important lessons.
The "three biggest mistakes working women make" according to Sheryl Sandberg.
- "Not believing in themselves." This is self-explanatory, but it’s something that we all should remind ourselves of. We need to believe in ourselves in order to make any true, genuine, worthwhile effort, whether that it’s in our personal lives or our careers. This is especially true for women, as Sandberg says.
- "Not making their partners real partners." Real partners are those that can be relied upon. Sandberg makes a point of emphasizing that career success is easier to achieve if you have a reliable partner or spouse.
- "Don’t leave before you leave." In other words, don’t look for an exit from your career before you are actually ready to make that decision. An example she uses is when individuals (women or men) don’t fully commit and exit a career prematurely "years before they have children."
What can you do to lean in?
- To address the three biggest mistakes, you should believe in yourself; make your partner a real partner; and don’t give up before you start.
- Don’t be afraid to jump in and get both feet wet. It’s scary, sure. But it can be very rewarding. You just have to be willing to try, and keep trying!
- Communicate your value. Know your worth. Understand it. And fight for it. The more you do that, the more that we’ll succeed in limiting the power of those that want to take a limited, biased view of the world and workforce.
- If you feel like you’re lacking in certain professional skills, be sure to educate yourself. The more tools you have, the better chances you have to flourish. Allied Schools has a variety of career-specific training for your careers in business, real estate, medical, and more.
Want to learn more about lean in? Here are a couple of links to get you started:
So, we’d love to know: how are you applying Sandberg’s concept of leaning in?
If you have any questions about our online career training programs, please give us a call at (800) 501-7686.
Labels: career training, lean in, lean in career, lean in education, lean in oprah, lean in sheryl sandberg, Leaning in, sheryl sandberg
Since it’s Black History Month, and since we are educators, we thought we’d highlight one particular African American hero who made a positive impact on education. This particular individual is Booker T. Washington.
In Washington’s famous 1901 autobiography, Up From Slavery, he described how he felt when he first heard about the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia:
…it seemed to me that it must be the greatest place on earth, and not even Heaven presented more attractions for me at that time than did the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia, about which these men were talking. I resolved at once to go to that school, although I had no idea where it was, or how many miles away, or how I was going to reach it; I remembered only that I was on fire constantly with one ambition, and that was to go to Hampton. This thought was with me day and night (Washington, Up From Slavery, 72).
Washington not only managed to become enrolled at Hampton by walking “about five hundred miles” to get to the school, he also graduated and eventually taught there (Washington 1901, Ch. 3). In 1881, Washington was selected to head a new normal school for African Americans at Tuskegee called the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, wherein he solidified his place as a genuine proponent of learning as a means for success. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, over the next 34 years Washington had established “more than 100 well-equipped buildings, some 1,500 students, a faculty of nearly 200 teaching 38 trades and professions, and an endowment of approximately $2 million.”
He believed so strongly in education that he urged his fellow African Americans to temporarily put aside their civil rights efforts to gain the industrial skills that would afford them economic security and eventual respect among the white community. He spoke about this in his autobiography:
Many white people who had had no contact with the school, and perhaps no sympathy with it, came to us to buy bricks because they found out that ours were good bricks. They discovered that we were supplying a real want in the community. The making of these bricks caused many of the white residents of the neighbourhood (sic) to begin to feel that the education of the Negro was not making him worthless, but that in educating our students we were adding something to the wealth and comfort of the community (Washington, Up From Slavery, 97).
That is so wonderfully stated. Washington had a very clear understanding of the importance, as well as the practical consequences, of education. Through education, they were able to acquire the skills they needed to attain the jobs and build the careers that were in demand at the time. They were able to create wealth, garner respect and exist as the important, contributing individuals they most assuredly were. For this we thank Mr. Booker T. Washington.
With Allied Schools, you can acquire the skills you need for today’s in-demand careers. Learn more about our career-specific, flexible and 100% online real estate programs, medical programs and business programs. Or call us at (888) 501-7686.
Sources:
- Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery: An Autobiography (New York: A.L. Burt, 1901).
- Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s. v. “Booker T. Washington”, accessed February 18, 2013, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/636363/Booker-T-Washington.
- Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. “Tuskegee University”, accessed February 19, 2013, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/610608/Tuskegee-University
Labels: African American education, Black History Month, Booker T. Washington, career training, career training programs, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, vocational training
Read the Blog Post, Take Our Fun Presidents Day Quiz to Earn a $25 Amazon Gift Card!
Did you know that President William Henry Harrison was the only president to attend medical school? Were you aware that President Jimmy Carter dropped out of college twice before earning his degree at USMA West Point? Yep, that’s right. Today, since it’s Presidents Day, we thought we’d make a fun, learning-focused blog post out of it. Plus, earn a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card in the U.S. Presidents Day Quiz and Giveaway! Some of the answers you can find in this blog post. For some you’ll have to do a little digging elsewhere. So, pay attention, and good luck!
Even though the U.S. Department of Education didn't begin operating until 1980, education has always been one of the more important focuses in presidential history. Rewind 15 years and we have the Higher Education Act of 1965, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson as part of his Great Society domestic agenda. The Higher Education Act of 1965 was created “to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education” (Pub. L. No. 89-329). Before that, we have the pivotal Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision, which was a major landmark in the fight for equal rights among races and important for the civil rights movement as a whole.
Education has, and will always be, an essential component in our development. We must learn and progress in order to live, to produce and to succeed—whether we’re learning in school or out of school. Suffice to say that our nation’s presidents, over the course of history, understood this. Not all of them earned college degrees (in fact, a total of nine U.S. presidents did not graduate from college), but all of them understood the value of education and learning as an important part of progress and success.
For instance, Abraham Lincoln, whose formal education consisted of one meager year, was very driven to learn through his own efforts. As described in a NY Times book review of Lincoln’s Virtue: An Ethical Biography by William Lee Miller, Lincoln had “embarked on a quest for learning and self-improvement. He read incessantly, beginning as a youth with the Bible and Shakespeare. During his single term in the House of Representatives, his colleagues considered it humorous that Lincoln spent his spare time poring over books in the Library of Congress.”
FUN PRESIDENTIAL EDUCATION FACTS:
- 7 U.S. presidents have earned law degrees
- President Theodore Roosevelt was mostly homeschooled until he went to Harvard College
- Harvard University (undergraduate) has produced the most presidents (5)
- President Barack Obama is the only president to earn a degree from Columbia University
- Famous writer Nathaniel Hawthorne was a friend to Franklin Pierce, who became the 14th President of the United States
At the other end of the educational spectrum, President Woodrow Wilson earned a PhD in history and political science from Johns Hopkins University. He’s the only president to earn a PhD. In 1902, he became the president of Princeton University, after serving as a professor there.
In between those two presidents, there are countless instances in which education has taken the main stage, whether it is within the personal life of a president, or within their presidential life. In regards to the latter, President John F. Kennedy (Harvard graduate) kicked off his presidency with the “New Frontier,” as he called it. The New Frontier was his plan for the country, which comprised legislation and programs for a more prosperous economy, equal rights for women, and education, which included The Vocational Education Act (1953), The Educational Television Facilities Act (1962), and countless other plans for the benefit of students and teachers across the nation.
Education and learning are simple, plain and simple. As educators, we see the value and the impact of this every single day. No matter where you end up in your career, whether it’s in the White House or elsewhere, find the path that is going to bring you the most challenging, productive and enriching learning experience. If you do this, you’ll find both personal and career happiness and success.
Don’t forget to take the U.S. Presidents Day Quiz and Giveaway for a chance at a $25 Amazon gift card! Oh, and happy Presidents Day!
For more information about the online degree programs at Allied Schools, call us at (888) 501-7686.
Read more »Labels: career training, career training classes, president education, presidents day, presidents day quiz, u.s. presidents
The American economy is hurting and the results are shuttered companies, layoffs and people declaring bankruptcy. And even if you are still working and have been blessed enough to avoid the worst of the recession, you should still consider why more training may help. Attending college or enrolling in a career training program to earn a professional certificate can be a way to stand out in today's job market.
Here are some important reasons to get more career training:
1. Broaden your range -- You may love what you do, but adding another skill to your career possibilities can't hurt.
2. Secure your current job -- Very few people have guaranteed jobs; one way to hold onto your job is to learn a skill that will help your current employer right now.
3. Join a growing industry -- The recession is hitting some industries harder than others. If you're in a field that is hurting, you can train for a job in another career field. The medical field, for example, is still doing well despite the economic downturn.
4. Do something you love -- Maybe you don't care for your current job and have always dreamed of doing something else. Why wait? Enroll in an online course where you can keep your current job and study at night! One day you may be ready to transition.
5. Keep up with the latest technology -- It's possible that your current job may be transformed or all together replaced by automation and computers. If you don't know much about computers, you owe it to yourself to enroll in a course and learn more.
6. Take advantage of future opportunities -- The real estate industry, for example, may be down right now, but it's hard to imagine that it will remain this way for much longer. If you want to work on your own and rely on your sales skills, perhaps a future as a real estate agent is for you -- prepare now for opportunities to come!
This is just a sampling of reasons why you might want to look into career training. Many people avoid going back to school because they fear they'd have to quit their current job. Not so! One important option for working adults is distance education. Learning online or through traditional correspondence is the answer to a self-paced, flexible education. Labels: career training, Online Career Training, online school, self-paced education
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