THE LADDER SERIES YEAR 2: Raise Your Hand

Every year I look forward to The Wall Street Journal's annual "Women In The Economy" report, a task force of Big Wigs who get together to discuss what's holding women back in filling the C-suites and the board rooms. Even though women continue to make over 80% of all purchasing decisions, and more women than men are going to grad school, there are only 17 Fortune 500 CEOs--an improvement from last year by 5 women--but still pretty pathetic ladies and gents. Here's a statistic that brings tears to SL's eyes: McKinsey & Co. research says "companies are still bleeding female talent at an alarming rate. Women land 53% of entry level jobs and make it to the belly of the pipeline in large numbers. But then, female presence falls off a cliff to 35% at the director level, 24% among senior vice presidents, and 19% in the C-suite." Something is wrong with this picture. Over the next couple of blogs, yours truly will slip off her stilettos, and slip on her sexy spexy reading glasses and write about what's going on here. For starters, we'll talk about how women need to give themselves bragging rights. Men have no problem telling the boss how great they are, what a fine job they did on that big sale, and why they should be first in line to snag that high profile project or coveted promotion. Women? They don't like to boast about their accomplishments after all, didn't mom tell you it wasn't nice to talk about yourself on the playground? Stop right there. Ladies, raise your hand, and raise it early in the game. Keep you and your accomplishments front and center. That's the advice not just men on the WSJ WIE Task Force gave, but also the female high rollers like Beth Mooney, CEO of KeyCorp. I love this quote from Laszlo Bock, Senior VP of Google, Inc. "For God's sake, nominate yourself for promotions." If you don't, says Bock, "You're holding yourself back." And why, I ask, would women want to do that? More thoughts on that in the next chapter of "The Ladder Series: Year 2." (If you want to know more, visit www.WSJ.com/WIE.)

THINKING LIKE A MAN

Steve Harvey's hotter than hot new film, "Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man," puts a whole new spin on this Battle of the Sexes thing. Seeing it recently really made SL think about what it means to "think like a man."

Breaking through the glass ceiling meant to "think like a man". Learning how to "assert yourself" without looking like the "B-word" meant to "think like a man". Sucking it up, no tears EVER in the office, no PTO with excuses like my kid is sick,  all meant to "think like a man."

After all, wasn't the whole point to be thought of as "one of the boys" around the conference table or in the board room? And ultimately, wasn't the goal to get paid the same as the guy in the next cubicle, and promoted on the same playing field?

Harvey's not talking about that kind of "thinking-- in fact that kind of "thinking" is what he makes a point of saying in the movie is exactly what you DON'T want to do in your personal life if you hope to find the man of your dreams...and not the one of your nightmares!

Though the movie pokes fun at the usual male and female stereotypes, there are some clear messages that her highness and most unrealistic SL heard loud and clear. Men need to feel needed and wanted. The same could be said for women.

Loved the "Lauren" character, with her highpowed COO job, fancy penthouse apartment, Manolos (for sure), sleek silver Benz, her driven style -- the kind that drives guys away. And her "standards" -- unrealistic at best, disasterous in the end. She learned, as hopefully all of us "ceiling shatterers" have or will learn, that it's the heart of the guy, not the heart of his bank account that really matters. Thanks Mr. Harvey for reminding us what really makes a good match. There's no perfect guy, no perfect gal. Amen to that!

Wishing you Spex-tacular success in love!

The Knee'd To Know Diaries: Purple Haze

If there's one thing docs don't want to talk about, it's the truth about pain. But, let's be frank.It's part of the deal if someone cuts into you like a rare steak. Thankfully, through the miracle of science, there are all kinds of ways to put you into a happy pain-free purple haze.

There's the really cool pain pump that drips a pain blocker into your screaming nerves from an angel-hair pasta sized tube stuck some 6 inches into your thigh after surgery. Even more fun, you can push a button beside your bed and voila, more pain medicine gets delivered magically to you through one of the several IV's you're hooked to. No chance of OD and Code Blue. It stops sending the meds in plenty of time. And then there are pain pills, a parade of nurses lets you pop round-the-clock every 4 to 6 hours.

SL left her lovely hospital digs 3 days after the cut, armed with her trusty meds, certain to keep that purple haze going.

Wrong. Creating the perfect cocktail of pain killers is no easy task. And SL, as she was so sweetly reminded, wasn't their "normal patient." The only cocktail that might have had a chance of working was a stiff martini, or two, or three, or four, and then the floor! Everyone's bio-chemistry is different. Not everyone fits the list of protocols for post-op. And more is not better when it comes to taking pain killers.. 12 hydrocodone, 5 tramadols, and 5000 mg. of Tylenol Extra Strength, and an Ambien or 2 all within 24 hours is a recipe for disaster, not to mention a serious Purple Haze. Especially if one can't remember what pill you took when, and how many.

Hello? Another lesson here. Don't go pre-op alone, and for God's sake, don't do the post-op alone. Get the post-op pain management info before you go under the knife. Avoid drug interractions by being sure the entire team from surgeon on down get the message--loud and clear from that Wing Man or Mother-Lion Wing Woman.

The bad news, none of the traditional pain meds worked for this not-normal patient. It was trial and error for six weeks. Each cocktail had the reverse affect. Drugs that zonk out "normal" patients, wired SL -- could all those Starbucks be the culprit?

This saga does have a happy ending--12 weeks post-op SL is back in her 4-inch patent leather platforms. A curved thin ribbon of a scar decorates my beloved bionic, cobalt and chromium knee. After a 12-year hiatus, SL can't wait to hit the tennis court, share hiking in the Rockies with her sis's, book that ski trip soon as the snow flies!

Pain killers? Not moi! Buh-Buh. I'll leave Purple Haze to Hendrix's best tune.