RUTHERFORD Cable Blog



  • 02 Jun 2016 10:25 AM | Anonymous member

    Joyce E. Russell | The Washington Post | Nov 30, 2014

    Don’t minimize the importance of celebrating small wins with the entire team at work. It is more important than you think. You might believe it is too costly or time-consuming to get your team together to celebrate a recent deal or that award your team won. But, rest assured, it might prove even more costly if you don’t take the time to celebrate.

    As a leader, you have to understand how important recognition — especially shared recognition — is to you and your employees.

    Click here to continue reading


  • 02 May 2016 1:37 PM | Anonymous member

    Susan Pearse | HuffPost Business | April 22, 2016

    When I accepted my first leadership position I was fresh out of university. It involved the challenge of managing a team that was geographically dispersed throughout the State. It was a big job but at the time it didn’t phase me. I had studied human resource management and leadership at university and naively believed it would give me all the answers. But it didn’t. I was suddenly responsible for staff that were three times my age, who didn’t like bosses and had all types of personality quirks. In fact, all came with their challenges. Challenges I hadn’t read about in my text books. 

    Click here to continue reading

  • 12 Apr 2016 7:25 PM | Anonymous


    Juggling Passion with Adulthood...by Watching Other People

    by Knight Stivender

    April 12, 2016 RUTHERFORD Cable Breakfast Meeting

    Special Meeting Honoring the 2016 ATHENA Young Professionals


    RutherfordCABLE.pdf

  • 22 Mar 2016 9:55 AM | Anonymous member

    From The NonProfit Times | May 28, 2015

    The line between “work” and “personal life” has become really blurred for most American workers. Due to evolving technology and an unforgiving economy, we’re under constant pressure to perform.

    The result?

    Click here to continue reading


  • 24 Feb 2016 5:58 AM | Anonymous member

    From Huff Post: What's Working Small Business | by Valerie Plame Wilson | Feb 18, 2016

    Over the years, from serving in the CIA to sitting on non-profit boards, I have observed first-hand what the addition of even one woman to a meeting or to a decision-making body can do. Put simply, in very many instances, group dynamics improve markedly. Competition gives way to cooperation. A set of individuals, each vying for attention and dominance, becomes a genuinely collaborative team with shared objectives and mutual trust. And that trust powers the better performance of the group.

    Click here to continue reading

  • 02 Feb 2016 9:34 AM | Anonymous member

    by Karen Susman of Karen Susman and Associates

    Somehow we got the notion that we should have, could have and must have life balance. I know. I’ve been speaking on the topic for 25 years. I’ve worn multiple hats over the years. Wife, mom, daughter, sister, significant other, dog owner, business owner, employee, coach, student, volunteer, friend and more. And, each hat has sub-hats.

    The long-term hats have changed job descriptions. My children are grown. But, I’m still their mom. I don’t have the physical workload associated with motherhood, but the emotional workload seems to be permanent. Maybe that’s just my choice.

    Sometimes roles or hats get eliminated. Sometimes you get a new hat placed on your head, not like a crown, but more like an anvil dropped from a twenty-story building. That’s happened to me. I’ve become a caregiver. It’s sad. It’s draining. It’s not going away. Yet I still have my other hats.

    So how does one – no – how do I maintain some semblance of balance? My message to life balance audiences has been that you can never be perfectly in balance. After all, while you’re at work, the dog might be shredding your couch. While you’re taking Junior to the park, the sky could be falling at work, your aging parent falls, and your friend gets dumped and wants to cry on your already hunched shoulder. What I’ve told my audiences and believe strongly in is that you can be serially balanced. The secret is to be fully present wherever you are. Whatever hat you’ve donned, pull it down tightly so you’re really wearing it. When you work, work. When you play, play.

    Of course there is more to life balance. Are you wearing too many hats at once? Do you have backup in place? Are you employing good time and activity management procedures? Can you say, “No?” Most importantly, are you taking care of your physical and mental health? You can’t give what you don’t have.

    When my new caretaking hat got pulled down snugly around my ears and over my eyes, I sunk into a funk. I don’t drink or smoke but I can go blotto on a sleeve of Oreos. I’ve been known to canoodle with Ben & Jerry. “Chunky Monkey” is my new nickname.

    I’m not good at compartmentalizing. My sense of humor, which is how I’ve always handled every trauma, vanished. My new caretaker role was taking over and crowding out all my other roles.  I realized I was losing myself. I was becoming Karen the Karetaker. I had to set boundaries with myself.  Before boundaries I thought perhaps I should stop working, exercising, having lunch with friends, eating healthfully, laughing and sleeping. Of course this doesn’t make sense and no one was asking me to wear only one hat and to put the others in the Goodwill give away box.

    Now I realize that I can laugh and be silly while wearing my caretaker hat. I can go to a play, have lunch with a friend, work, hang out in the bookstore, go for coffee, walk the pups, make a hearty soup and not neglect my new hat. I just take that heavy hat off temporarily or maybe just push it back on my brow.

    In the 1970’s, the topic of Life Balance morphed into “Work-Life Balance.” This always sounded to me like there was Work or there was Life. One thing that became very clear to me while wearing my new caretaker hat was how important my work; my clients and my audiences are to me. My work is a vital part of my life. The creativity, the learning, the challenge, the people are energizing. This week alone I’m coaching a client on how to become a high-paid speaker. Then I’m developing and delivering a webinar on Elevator Speeches. Another client wants me to help her enrich her voice so she sounds more authoritative. My brain cells are chirping.

    One final thought, you don’t have to wear your hats alone. It’s OK to ask for help. When help is offered, say, “Yes.” My wonderful sister-in-law wanted to bring me dinner last night to lighten my load. My first response was to tell her that it wasn’t necessary. I’ve got food in the refrigerator. I’m fine. We went back and forth. She kept offering and I kept declining. She finally said, “Just say ‘Yes.’ “ I did. She felt good. I felt grateful.

    Life balance? Forget about it. Be present. Have backup. Set boundaries. Ask for help.
    Take care of yourself.

    Time to walk the dogs. No cell phone. Just walk the dogs.

    Karen Susman and Associates
    Be at ease communicating with humans!
    PO Box 371500 --> Denver, CO 80237
    888-678-8818 --> karen@karensusman.com --> www.karensusman.com


  • 06 Jan 2016 2:11 PM | Anonymous member
    by Paulina Marinova  |  Fortune  |  December 26, 2015

    They drop some of the best leadership advice of the year.

    What would you say to the world after a decade of silence? What would you design if you could print out your clothes? What kind of leader would you be if you forgot everything you ever knew about leadership?

    Click here to look at Fortune's favorites from 2015.  


  • 20 Nov 2015 9:50 AM | Anonymous member

    From HuffPost Business | October 15, 2015

    by Mirian Linderman, leadership coach, writer, speaker

    The penny drops only when it is good and ready. The moment of insight that makes you wonder how you could ever have missed something so obvious comes in its sweet, mischievous time.

    Click here to continue reading the article

  • 28 Oct 2015 7:10 AM | Anonymous member

    Our November Breakfast Meeting features best-selling author Ellen Rogin. Read the article below for a preview into Rogin's work and perhaps even begin thinking about your 2016 financial resolution.

    Investment Strategies for Resolution Breakers 
    New York Times | Jan 9, 2015
    by Paul Brown

    The problem with most New Year's resolutions is that they aren't any fun. Sure, many of us should eat less - and healthier. And of course, more exercise would be a good thing. But actually doing these things can be hard.

    It's no different with financial resolutions. Spending less and saving more is a wonderful concept. But it would be much more enjoyable to take a big vacation in Bora Bora - and to lie on a hammock and consume high-calorie food and drink once we're there.

    Click hear to continue reading the article.



  • 14 Oct 2015 7:50 AM | Anonymous member

    Dr. Susan Williams, Professor Emerita of Management at the Jack D. Massey Graduate School of Business, Belmont University, was the keynote speaker for October's breakfast meeting. Dr. Williams engaging and informative presentation highlighted negotiation methods we can all put to use immediately.

    Below are several resources Dr. Williams recommends for those wanting to learn more about the skill and practice of negotiation. Feel free to follow Dr. Williams on LinkedIn, just search for Susan Williams at Belmont.

    Dr. Williams' most recommended book is Getting to the Yes by Fisher and Patton followed by The Truth About Negotiations by Thompson.

    Negotiation Reading List

    • Bargaining for Advantage by Shell, G. Richard
    • The Manager as Negotiator by Lax, David & Sebenius, James
    • Friendly Persuasion by Woolf, Bob
    • Influence by Cialdini, Robert
    • Women Don’t Ask by Babcock, Linda and Laschever, Sarah
    • The Truth About Negotiations by Thompson, Leigh
    • you Can Negotiate Anything by Cohen, Herb
    • Getting to Yes by Fisher, Roger & Ury, Bill
    • Negotiate This! by Cohen, Herb
    • The Art and Science of Negotiation by Raiffa, Howard
    • On Negotiating by McCormick, Mark
    • Legal Negotiating by Williams, Gerald & Craver, Charles
    • Difficult Conversations by Stone, Patton & Heen

    Dr. Williams also recommended the YouTube video It's Not About the Nail.

    Courtesy of Allison Oslund