By Trish Barber
On March 1st of 2024, Why Women Pivot was released and is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This book was a couple years in the making and inspired, in part, by the latest disappointing stats for women holding senior leadership roles. While I felt I had ultimately achieved many of my professional goals, getting there took some expectation “resetting”. Moving in and out of the workforce after having three children brought about challenges that made comparisons to my male colleagues’ careers seem inappropriate. Social norms and the other roles we women play were also factors in my decisions about what I could take on. Throw in a family crisis and all bets are off.
I started keeping track of the things I wish I knew when navigating my career and raising kids. I also talked with other women who had to juggle. Hindsight made it easier for me to see where my own biases may have held me back at times. But other women helped me see that even those with the greatest credentials faced an uphill battle.
I also made observations after raising a son and two daughters. There were definite differences in our daughters’ confidence levels to when taking on STEM-related endeavors. My volunteer experience with STEM programs helped me see that this was common among girls and potentially devastating for companies needing great tech talent. Women will be a key part of the solutions facing us in politics, the environment and technology.
I do a lot of writing and messaging for clients and decided to prioritize the capture of my own thoughts on these topics. The book celebrates the unique roles that women play in business, families and society but also delivering strategies for balancing ambition with life’s competing priorities. We are becoming more college educated and bigger contributors to family income than ever before. But the hockey stick trajectory that was my experience before having children, wasn’t sustainable once they entered the picture without making tradeoffs that I wasn’t comfortable making. I wanted to capture what reality looks like at each stage of a women’s career so that when reprioritizing becomes necessary, they know it’s normal and that there are many options to consider. Given the complexities of the modern workplace, women who must move in and out of the workforce while raising families need skills that help them stay engaged so penalties aren’t as severe. There are things women can be doing during to make sure they are prepared.
Writing a book is a solitary effort but I’m about to embark on a 4-city book tour called the “Women Embracing Pivots Book Tour“. This tour is a way for me to connect with people about key ideas addressed in Why Women Pivot. I’ll be speaking AND assemble a panel of local women to add their stories and experiences. I look forward to meeting other women who can add to the conversation! Please join us!
