This blog is about the intersection of wife, mother, and employee. It is about knowing how to set boundaries, finding balance, enjoying new technology and the definition of success.
Catching up on my reading (and blogging) I ran across an article that talks about a woman’s choice to work. The opinion blog by Judith Warner titled “Domestic Disturbances” dispels the ‘choice myth‘. Her ability to succinctly put into words that which most women have trouble articulating is commendable. Priorities are not only a moral dilemma, but a financial one. The ideal mix of working and family time is different for everyone, but providing the best for our families is no longer the pure burden of one spouse.
The Working Mother Experience book drew upon many people’s experiences from many locations, religions, and corporate levels. Most of the authors did not get to read any stories except for their own until after publication earlier this year. Yet, the themes of boundaries, sacrifice, and wanting a better life for our children are ubiquitous. All of the stories in this book are from EMC employees, but since the book was published we have been exposed to the reaction and comments of outside consumers and the same holds true.
We all strive to strike the right balance. We hope we are creating harmonious households while following our own personal cocktail of choices. The Mommy Wars (stay at home moms vs working moms) are fueled by inherently imperfect people, making imperfect choices, in an imperfect world desperate to validate their own decisions or beliefs as the right ones.
The article ends with the statement “When mothers can choose, they choose self-empowerment. Because they know that there is no true difference between their advancement and the advancement of their children. Why do we so enduringly deny them the dignity of choice?” …Amen
**updating to add link to Downtown Women’s Club. Apparently this post moved Diane K Danielson as much as it moved me. Her post on the subject is fantastic and worth a read.
Why do I work at EMC? It has been a funny few days watching the Data Domain offer ping pong like a fabulous house in a seller’s market (remember those?). I loved the idea of writing a post about why I work at EMC and the answers will not surprise anyone who is a regular reader of either of my blogs. I have been talking about my choice to work at EMC for as long as I have had a blog.
I work at EMC because EMC works for me.
Sounds paradoxical, but it is true.
In 2001 I made a decision to sell my business because I wanted to spend more time in technology and solving customer problems than the administration of a small business.
I am an individual contributor at EMC. Yet, when I approached an EVP about an idea to create a book (The Working Mother Experience) celebrating EMC working mothers that would connect our EMC women and show that EMC understands the important role of women, and specifically working mothers, in the workforce around the globe. He responded that it was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the unique, daily challenges working mothers face and the ways in which they overcome obstacles so that they can thrive in our company. He made a commitment on the spot to sponsor the project. For those of you who are counting the ladder rungs this person is my boss’s, boss’s, boss’s, boss! Did I mention the book is FREE to ANYONE? A good idea is embraced as a good idea and it does not have to come from a peer to be considered a good idea.
This type of thing does not happen just anywhere. Reason #1 why EMC is for me.
EMC does not govern by rules, but by guidelines. Sounds cloudy and it is, but it allows EMC to be tens of thousands of people AND agile like a startup. Most of what you learn in one job is transferable to different departments so you can change jobs without switching companies. If you don’t happen to click with one manager that is fine, pick one of the other 10,000, but you don’t have to leave your friends behind. Personally, I have never switched departments, but I have worked on no less than 7 major unrelated projects. It is always something new.
Always something new. Reason #2 why EMC is for me.
When I interviewed at EMC I feared storage would be boring, now I can’t imagine what I was thinking. The terrible truth about me is that I bore easily and live to be needed and inspired. Statistically speaking, there are an abnormal number of inspiring people at EMC. I have the honor of working in the flagship product line Symmetrix. My great joy is that I work with the most inspiring, infuriating, flexible, stubborn, opinionated, clever, disciplined, compassionate, people in the world.
I have personal heroes at EMC, people who challenge me that I want to emulate in one way or another. EVP of the TCE and Storage Division, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, VP in CS, a handful of brilliant engineers, two HR people, a few bloggers, and Tom the Security guard who EVERY DAY smiles at me, calls me by name and wishes me well – just to name just a few.
Heroes and satisfying work. Reasons #3 why EMC is for me.
I don’t think the high tech life is for everyone. Someone asked me once WHY EMC? (honestly because they were trying to get me to come work for them) and I said because everywhere else is just jumping rope and EMC is Double Dutch. Being really smart and creative is what you need to get into the game. If you want to distinguish yourself you have to go beyond that. You have to be focused on quality, customers, your community and be interested in being part of something bigger than yourself to make it work here. That is our culture and I am proud of it.
Are there things that I don’t like about EMC. Absolutely. There are also things about my husband that drive me crazy, but I still love him and would make no other choice.
I could go on with more reasons about why I have stayed at EMC, but I think the important stuff has been said. I work at EMC because EMC (culture) works for me.
***Edited to add two YouTube Videos that were taken months ago. They ended up being posted today and I think they are relevant to this note. Enjoy!
As a Product Manager talking to customers accounts for a lot of the time I invest in my job. Thankfully, it is also one of my favorite parts of my job. In fact, it is second only to mentally sparring with the incredibly smart people I get the honor to call colleagues. However, it is the customers who renew my energy around my work. They bring their work struggles to the table and we try to find solutions. I confess that I love to help people. When someone tells me I have made their day or that I have made their lives easier it puts an extra spring in my step. If I was not so squeamish, I think I would have loved to do something in a medical profession. In reality, I still close my eyes when I get a flu shot so I do not have to look at the needle. It is a good thing I found a different vocation. Wouldn’t you agree?
A few days ago, in our corporate headquarters, an executive that I greatly admire said “business is people, people is business, you can’t separate the two”. It was a jump start to my batteries. When I was a freshman in college, one of my business professors said a similar thing. It made me think “I made the right choice in major” then and still is true today.
So if you like people, business, problems to solve, and smart colleagues then where on Earth would you rather be than at your company’s annual technical conference? Double Word Score for being able to be deemed smart enough to be a featured speaker in two sessions. Yes, being at EMC World with 7000 customers, partners, and colleagues is exactly where I want to be. It is what I have worked toward in my quest to be a Consulting Product Manager. I present, meet with customers in sessions, take questions on the trade show floor and get to listen to some really smart people give key note addresses. There is even a blogger lounge to satisfy all my social media habits. What is not to love?
As much as this is the epicenter of what I love to do and where I want to be, it is still bittersweet. This blog is about the intersection of career, wife and mother. I miss my family when I travel. Did I mention that EMC World is in Orlando, FL? Long, long way from home. All of those cool customer meetings and sessions are happening at the few moments in the day that I could “talk” with my son. Since I arrived on Sunday I have probably only heard his voice on the phone for a total of 3 minutes. That is a lot less time than I am used to! Many of my blog posts here and on www.WorkingMotherExperience.com talk about how much I love being a mom. In fact, I was telling someone at the conference just yesterday how much my son makes me feel like a superhero. Remember above how I said how much I love to help people? Kissing a bruised knee or cuddling a startled toddler after a popped balloon is the ultimate in feeling useful. His birthday is this week and I am in Florida. He is young enough not to know or care. His party will be postponed until after I return, but *I* know it is his birthday and it is hard.
In conclusion, I guess the point of this blog is that even when we have it all, we can’t have it all at the same moment. I have had and will continue to have a phenomenal time here at EMC World. Especially on Wednesday AM where we are having a breakfast panel session with customers and partners on the Working Mother Experience book. Yet, I will also have pangs of momentary sadness where I will think of my son and very much look forward to a BIG hug when I get home.
I am thrilled about all the attention that the working mothers at my company have received as a result of the Working Mother Experience book project. Today I found out that I was highlighted in an article on EMC.COM.
The article only mentions the book project in passing, but does an excellent job of detailing the environment working Mother’s need. Of course, they also mention the book.
The pride I feel about the book project and the women who participated lights me up every day.
Being a parent is hard work for mothers and fathers. I can only tell the story I know, the working mother.
In honor of Mother’s Day weekend, I wanted to wish all mothers, Happy Mothers Day!
What an amazing, energy filled day! We officially launched the Working Mother Experience book and in our employee cafe and it was a wonderful event. Much like my experience of the book. It was better than I could have imagined. I was honored to kickoff the event. I was able to share the story of how the the book came about to a room of about 150 people enjoying color coordinated cupcakes. The event gave me a brief forum to talk about how important this project was to me and how much I love being a working mom. Most importantly I was able to thank the people ( from the contributors themselves and the extended team who helped us create something really special to the employees in distribution who got 3000 copies shipped out and into the right hands. Yes, I said it all and still managed to keep it under 5 minutes.
My open was followed by Frank Hauck, EVP of Global Marketing and Customer Quality who spoke to the crowd about how he loved reading the book. He spoke to the fact that the stories resonated with the same themes internationally. People want to be good at their jobs, and good members of their families and communities.
ML Krakuer, new executive co-sponsor for EMC’s Women’s Leadership Forum and Sr. VP for Delivery, spoke about how the book touched her and made reinforced her choice to come to work at EMC. She is relatively new to EMC, but says that she has seen we have great people and looks forward to getting to know us better. A working mother herself, she said that the book was very real and relevant to her.
The last, but not least, formal speaker was our EVP of HR, Jack Mollen. Jack had the crowd chuckling about the experiences he has had as a working dad. He talked about the importance of family as part of the EMC culture worldwide. The crowd seemed to nod in understanding when he spoke about the caliber of employees we have at EMC and how he is proud of our accomplishments as a company.
It was outstanding to see so many thought leaders at EMC attend the event. Here are some of the names of those who attended that have an external presence so that can get to know them better. (I highly recommend it). Barry Burke, Polly Pearson, Gina Minks, Steve Todd, and David Spencer.
Overall, the event was the perfect culmination of the connections we have built during this book process. Stacey Yeoman, Project Coordinator wrote a whole piece about those connections at the open of the book. It is definitely worth reading (PDF link is in upper right hand corner of this blog).
Thank you to all who participated in the book’s completion. From the reactions today at the book’s unveiling, it is clear we created something very special!
Tomorrow is a day I have been waiting for a long time. In September of 2007 I asked my mentor at EMC to fund a book project. The process has been called “request and a yes” for it was seconds from the asking to the book project being underway. The process of creating the book, The Working Mother Experience, was a large project. The process of collecting the stories, translations from our international participants, legal, creative, and overall making the book the amazing glossy 250 page jewel that it is took time and patience. Patience is not something I am known for, by the way.
I am a product manager, and a very detail oriented person (just read my story on page 226 to find out just how far my penchant for organization goes)! I am familiar with product development life-cycles of 18 months or greater when working on my day job. I walked into this project scoping it more like a service pack than a revolutionary, paradigm shifting product launch. We at EMC know a lot about revolutionary products. I had no idea how far the effects of this book would be felt.
The official launch is tomorrow as I said, but with any book project comes advanced copies and reviews. I am touched, moved, and inspired to have been the catalyst for this project. As with anything worth doing well, it took a team of incredible people with varied skillsets to bring this project together. Each step in the process I learned something new. I learned about areas of the business I knew nothing about – like what the communications department does. I met the fabulous creative minds behind our ad campaigns and found out we have many published authors in the ranks of EMC. (Note to self – look into that for a future blog post!!)
What impacted me the most, was hearing how the “page turned round the world” has connected not only the EMC women which was an expected outcome, but how it is impacting areas of EMC I never expected. Men I don’t know are stopping me in the hallways to talk about how much their wives, mothers, daughters have loved the book. Moreover, how much THEY loved it. Managers have thanked me for helping them understand the lives of their employees and women who are not yet mothers at EMC have thanked me for paving the way for them.
I am certain that there will be more to write about after the launch and you will hear about my journey from the “request to yes” to the 6 degrees of separation that will form for all of the employees who participated in this book. Hats off to every one of them – you are heros.
Today was the day I had been waiting for…and never knew it. I love being a Mother. If I need to smile all I need to do is think of my son or look at a few pictures and my day is instantly lifted. I obsess, like many mothers, over what he eats, how much he sleeps, his manners, his clothes, etc. I just want him to feel happy and loved 24×7. I know that is an impossible goal, but it is something to strive for. I often think that I am doing things differently than how I was brought up. Sometimes I think what I am doing is better, sometimes I think it is worse.
My Mother came to visit for a playdate with my son. I was excited to have a day to catch up on laundry, project work from my day job, groceries etc without having my son feel neglected. It was a tremendous gift, but not the best one I received. Toward the end of the day my Mother told me that I was a good Mother. That my little guy is just so bright and happy I must be doing things right. I wanted to cry. I had no idea how much I wanted her approval until I had it.
It is common for working mothers, including this working mother, to carry the guilt of all those hours and con calls around like an albatros. Today my Mother told me that I was a good Mother and the guilt, at least temporarily, has evaporated. My Mother’s unprompted praise is the greatest gift she could give.
She probably has no idea how much it meant to me to hear it, nor how well I will sleep tonight having heard it!!
the tough turn to other Moms. I have had a little extra stress lately. My job, the husband’s job and some day care challenges. When the pressure builds I find that just talking to other working Moms is my relief valve. Hearing that we are all in this craziness together renews my commitment to making life work. I good venting session with another working Mom (even my own) can set me to rights. A hot stone massage would bed the icing on the cake, but who has time?
-Your call will be answered in the order it was received
-Line (queue) starts here (insert arrow)
-Please wait four to six weeks for your form to be processed.
and my absolute favorite, waiting rooms; rooms specifically designed to house the 4 people that a professional (doctor, photographer, dentist, ophthalmologist) all booked for the same 10:45am appointment.
I have started a “waiting room material” bag in my car for those times that I find myself in a situation that will cause me to be on time, but I am clear that is a one way restriction. I exempt ObGYNs from this discussion. I would want everyone to be as wonderful as my ObGYN was with me when I was pregnant. He was patient with my questions and I always felt he was focused when I was in the room. On the rare occasion he is running late in his office, I give him a pass. Pay it forward as it were.
Patience in general is something I need to work on and I genuinely believe that my two year old was sent here to teach me that lesson. Patience is a muscle that is getting stronger, but I am sore from the training!
In the mean time, I will continue to reward professionals who respect the time of their clients and shun those who don’t. What do you do to pass “waiting time”?
The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions.
Content published here is not read or approved in advance by EMC and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of EMC.
The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions.
Content published here is not read or approved in advance by EMC and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of EMC.
