Working Mother

Archive for August, 2009

Today’s Link: PVC-Free School Supplies Why: The CHEJ compiled this list to empower you to make smarter, healthier shopping choices for a toxic-free future. The guide lists common back-to-school supplies made of or with PVC and suggests safer PVC-free alternatives….
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The New York Times set off a minor tempest in the blogosphere with an interview a week ago with Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, publisher of the fashion magazine Elle. The headline: No Doubts: Women Are Better Managers. You can imagine the reaction.

The article was part of a regular Sunday feature, The Corner Office, in which some exec spills the secrets to their success in a question and answer format. Author Adam Bryant at one point asks Smith to share her observations on men vs women as managers. Her response:

In my experience, female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers. Men love to hear themselves talk. I’m so generalizing. I know I am. But in a couple of places I’ve worked, I would often say, “Call me 15 minutes after the meeting starts and then I’ll come,” because I will have missed all the football. I will have missed all the “what I did on the golf course.” I will miss the four jokes, and I can get into the meeting when it’s starting.

Have to admit, loved the part about coming into the meeting 15 minutes late so she can miss the sports talk and the four jokes.

The interview was on the Times web site’s most-read list for over a week, and garnered more than 300 comments. The paper revisited the issue this past Sunday in its Room For Debate blog, asking several experts about the differences between men and women as managers. Alice Eagly, chairman of the department of social psychology at Northwestern University, warned about overgeneralizing based on gender, but then made this observation:

Women are less “bossy,” probably because people dislike bossy women even more than bossy men. As a result, female managers are more collaborative and democratic than male managers. Second, compared with men, women use a more positive approach by encouraging and urging others rather than a negative approach of scolding and reprimanding them. Third, women attend more to the individuals they work with, by mentoring them and taking their particular situations into account.
Finally, there is the matter of getting the job done efficiently. Most managers, male and female, get their work done in a timely way, but some do not. When you find one of those barely functioning managers — that is, someone who avoids solving problems and just doesn’t get the job done, that person is more likely to be a man than a woman. Why? Perhaps because a woman would be fired or demoted more quickly for poor managing.

Over at the web site for Workforce Management, editor John Hollon laments the whole subject, saying

In my long career, I’ve discovered only one clear truth about men and women as managers. It’s this: You simply can’t make a blanket judgment about the quality of managers by their gender. Anyone who tries to do so is foolish and shortsighted, and perhaps hasn’t worked for enough different kinds of managers—male or female—to figure that out.

So what do you think? Do women make better managers? Or are some of them just too outspoken?

For more reactions, check out The Downtown Women’s Club, the blog by CNN’s Jack Cafferty, Jezebel (which argues that women also make better corporate whistleblowers) and Feministing.

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The Cash for Clunkers program continues to entice American consumers to trade in their gas guzzlers, despite ongoing confusion about rules and rebates.

As BusinessWeek’s David Kiley reports in this video, the No. 1 traded car is Ford’s (F) Ford Explorer, which got around 17 miles per gallon when new in the 1990s. The No. 1 car it is traded for? Ford’s svelte Ford Focus sedan—which gets up to 35 miles per gallon, but is not exactly a big family friendly set of wheels. (I can’t imagine carpooling my son and his friends in it.)

My friends who live in the suburbs cart around their kids in SUVs with trunks that are larger than my friend Mary’s first New York City apartment. (Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but these cars are bigger than plenty of New York City kitchens.) I’m curious whether the Cash for Clunkers program is motivating families in suburbia to dump their ginormous Chevy Suburbans, still billed as the car that “fills the big needs of big families.” (Thus, explaining why they called it Suburban in the first place!)

What about mini-vans? Are families with several kids shedding them for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles? (None of the top 10 cars bought through the Cash for Clunkers program are pick ups or SUVs, incidentally.)

Working Parents: Have you participated in the Cash for Clunkers program? What kind of car did you trade in? And what kind of automobile did you trade it for? Most important, how does it meet your family’s needs?

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Today’s Link: Brain Building Boot Camp (on Nick’s ParentsConnect site) Why: Each weekday in August, an educational expert suggests learning, but FUN, activities for you to play with your kiddos to get them ready for school. Week 1 just started…
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Are you more likely to shop for clothes and other items during tax free holidays?

Given the economy, it seems like tax free holidays are less likely to lure consumers to the mall. For the past five years, shoppers in Massachusetts, for example, have enjoyed a weekend-long holiday from state sales tax every August. But this year, the break is gone due to budget shortfalls. In fact, shoppers will see state sales taxes jump from 5% to 6.2% on August 1.

Lucky shoppers in Georgia, meanwhile, are gearing up for their own tax holiday which exempts taxes on school supplies, clothing and personal computers.

In addition, Mississippi residents are getting a taste of tax free shopping for the first time. They won’t have to pay the usual 7% sales tax on clothing and shoes priced under $100 this weekend. (Accessories, such as backpacks and jewelry don’t qualify for the tax exemption.)

Most tax free holidays are tied to the back-to-school shopping season. In Texas, consumers can stock up clothing on without paying state and local sales taxes on August 21 to August 23.

Of course, cash-strapped tax “evaders” aren’t expected to spend as much on back-to-school items this fall. According to a new survey just released by the National Retail Federation, in conjunction with consumer habits research firm Big Research, spending on school supplies is set to drop this year. The average family with students in grades K-12, the survey states, is expected to spend $548.72 on school merchandise — a decline of 7.7% from 2008.

I live in an geographic area with a lot of, dare I say it?, taxing choices. There is no sales tax in New York City for most clothing items under $100. But if you are buying something more expensive, it’s a smart move to head to New Jersey where there is no sales tax on clothes.

All told, at 16 states will have tax free holidays this year. SmartMoney has created an excellent guide to state tax free holidays with a list of what is exempt.

How much consideration do you give to taxes when you are doing your back-to-school shopping?

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