Welcome Home to Ann Arbor and the Ross School of Business

The Women’s Initiative and the Michigan Business Women would like to welcome you back for fall 2008. You will find a host of programs and events that are sure to expand your intangible skills, keep you intrigued and multiply your network of incredible people.

Additionally, when you come to this web site to learn about and register for the programs/events - please take note of the SmartBrief. SmartBrief is updated bi-monthly with the latest information published for and about women in business in newspapers and magazines across the nation. It allows you to update at a glance what else is going on in business.  If you find the synopsis of the article interesting, click through to read the full article.   We are always looking for new ways to assist you and save you time.

Enjoy the fall and get involved with the Michigan Business Women and Women’s Initiative.

-Mary

Women's Initiative Smart Brief News
                    

Women in the News

Economy reorders Forbes' list of most powerful women
Forbes' ranking of the world's 100 most powerful women is topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds the spot for the third consecutive year. Several notable women executives lost their lofty positions in the economic turmoil of the past year, but newly listed members include Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, Sunoco's new chief; Gail Kelly, head of Australia's Westpac; and Jane Mendillo, who is now in charge of Harvard University's $35 billion endowment.
The Sydney Morning Herald (9/2) Full Article

Management and Leadership

Create a wellness program for next to nothing
Workplace wellness programs can give you a better ROI than disease-management programs -- every $1 you invest can return $3 in three to five years, says a health education specialist. You can hire an outside firm to design a program or get loads of inexpensive ideas from various Web sites. Just remember that it will need support from the top execs to be successful.
New Hampshire Business Review (8/29) Full Article

There are many steps before first face-to-face interview
Smaller organizations can benefit from a well-planned strategy when they are hiring. A clear, accurate job description helps, as does having an idea of whom or what you are looking for. Then, careful phone screening can help you determine which candidates to follow up with.
Financial Post (Canada) (8/25) Full Article

Marketplace

Women at midlife usually have entrepreneurial skills
At midlife, women have amassed practical skills that can be applied to starting a business, Gladys Edmunds writes in USA TODAY. Devotion and commitment often are traits that women who have raised a family or gone through a divorce have that can help them as an entrepreneur.
USA TODAY (8/20)  Full Article

U.N. report calls Britain to task for gender gap
A new report from the United Nations calls on Great Britain to remedy the gender gap for women in positions of power and for women's pay. Only one in five members of the House of Commons and House of Lords is a woman, and the average salary for women in the U.K. is about 83% of what men earn, according to the report.
Telegraph (London) (9/2)  Full Article

Best Practices

Active listening can advance woman's business
Taking a genuine interest in other people is one way a woman entrepreneur can make herself stand out from the competition, says Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, author of "Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs." Reaching out to someone who is alone at a networking event, listening carefully and caring about what the person is saying will have an impact, Rouda says.
ThisWeek (Worthington, Ohio) (9/3) Full Article

How to succeed in search engine marketing
The main points in Dan and Chip Heath's book, "Made to Stick," can be applied to search engine marketing, Carrie Hill writes in Search Engine Watch. The Heaths use the acronym SUCCES to describe six characteristics of a good "sticky" idea. SUCCES refers to marketing ideas that are simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional stories.
Search Engine Watch (9/2)  Full Article

B-School Basics

Nonprofit helps women make transition into retirement
Retirement can be a major loss for women if they lose their sense of purpose, career, identity and social network, says Charlotte Frank, a former executive with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who co-founded a nonprofit to help working women over 50. The Transition Network helps retiring executives focus on what they want to do in their retirement.
U.S. News & World Report (9/3)  Full Article

Entrepreneurship

Surviving gallery owners do not depend on only selling art
The remaining small art dealers in Fort Worth, Texas, have managed to survive by developing new revenue streams, operating on tight budgets, finding outside funding and operating on the Internet. "Thirty-four years we've done this," said gallery owner William Campbell, president of the Fort Worth Art Dealers Association. "My banker and accountant think I'm crazy."
Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) (9/1)  Full Article