Don't miss Jaynie Smith on Competitive Advantage on Friday, January 2nd

Jaynie Smith is the author of Creating Competitive Advantage.

She will be our Vignette Speaker on Friday, January 2nd at 4pm.

Take a look at this video interview on ABC of Jaynie where she talked about recession proofing your business.

Recession proofing interview on ABC



Jaynie's credentials include:

• 30,000 plus hours experience consulting CEO’s
• 15 Top Performer Awards for CEO coaching
• Featured in Entrepreneur, Industry Week, Investors Business Daily & Business Strategies Magazine among many other magazines and newspapers
• 20 years experience working with Fortune 500 companies
• Appeared on several TV business shows including ABC World News This Morning & MSNBC
• Selected by TEC/Vistage, an organization of 14,000 CEOs worldwide, as one of the 50 most influential people of their first 50 years
• Her Competitive Advantage proprietary workshop was selected as one of the leading new courses for the 2007 curriculum for the American Management Association
• Selected to deliver Microsoft Office Live Seminars 2007 with speakers such as Michael Gerber, Stephen Covey, Marshall Goldsmith, Jack Canfield & Jim Kouzes
• Guest on Bloomberg Radio, WABC Radio “Brinker Show,” & NPR affiliate WLRN among scores of other radio shows
• Featured in telecast with Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerrilla Marketing Association
• Contributing Business Expert Columnist to Affluent Magazine

Transition Group call on Monday at 4pm ET

For those of you that are in transition, I am holding a special call on Monday, January 5th at 4pm ET.

We will review the model that I talked about last week on the call and will share some survival tips and a new job posting service offered by EGG. As any of you hear of jobs, please send me the information and if it comes through a recruiter, I'll get permission to post the jobs on our site.

Hospitality Jobs - Washington DC area

Spa Director
A luxury boutique hotel southern Maryland just outside Washington DC is hiring a Spa Director. The property has all suites less than 100 rooms. Full service spa. Located on water, so lots of aquatic sports. Part of a worldwide luxury hotel group.

For more information, send your resume to the recruiter, Ron Cribbet:

roncribbet@Aston-Remick.com

If the client is interested, he will share more information directly with you.

Hospitality Jobs - Memphis TN

Sales Manager & Director of Sales (reports to Dir Marketing)
A luxury boutique hotel near Memphis Tennessee. Just finished a $24M renovation of property. Hope to gain Mobil 5 Star status. Less than 100 luxury rooms. Several thousand sq/ft of meeting space.

Reservations Manager
The same hotel as above is hiring a reservations manager.

For more information, send your resume to the recruiter, Ron Cribbet:

roncribbet@Aston-Remick.com

If the client is interested, he will share more information directly with you.

Happy Holidays

2008 The Fitzgerald Year in Pictures

Happy Holidays. Here is the Fitzgerald year in pictures in lieu of our normal holiday letter.




See you next year!

Chicke Fitzgerald

Happy Holidays - NO CALL THIS WEEK

Nancy Widmann was wonderful on Friday. Thanks for those of you who participated. It was our largest call yet! A very nice way to end the year.

You are all very special to me, my gift for 2008.

I hope this finds you winding down for the holidays. My "present" to you is to lift each of you up this holiday season and pray for peace in your hearts and your families and for clarity of vision for those of you who are in transition or unsure about your future or your finances.

Here is my favorite Christmas song. It presents an interesting perspective. Take a little time to ponder the man behind the day.

Blessings,

Chicke Fitzgerald

Don't miss Friday's Call

Nancy has a story to tell. Don't miss it.

Friday 4pm

Dial-in Number: (218) 844-8230 Participant Access Code: 874258#

Nancy is the former CEO of CBS Radio and the author of "I didn't see it coming".

From the calls and emails that I'm getting, I know you need to participate. Please don't be afraid to share your side of this story.

The final chapter of your story is one we can all write together.

It has success written all over it. Let's do something big together.

WOW - What a stat....

"It has been reported that over 70% of new U.S. business start ups
are owned by women. "

I now know how important "Go for No" is!

For those of you who missed yesterday's call with Andrea Waltz, we learned that going for "no" can be really empowering. She encouraged us to have "Go for No" goals - such as getting turned down for funding or trying to sell a given product 20 times. She said that if getting turned down is your goal, it depersonalizes it and actually can make it into a bit of a game that you don't take quite as seriously as if you are going for "yes". The odds are that if you increase the number of times that you are trying, you will get some yes answers along the way.

Another really interesting insight was that we often say no for our customers/prospects without giving them the chance to even react. We talk ourselves out of even trying. That is a NO-NO!!

Get Andrea's book and gain some new courage in your negotiations - both personally and professionally.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Today's Call with Eli Davidson was terrific!

Well ladies, those of you who did not make the call today really missed out. Eli Davidson was very informative and entertaining at the same time. She gave us some great tips on how to manage our relationships.

I won't do it justice by putting the highlights here, but I'll do it anyway:

1. Men and women communicate differently - women talk like we toss salad and men talk like they are laying bricks.
2. Train your man like you train your dog.... ok this one I can't summarize as easily but after Eli was off the call we got great pleasure in imagining training our bosses the same way....
3. Men use about 10k words per day, women 25k. If you have an excess of words and no one to deliver them to, call a girlfriend.......
4. Secret words to use in communication "Happy", "Hero" and "I need" versus "I want"
5. Vitamin "G" (girlfriends) are a very important part of our daily needs. Thankfully we all have EGG that helps us fulfill our weekly requirement.
   

I did tape the session (although I've never quite figured out how to get it from the teleconference company, but can if if someone wants it!). So let me know if you want it. I'll need a credit card to process the $10 fee.

Join us next week for the author of "Go for No". See you then. Have a super weekend.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Why men are never depressed

Jane forwarded this to me. I've tried to find proper attribution, but it seems to be going around as an anonymous post. Hopefully this will shed some light to us ladies out there on why men are never depressed, cause at the end of the day, men are just happier people, right?

• Your last name stays put.
• The garage is all yours.
• Wedding plans take care of themselves.
• Chocolate is just another snack.
• You can be President.
• You can never be pregnant.
• You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
• You can wear NO shirt to a water park.
• Car mechanics tell you the truth.
• The world is your urinal.
• You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
• You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
• Same work, more pay.
• Wrinkles add character.
• People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.
• New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
• One mood all the time.
• Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
• You know stuff about Tanks (Sherman? Tiger? T70?).
• A five-day vacation only requires one suitcase.
• You can open all your own jars.
• Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
• Your underwear is $5.95 for a three-pack.
• You almost never have strap problems in public.
• You are unable to see wrinkles on your clothes.
• Everything on your face stays its original color.
• The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades even.
• You only have to shave your face and neck (or head)
• You can play with toys all your life.
• Your belly usually hides your big hips.
• One wallet and one pair of shoes - one color for all seasons.
• You can wear shorts no matter how your leg looks.
• You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife.
• You have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache.
• You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in just 25 minutes.

Now, no wonder men are more happier !!

December EGG Speakers - DON'T MISS THEM!

We have a terrific lineup for December.

December 5th, join us for Eli Davidson, the author of Funky to Fabulous. Check out her video interview on the importance of Vitamin G (girlfriends). She will be talking about a provocative subject that you won't want to miss.

December 12th, we will have Andrea Waltz, the author of Go for No. Andrea has a coaching practice called Courage Crafters.

December 19th please don't miss Nancy Widmann, the former CEO of CBS Radio and the author of "I didn't see it coming". In this time when many of you are dealing with career uncertainty for your staff and perhaps even for yourselves, please make sure you join us on the Friday before Christmas.


Don't forget that there will be no EGG call today in recognition of the Thanksgiving holiday

Notes on Smart Networking

Thanks to Flo Lugli, who hosted the call on Friday while I was winging my way back from PhoCusWright.

Our special speaker was Liz Lynch, author of Smart Networking.

Here are the highlights from the call:

• We are increasingly living in an information driven society, we can use networks to be filters for us so we don’t need to know everything.
• Only constant is change—if we want to make changes in our jobs, networking can provide support for us. It is like an insurance policy for our career.
• We need to create a plan to network—start with a purpose and approach strategically. What do I want to accomplish, Who can help me and where/how do I connect with them.
• Some thoughts to connect---What do you do?, What brings you to the conference?
• Some thoughts to disengage from a conversation---I enjoyed talking to you, I enjoyed meeting you, before I go can I have your card.
• Don’t hesitate to ask someone if they know someone you want to meet and if they will introduce you, or offer to introduce them to someone that might help them.
• Networking today vs yesterday---5-10 years ago networking was limited to face to face and while still very important, online sites now make connecting with people we’ve never met much easier. These are great tools to be used but still need to understand the fundamentals of building relationships (win/win, trust, etc.)
• The challenge with online networking is deciding where to spend your time and keep from becoming addicted to it.
• Question—how do you make the decision on whether to respond to an online request to connect? Depends upon your philosophy of how to use the sites. Linkedin for one reason, Facebook for another. Connecting with people you may not know allows you to be in the flow of information and can be a resource pool for you. If you want to ensure your request for connection is accepted, don’t use the default message, state why you want to connect.
• Definition of networking—process of building and maintaining genuine supportive relationships with people who you are willing to help and whom are willing to help you
• Smart Networking—way to build relationships—how to begin, how to build and how to do it without a lot of time. Goal is to make it easier and less time consuming
• Need to master the “art of the ask”—choose who to ask and what/how to ask. Make request appropriate for the level of the relationship you have with the person. Ask for something easy, ask for advice on how to solve something and let them offer ways they can help.
• One thing to better networking—put plan together, what am I trying to accomplish, who can help, how to engage with them.

UCLA Study On Friendship Among Women

Chris Bradshaw shared this with me. I am going to see if I can get one of the researchers to be a vignette speaker. I'll let you know!

UCLA Study On Friendship Among Women
An alternative to fight or flight

©2002 Gale Berkowitz

A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are.

By the way, they may do even more.

Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis.

A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research---most of it on men---upside down. Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible, explains Laura Cousin Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study's authors. It's an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by saber-toothed tigers.

Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioral repertoire than just fight or flight; In fact, says Dr. Klein, it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is release as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the fight or flight response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect. This calming response does not occur in men, says Dr. Klein, because testosterone---which men produce in high levels when they're under stress---seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin. Estrogen, she adds, seems to enhance it.

The discovery that women respond to stress differently than men was made in a classic "aha" moment shared by two women scientists who were talking one day in a lab at UCLA. There was this joke that when the women who worked in the lab were stressed, they came in, cleaned the lab, had coffee, and bonded, says Dr. Klein. When the men were stressed, they holed up somewhere on their own. I commented one day to fellow researcher Shelley Taylor that nearly 90% of the stress research is on males. I showed her the data from my lab, and the two of us knew instantly that we were onto something.

The women cleared their schedules and started meeting with one scientist after another from various research specialties. Very quickly, Drs. Klein and Taylor discovered that by not including women in stress research, scientists had made a huge mistake: The fact that women respond to stress differently than men has significant implications for our health.

It may take some time for new studies to reveal all the ways that oxytocin encourages us to care for children and hang out with other women, but the "tend and befriend" notion developed by Drs. Klein and Taylor may explain why women consistently outlive men. Study after study has found that social ties reduce our risk of disease by lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol. There's no doubt, says Dr. Klein, that friends are helping us live longer.
In one study, for example, researchers found that people who had no friends increased their risk of death over a 6-month period. In another study, those who had the most friends over a 9-year period cut their risk of death by more than 60%.

LA Event - A good time was had by all!

Thank you SO much to the 36 women (!!!!) who came to the EGG get together tonight. It was so great. I have so enjoyed getting all of you together to get to know one another better. The calls are great, but there is NO substitute for a hug and sharing a glass or two of wine.

We did some great brainstorming about our winter retreat and the consensus is finding a very large villa and a chef to cook for us! All in say aye!

Stay tuned.

Chicke

EGG Get together in LA at PhoCusWright

For those attending PhoCusWright, please let us know if you will be able to attend our Executive Girlfriend's Group wine hour from 5-630pm (ok.... wine hour and a half!) on Tuesday November 18th in the Solutionz suite at the Renaissance Hotel.

I don't have the number yet, so please make sure to RSVP to me at chicke@solutionz.com so I can put you on the list to call.

How to countermand the Top 10 Time Thieves

We had some very practical advice on today's call from Nicole in her talk on the Top 10 Time Thieves.

1. Set goals - not only professionally but personally
2. Schedule specific time for specific tasks, instead of being at the mercy of others for how you spend your time.
3. Write things down - memorializing what needs to be done gives it "voice" and a much better chance of getting it completed.
4. Don't respond as if everything is an emergency - this conditions others to expect (and later demand) immediate response from you
5. Delegate - and if you don't have anyone to delegate to, get with an accountability partner and walk through with them what you have to do and have them go through the prioritization process with you
6. Watch how you interact with people - if you are busy/driven, others around you will believe they have to act that way as well, but if they aren't like you will eventually shut down and not want to support you. Keep your "tone" in mind when you ask for support
7. Take breaks - when your emotions are up, your intelligence is usually down
8. Schedule time for yourself in INK
9. Give yourself positive input when the negative voices in your head get too loud
10. Ask for HELP (see last week's speaker for this one!)

Don't miss next week's call with author Margie Warrell on the 12 acts of courage. Margie Warrell is an internationally recognized executive and life coach,speaker and author. A mother of four young children, Margie is particularly passionate about helping other women pursue their goals with greater success, fulfillment and balance.

With a background in psychology and business (she formerly worked for BP Oil and KPMG), Margie runs leadership and communication programs with major organizations challenging, empowering people to live and lead with greater clarity, confidence and courage.

Originally from Australia, she is the co-author of "101 Ways to Improve Your Life" with Jack Canfield and John Gray, and author of bestselling "Find Your Courage," a finalist in the 2007 USA Best Book Awards. In spring 2009, Margie will release her third book, "Discover Your Inner Strengths," co-authored with Stephen R. Covey and Ken Blanchard.

Staff cutbacks? Doing more with less? Join us for today's call

Nicole will be speaking to us about the Top 10 Time Thieves and how to regain control of your life.

After a professional career in all aspects of business administration, management, sales, marketing and communications and a variety of physical and mental fitness experiences, Nicole Devlin, MBA, ACC and Certified Empowerment Coach, created Verdandi Consulting in 2006. The brainstorm came from the realization that the lives of many, despite being exactly where they wanted to be professionally or materially, lacked motivation and inspiration.

Please make the time (!) to join us today for this timely topic!

Great call on Friday and some practical help for "self-sufficients"

For those of you that haven't yet made one of the EGG calls, I'd like to encourage you to give us a try.

On Friday, Peggy Collins, the author of HELP is Not a Four-Letter Word, was our vignette speaker. Peggy commented at the end of the call "I don't know when I've enjoyed anything more".

She gave us the following test for whether you suffer from self-sufficiency and are heading rapidly on the road to burnout:

• Can't ask for help
• Do everything yourself, because no one can do it better
• Can't delegate
• Want (and need) to be in control of everything
• Can help others but can't ask the favor to be returned
• Define ourselves by our accomplishments

Peggy highlighted that contrary to conventional wisdom, the more self-sufficient you are, the less likely you are to be promoted.

Peggy's book provides some practical ways to get out of this devastating trap, including changing the language we use with our peers and our teams and understanding what we can control and master, versus those that we should let go or let others take action. She noted that "people support what they help create" and that letting others get involved in the solution helps to build the trust that is lacking in a relationship with a self-sufficient executive.

I will be posting the December list of speakers this week and we will announce the date and location of our winter retreat soon. This intimate retreat will have a limited number of slots, so please sign up early.

Chicke Fitzgerald
founder Executive Girlfriend's Group

Miami EGG Get Together - CHANGE IN DATE AND LOCATION

For those of you in the Miami area, we have had to make a change in the date for our cocktail hour, which will now begin at 6pm on WEDNESDAY the 29th of October. We are going to do it at Annette's house in Coconut Grove, so click HERE to plan your trip using our RoadEscapes.com platform! Just enter the address where you are coming from in the Starting Point tab and then select PLOT Trip on the Trip Plan tab.

OCT24 - EGG Vignette Call - Becky Shambaugh - Author of It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's a Sticky Floor

This Friday on the Executive Girlfriend's Group call, we welcome author and leadership expert, Becky Shambaugh.

A nationally known leadership strategist, Becky has over twenty years of experience helping organizations and executives respond to critical leadership challenges and opportunities in today’s business environment.

Becky is President and CEO of SHAMBAUGH, where she founded Women In Leadership and Learning (WILL), an organization dedicated to the research, advancement, and retention of women leaders and executives.

Throughout her career, Rebecca has coached and worked with top senior executives on timely leadership areas such as crisis and change management, communications strategies, culture development, human capital development, and corporate governance.

Prior to starting her own company, she worked for such premier organizations as General Motors, Fairchild Industries, and Amax Inc. as a senior executive in the leadership and human resources arena. Her clieints include AOL Time Warner, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Capital One, Cisco, Department of Interior, Ernst and Young, Fannie Mae, Fidelity, Freddie Mac, IBM, Intelsat, Marriott Corporation, MedImmune, Microsoft, MTV Networks, Patton Boggs, Northrop Grumman, Pfizer Corporation, SAIC, Sallie Mae, Sprint Nextel, USA Today, Washington Gas, and Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority.

Rebecca discusses leadership issues on her blog at www.shambaughleadership.com.

Join us Friday to hear her provocative discussion on women in leadership.

Chicke Fitzgerald,
Founder

Friday 17OCT Vignette Speaker - Susan Oliver

Don't forget the new time! 2pm ET

NEW Time for EGG Call 2pm ET

Beginning Friday, October 17th, the calls will begin at 2pm ET. I will be at a women's retreat this weekend, so my partner Annette Hogan will be hosting the call.

Chicke Fitzgerald
Founder

EGG Speaker Roster through November 21st

We have an amazing roster of speakers arranged for the Executive Girlfriend's Group calls each Friday. Remember that this Friday the call moves back to its new permanent time of 2pm ET.



Please join us!

Chicke Fitzgerald
founder

OCT17 EGG Call Vignette - Susan Oliver of Nosal Partners

This Friday, we welcome Susan Oliver as our Vignette speaker on the EGG call. Susan is a partner with Nosal Partners LLC. Nosal Partners is a retained executive search firm that also provides Executive Development services.

Susan's topic will be "Developing your Plan B". In these troubled times, even the most stable of companies are experiencing belt tightening and "right sizing". Even if your job is stable today, it is always good to have a plan "B".

Co-located in the firm's Atlanta and San Francisco offices, Susan focuses on senior-level assignments in the life sciences, advanced technology, distribution, and consumer products industries.

Prior to joining Nosal Partners, Ms. Oliver was a founding partner and senior executive search consultant at Oliver John Partners, where she conducted numerous senior-level assignments for life sciences, advanced technology, consumer products, pharmaceutical manufacturing, marketing and distribution, Internet, and pre-IPO companies.

Before co-founding Oliver John Partners, Susan held key positions with 54th Street Partners - the consulting division of the venture capital firm Global Accelerator and with Korn/Ferry International and Heidrick & Struggles.

Ms. Oliver graduated from Idaho State University in 1991 with a degree in Sociology.

Annette Hogan will be hosting the call this week, as I will be away at a women's retreat.

PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE IN TIME TO 2PM ET.

OCT10 EGG Call Vignette - Tonya Fitzpatrick - Co-Host of Travel'n On

This Friday, we welcome Tonya Fitzpatrick as both a new member of the Executive Girlfriend's Group and as our Vignette speaker.

Tonya is an Executive Producer and Co-Host of Travel’n On, the only live and interactive travel radio program based in the Mid-Atlantic.

Since co-founding Travel’n On with her husband, Ian, they have hosted advocacy, informational and interview-oriented programs. Some of their enlightening topics range from State Department Travel Tips, Travelers’ Rights and Travel’n Secure to Best Underwater Photography Locations, Holiday Gift Ideas for the Traveler and interviews with local and nationally known travel authors, industry experts and celebrities.

Among her professional accomplishments, Tonya currently serves as a Deputy Assistant Secretary within the US Department of Education and previously worked in the Department of Homeland Security. Tonya is an active member of her community and currently serves on the Board of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.

In addition to her educational achievements in London and China, Tonya was awarded a fellowship to the Michigan Political Leadership Program at Michigan State University. She earned her BBA from National University in San Diego and acquired her law degree from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.

Tonya and Ian have been regular contributors on CBS and NBC and were featured on the national cablecast of The Prudent Advisor for Retirement Living Television and in Private Clubs Magazine. They are also the founders of Bronze World Travel (www.bronzeworldtravel.com ), a value-based Internet company offering discounted travel packages.

Tonya and Ian truly believe in “Celebrating Life Through Travel” and Travel’n On is a natural extension of their love for travel and desire to promote cross-cultural understanding, education, sustainable tourism and global citizenship.

Please join us on Friday at 4pm ET. Please note that this is the last week that the call will be at 4pm. We are moving the call to 2pm ET to accommodate a number of would-be EGG participants that have not been able to join us at 4pm.

NOV 14 EGG CALL Vignette - author Margie Warrell

On November 14th, I'm pleased to announce that Margie Warrell, author of Find your Courage! will be our vignette speaker.

The topic will be 12 Everyday Acts of Courage.

Margie is a certified Executive and Life Coach, professional speaker and best selling author. She is recognized internationally as an expert on living and leading with courage.

Together with John Gray, Jack Canfield, Richard Carlson & Bob Proctor, Margie co-Authored 101 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2006.

Her second book Find Your Courage! was released in June 2007 to become a finalist in the 2007 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS and an Amazon Best Seller. Her third book, co-authored with leadership experts Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard will be released in 2009.

Please mark your calendar and join us to hear Margie's views on courage and integrity.

Chicke Fitzgerald

NOV 21st EGG CALL Vignette - Author Liz Lynch

The Executive Girlfriend's Group welcomes author Liz Lynch as the featured vignette speaker for our call on Friday November 21st.

Liz Lynch started her profitability consulting firm, Liz Lynch Ltd., in October 2000 after "doing corporate time" at some of the top firms in their industries to hone her strategic, analytical and financial expertise. Although not a born networker, she’s grown the company successfully exclusively through networking, no cold calling required!

In 2003, Liz published the 102 Secrets to Smarter Networking booklet to share her tips with other professionals who need to network to succeed in business. Because of her background, she brings a practical and insightful perspective to networking that has connected with people throughout the world. 102 Secrets and related products have sold on six continents!

In 2005, to keep up with growing demand for her unique networking voice, Liz started the Center for Networking Excellence as a separate business from her profitability consulting firm and became its executive director. The Center creates products and programs to help business professionals build profitable relationships, helping them network smarter, not harder.

Her new book, Smart Networking, is coming out in early November. I hope you'll join us to hear Liz and her views on how to attract a following!

Chicke Fitzgerald

OCT 31 EGG CALL Vignette - Author Peggy Collins

I am pleased to announce that Peggy Collins - the author of Help is NOT a Four-Letter Word will be our vignette speaker on the October 31st Executive Girlfriend's Group call.

“I felt like I was looking in a mirror”
“This is life-changing”
"It’s like reading an autobiography!”

These admissions are just a few of the rave reviews from Peggy’s recent workshop evaluations.

On the EGG call, Peggy will be answering the questions:

• Can you ask for help?
• Do you do everything all by yourself?
• Do you help others but can’t ask to have the favor returned?

Explorer - discoverer extraordinaire – Peggy Collins, professional speaker and trainer, has uncovered a never-before-identified self-defeating behavior she calls The Self-Sufficiency Syndrome, the subject of her McGraw Hill book, Help Is Not a Four-Letter Word: Why Doing It All Is Doing You In.

Peggy has been an executive in the relocation and banking industries where she had president and senior vice president after her name. She’s also owned two businesses including her current speaking and training company where she’s delivered messages to thousands in Fortune 100 and 500 companies as well as many association conferences.

She’s a member of the National Speakers Association, an MPI Platinum Speaker and a member of the Whitehouse Project. She makes her home in Hendersonville, NC.

We hope you will mark your calendar and join us on October 31, 2008 for Peggy Collins vignette.

Chicke Fitzgerald
founder

Friday's call on TRILLION DOLLAR MOM$ was a hit

Thanks to those who participated in the call on Friday and the interview with Bonnie Ulman. Bonnie spoke about the mom market and about some of their key behaviors. In addition to her book and communications/research firm, the Haystack Group, Bonnie has an online magazine called Mom's Easy Chair. It has about 15k readers monthly.

Key characteristics of today's overachieving moms:

• Feel like they've given a bit of themselves away
• Need to be more, do more and as a result, end up micromanaging
• Are hyper-kinetic, doing everything (including multi-tasking) at light speed
• Losing trust in marriage, which can result from a catalytic event that brings new stress into the marriage
  
• Tend to think "no one can do it like I can", so take on too much

The antidote is to treat yourself and take on things in bite sized pieces, versus trying to do everything or fix everything at once. Also stop and do some "belly gazing" once a month, focusing on what you want, what makes you happy. Look for "soul sisters", whether online in a community or on a call like this!

In marketing to moms, and dealing with male marketing directors, use the message:

• Imagine you are your wife....

Also explore the generational possibilities - marketing to mom, daughter and grandmother. This fits right in with what Renie talked about two weeks ago when we talked about Girlfriend Getaways.

Have a good weekend all. See you next week for the interview with Erin Bethea, the female lead in the new movie, Fireproof, just out in theatres this weekend.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Special Speaker for October 3rd call - Subject: Relationships

Whether you are married, divorced, in a long term relationship or single, you should put this movie on your list of "must see" films this weekend.

Dr. Phil talked about the film yesterday and in particular about the impact of job stress on marriage. We are fortunate to have the female lead from the film, Erin Bethea, lined up to speak on the Executive Girlfriend's Group call on Friday, October 3rd.

Let me know what you think about the movie. I've seen the trailers and am looking forward to seeing the film with Michael and some neighbors on Sunday night.

I hope you can join us on the 3rd.

Chicke

Call for healthy recipes

Great call today Thanks so much to Julie Webster for sharing healthy tips with us to reduce stress and improve our health, weight and well being!

For those that missed the call, Julie talked to us about the physiology of stress and recommended some things that we can add to our diets to improve our health. Vitamins (B & C in particular), minerals, good fatty acids, good grains that produce seratonin, good sea salt, berries (antioxidents) and lots of leafy green veggies.

Of course exercise was high on the list of good things for your body, as was breathing (actually paying attention to taking deep breaths) and meditation. But most importantly finding something that you really love (Julie does salsa dancing!) and do it frequently!

On the call the group decided that we needed to have some good recipe ideas (as well as good snack suggestions, particularly for travel). So send them to me via email @ chicke@solutionz.com and I'll post them on the blog.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Chicke

EGG VIgnette Speaker - Sept 26th - Bonnie Ulman, co-author Trillion Dollar Moms

I am pleased to announce that Bonnie Ulman, co-author of Trillion Dollar Moms will be speaking during our 10 minute vignette on the EGG call on Friday, September 26th.

We look forward to hearing her insights on this powerful market and to discuss how the travel industry might want to look differently at moms.

A hybrid communications practitioner, Bonnie blends the disciplines of account planning and traditional public relations with influencer communications and new age grassroots programs.

Considered a pioneer in the dynamic marketing-to-moms category, Bonnie is a frequent speaker and media commentator on the subjects of marketing to women and mothers. She was one of the top-ranked presenters at the prestigious Marketing2Moms conference in 2005 and 2006. She is co-author of “Trillion-Dollar Moms: Marketing to a New Generation of Mothers” and has been toiling away on a new book about female-friendly customer service. Her reputation in the area of mothering issues made her a natural choice as a 2007 and 2008 spokesperson for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies “Childhood is Calling” program.

In 2006, Bonnie and the Haystack team concepted and launched www.momseasychair.com, a unique online magazine and virtual gathering place for women with children who are eager to learn and connect about non-Mommy topics and trends outside of their own homes and communities. Access to thousands of mothers with informed opinions and disposable dollars has proven to be an asset that Haystack Group clients covet.

She understands how to market to the family dynamic, a key need for brands that need to appeal to children and parents. Bonnie helped prescribe communications strategies for Leapfrog, Mattel, Philips Consumer Electronics, Dimetapp and BestBuy.

Bonnie lives on a small farm outside Atlanta with her husband and two children, spending her “spare” time as a competitive equestrian.

Don't miss this one!

EGG Vignette Speaker - Sept 19th - Julie Webster The impacts of stress

On our call on Friday, the 19th of September, I'm pleased to announce that educator Julie Webster of Boulder, CO will be joining us to talk about stress and its impact on our health.

Not that any of us have any stress in our lives..... but we may have friends that do. Right?

Our vignettes normally start about 20 minutes into the call and last for about 10 minutes. Our guest will remain on the call to answer questions from the group.

Please join us on the 19th.

EGG Vignette Speaker - Sept 12th - Renie Cavallari Author the Official Girlfriend's Getaway Guide

Renie Cavallari of GivetoYourself.com to speak to Executive Girlfriend's Group on Friday, September 12th

The Executive Girlfriend's Group is pleased to announce that Renie Cavallari, CEO of Aspire Marketing and author of a new book "The Official Girlfriend Getaway Guide", will address the EGG Call on Friday, September 12th.

Renie has recently established GivetoYourself.com. The focus of this site is to help us overcome the invisible obstacles to success and shares how to find and ignite radical passion.

Renie is a dynamic speaker and amazing motivator and over the course of the last year has been researching this interesting market, with AAA.

The introduction for the book was written by author John Gray, of "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". You can click here to sign up to receive a copy of the book and the research.

On the call Renie will help us understand what she uncovered about the need for “girlfriends” to get away and the challenges they have. This information will help your business capture a piece of this “blue ocean” market segment. With 44% of US spending totaling over $6 billion in annual dollars, these women are looking for places to bond, enjoy themselves and escape their daily and endless responsibilities. Most are moms on the move and when you offer them what they want in an easy way you will get their business. See her website for more information.

Please join us.

Chicke Fitzgerald
Founder of EGG

Multiple Historic Events this Week - The times, they are a changin'

For those that have spent the week glued to the convention in Denver and witnessing the historic event of the country's first black nominee, not to be outdone, the Republican's have pulled out a very attractive rabbit out of their hat. Sarah Palin will be the Republican Vice Presidential Nominee.

Although I promised no politics on EGG (as for those who know me well, I am about as apolitical as you get), I find this move to be a very interesting one and can't resist commenting on this turn of events.

I am quite sure that many will write this off as pure political strategy. I've already read comments on blogs about this being a "beauty queen pick". But with a presidential candidate turning 72 today, the party had to have thought long and hard about this one and deeply analyzed her credentials. Clearly, if McCain/Palin are elected, we have a very real chance of having our first female president sometime in the next 4-8 years.

Whether or not you like Hillary Clinton, her speech this week was a very real reminder of how very far women have come in our lifetimes.

I am truly encouraged by the fact that this year we have had two such strong women being considered for the highest offices in the land. It gives hope that we can indeed "be anything we want to be" and "go anywhere we want to go".

This week Roger Dow of TIA sent out an email, which if you didn't get it, provided a score card to measure each of the the candidates at the convention. Here is the one for Obama. They'll post the one for McCain next week.

http://www.poweroftravel.org/statistics/reportcard_lasvegas/obama/

The Power of Travel site has some interesting statistics about how travel effects our economy and how important it should be for all of the candidates. Check it out. You may be surprised at what you see.

Regardless of who is elected in November, it is clear that 'the times, they are a changin'.

Have a super weekend. Prayers to those that are in Gustov's path.

Chicke Fitzgerald
founder Executive Girlfriend's Group

Recap of Mary Lippitt vignette on the Leadership Spectrum

Thanks again to Mary Lippitt for being our EGG vignette speaker on Friday. For those that missed the call, here is a summary of her talk.

The Leadership Spectrum Profile: The Third Generation Leadership
by Dr. Mary Lippitt, Enterprise Management Ltd.

In today’s business environment, characterized by global competition, new technologies, changing regulations, flatter organizations, and talent shortages, speed in leadership development becomes increasingly critical. The first generation of leadership theory focused on leadership style or personality. Because changes to personality or style occur slowly, if at all, the second generation of leadership targeted skill sets or competencies. However, after more than 20 years, it has become clear that this approach also takes too long to impact actual behavior or results.

Rathe than focusing on skill sets, the third generation concentrates on mindsets, or what business priorities or goals are driving your decision making and goal setting. If you want results, must focus on them.

The six critical business priorities are:

1. Keep products/services up-to-date and/or state-of-the art
2. Gain and keep market share; serve customers
3. Build organizational structure and systems to establish high performance
4. Improve processes and procedures for efficiency, quality, and ROI
5. Develop committed and competent workforce as well as build a supportive environment and identity
6. Position for the long-term by surfacing trends, assumptions, and issues that offer opportunities or potential threats

The benefit of third generation approach is that if offers-

• A context based framework which enables changing circumstances to become part of developing leadership judgment
• Encourages leaders to connect the dots and “see the whole board”
• Generates respect and inclusion for everyone who contributes to goal achievement , rather using demographic classifications that ask us to “tolerate” someone from a different race, age group or gender

The issue of gender has frequently been introduced into leadership with the divide so deep that women and men are characterized as hailing from different planets. Another unrealistic way to capture gender leadership is to characterize men as taking charge and women as taking care of others. These approaches confuse work with family roles and obligations. When only work behavior is examined, the results are vary difference. Women and men operate from the same business priorities. What is different is that women at supervisor and manager levels use more than one priority to make their decisions while men with those titles only operate from one priority. At the executive level, women wanting faster change, accepting more risk, and looking more at external factors as they set goals.

What this means for organizations that want to retain executive women, is a strategy that offers women an opportunity to make change happen rather than merely offering them more flexibility for work-life balance at all.

For further information contact Mary at mlippitt@enterprisemgt.com or read her award winning book, The Leadership Spectrum. If you would like to take the assessment, Mary will provide an online version for EGG members, just put EGG in the subject line of your request.

Guest Speaker for today's call: Mary Lippitt, Author of Leadership Spectrum

For the first 10 minutes of today's EGG call, Mary Lippitt will join us to talk about the "3rd Generation of Leadership". This will happen after our intros, which normally take the first 10-15 minutes of the call.

We hope everyone will be able to join us today. If not, have a super weekend and see you next week!

If you were on the call today, please contact Mary for your copy of the test instrument to see where you fall on the spectrum. Please mention EGG in your request to Mary.

mlippitt@enterprisemgt.com

Happy Birthday Darlene Rondeau!

Best wishes from all of us to you Darlene! Have a super day!

“Pedal Power” - Contribution from Becky in Denver

History was made in Colorado this past weekend as girlfriends from the Denver metro area participated in the 1st ever all-women’s bike ride. Because it was a new ride the organizers only expected 200 riders. Can you imagine the elation and excitement when 700 of us showed up for this inaugural event?

It was a cool and damp morning when we put mettle to the pedal to raise money for Greenhouse Scholars, an organization that helps high achieving but under-sourced students go to college. Boas, tutus, and crowns could be seen on many of the riders so this made for a colorful spectacle. And, of course, we were chatting with each other for the entire trip!

The word for the day was “shine” and shine we did as we raised enough to send 6 students to Colorado universities this year.

It was a true testament to the impact we girlfriends can make when we come together for a great cause.

Becky Watson
EGG Board Member

Here's to you girlfriends!

Thanks so much to those of you who were on the call on Friday. We changed up the time to 400pm ET, so we had a few stragglers who called in at 430pm. Not to worry! Get there when you can, for how ever long you can. Just get there!

This week we welcomed a number of new girlfriends to the call and they caught up by telling us about themselves, including their favorite places to visit internationally (or to dream about). Two themes this week - you guessed it, Italy and Tuscany in particular and Dubai!

We also share our "high points" and gave the opportunity to share "low points" of the week. While we all agreed that we didn't want to dwell on the low points, it is good to know that you have a safe place to share.

Lee Granger shared her experience in attending Marilyn Carlson Nelson's retirement dinner. See the post below about Marilyn's new book on leadership. You can pre-order it now.

We got some good recommendations on books and movies that I'll be posting later. So if you have read something or seen something special recently, let me know!

This week's call was sponsored by Renie Cavallari, the author of the Official Girlfriend's Getaway Guide. Check out the post from Friday to get more information about her research of this fascinating market.

Vela Mitchell sent me a book last week called Trillion Dollar Moms. I haven't read it yet, but am working with Vela to get Bonnie on the call sometime in August to tell us about this aspect of marketing to another subset of the girlfriend market.

Next week we are going to focus on goals and what you would like to accomplish before we all get together face to face. Annette Hogan and I are working on the first annual Executive Girlfriend's Getaway retreat. It will be held somewhere warm and sunny in late January or early February. We will keep you posted as the location gels and the agenda is firmed up.

Have a super week. Talk to you on Friday.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Aspire's Girlfriend Getaways

I want to thank Renie Cavalari, the sponsor of today's EGG call. I had the pleasure of spending the day with her yesterday, being interviewed on her Aspire Live! show here in Phoenix. I'll let you know when the segment is posted on my website. By the way, it is a dry heat, but 108 is 108 no matter what!

Renie has just written a book, "The Official Girlfriend's Getaway Guide" based on research that she did earlier this year on how girlfriends like to travel. Author John Gray (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus) wrote her intro.

You can pre-order the book and see the recommended trips on her new site www.givetoyourself.com. I'm delighted to say that she has integrated my new company's "Adopt-a-Trip™" tool so that you can find the trips and then adopt them and customize them for yourself. The RoadTripWizard.com provides the trip planning tool on the back end.

Thanks Renie! I will be inviting her to join us on our call in the near future and talk to us about marketing to the $6b girlfriend's segment. Who knew???

Chicke

Why Girlfriends Lie

Our humor today is courtesy of Flo Lugli

Why Girlfriends Lie

One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, 'My dear child, why are you crying?' The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family. The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires.


'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked

The seamstress replied, 'No.'

The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies.


'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked. Again, the seamstress replied, 'No.'

The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble.


'Is this your thimble ?' the Lord asked. The seamstress replied, 'Yes.' The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.

Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, 'Why are you crying?' 'Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!'

The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney.

'Is this your husband?' the Lord asked.

'Yes,' cried the seamstress.

The Lord was furious. 'You lied! That is an untruth!'

The seamstress replied, 'Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt.

Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three.

Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney.

And so the Lord let her keep him.

The moral of this story is:
Whenever a girlfriend lies, it's for a good and honorable reas ]on, and in the best interest of others. That's our story, and we're sticking to it.

Signed,

The Girlfriends, Amen

Talk to you at 4pm!

Great inaugural call!

Thanks to all who participated yesterday in our first call of the Executive Girlfriend's Group - Travel Edition. We had 16 participants. We had a great call, just getting to know a bit about each other. I strongly suspect one hour isn't going to be long enough once we get more folks on the call, so I am adjusting the call to 4pm and we'll go to 530pm ET if we need to.

The topic of the day was international travel experiences and dreams and Florence was the all time winner.

If you weren't able to participate yesterday, please just join us next week, ready to share your experiences and dreams about foreign ports of call. Our normal format will be sharing high points and low points of the week, so we can get to the heart of the matter - forming deep friendships and a support network that is meaningful. We know your time is precious.

Have a super weekend. And don't forget to join the Facebook Group (see link to the right). That will help everyone see who is on the group until we launch our community site (coming soon from one of our new sponsors!).

Next week I'll also be introducing some new coaching resources (life coach, health/wellness coach), so if you have any names you want to submit, let me know!

Chicke

How We Lead Matters

Tomorrow is an historical event. The Executive Girlfriend's Group is going to convene for the first time, but it won't be the last.

And we will be talking about a lot of things. Some seemingly mundane, some downright trivial, some really deep.

The overriding subject will be that "How we lead matters".

This is the title of a new book by Marilyn Carlson Nelson. She is an icon in our industry, the leader of Carlson Companies until just recently when she handed the baton off to Hubert Joly, the first non-family member to run the Company since it was founded in 1938 with a $55 loan.

I am so looking forward to the interaction of this group. I believe we will make a difference. Not just in our companies, but in our families and in the people we come in contact with.

I do believe that how we lead matters and every day I strive to become a better leader and to show my beautiful 10 year old what really matters as she becomes a woman.

Viva Girlfriend's Day!

Chicke

National Girlfriend's Day

So here's a bit of trivia. August 1st is National Girlfriend's Day.

Seriously. It's ok, I didn't know either until Peter Shankman of Help A Reporter Out (HARO for short) told me this morning.

Isn't it cool though that we picked August 1st for our first Executive Girlfriend's Group call?

I am looking forward to this telephonic confab of all my favorite women from the travel industry.

If you are reading this blog and are a C-level executive or report directly to a C-level executive in the travel industry, please send me a note and I'll add you to the group. Sorry, no boys allowed!

Check us out on Facebook. EGG on FACEbook! Gotta love that!

We'll be moving to a new community site soon. I'll be announcing our new sponsor shortly!

Will have to talk to Rob at Google.....

I am in Denver enroute to the TIA Board Meeting in Vail tomorrow. I am sponsoring an event. It should be fun. I believe Google is a sponsor as well. I thought I'd try Google AdSense on the bottom of the blog (unobtrusive there.....) and I had to laugh, as there is an add for poultry equipment.... very funny until I realized that they took the EGG group literally! I will have to tell Rob Torres. He'll get a kick out of it.

Ah well, at least I'm learning! Any of you that are online advertising wizards, I'd love to pick your brain one day. I'll owe you a glass of wine at the next women's event!

Hope everyone is having a good day. I'll be back home on Sunday.

Why Egg and Why Now?

I am a 50 year old extreme entrepreneur (code word for haven't had a regular paycheck in 2 years). I have a pretty terrific life. Beautiful house on a marina in Florida, palm trees. Peaceful and serene. Really nothing to complain about and plenty to be thankful for.

As of next Wednesday I will have been married 18 (mostly glorious) years to Michael and have a beautiful 10 year old daughter, Kiera and an 8 year old son that we adopted from Russia when he was three. His name is Sergey.

I am the CEO of the Solutionz Group (the sponsor of the Executive Girlfriend's Group) and the founder and CEO of LeisureLogix. I'm working on the formation of a cool charity for kids, known as Kids for Humanity. My husband has two early stage businesses, HotelsByHospitals.com and he just started selling cute little scooters that get 80-100mpg. That business is SunshineScooterz. Whew...... and what do I do in my spare time?

My passions are writing, speaking, helping companies and individuals grow and my faith (see my personal blog if you are interested in the spiritual side of me).

I work at home, as does my husband. While I actually love having my office in the house, I "don't get out much". Also, since I've been a workaholic for the better part of the last 30 years, most of my friends are women that I've met in or around the travel industry, so I only have a few close friends locally here in Tampa.

So, on Friday I was talking to one of my best friends who agreed that it is great to have someone to "unload" with and clear the decks with at the end of the week, even if it is just to remind each other that good, bad, happy, sad, frustrated or fat, we are there for each other.

I've been blessed to be a part of family as I was growing up that was the personification of unconditional love. My parents believed in me no matter what. Belief (aka faith) is a powerful tool. I've also been incredibly blessed with my close group of girlfriends that have seen me through two pretty challenging years with the new company and the priviledge of being associated with some pretty incredible women that I would like to know better.

So I decided to form the Executive Girlfriend's Group and start the EGG call every Friday at 430pm ET, beginning August 1st.

Now I know that you won't all be able to make it every week, but the beauty of it, is that it is something that you can drop in on when you are available and we'll love you even if you can't.

Get a comfy headset so you can do the call hands-free. I know many of you live on conference calls. We'll schedule a discussion "vignette" on one of the weekly calls to talk about the entrepreneurial life where meetings and conference calls are a choice!.

This blog will capture many of the insights discussed, but never, ever any private information, so if you miss a call, you can read the blog and comment.

There are a couple of key tenets for the group:

1. What is said on the EGG call stays in the Executive Girlfriend's Group. Period. Trust and respecting the group's privacy is implicit in your agreement to participate on the call.
2. Be on time. If you are going to participate in the call, please be on the call when it starts. We will be using a toll free conference call line (sponsored by my consulting firm) and it is disruptive to get in to a subject and have people beeping into the call).
3. There are a lot of differences between us, whether our political or spiritual affiliations. Some of us are risk takers and others need a lot of security. Let's cagree that this is not the forum for controversy or criticism. Loving acceptance and nurturing is the order of the day girlfriends.
4. Some of us are moms and grandmothers, others chose not to have kids or have remained single. Some are corporate and some are entrepreneurs and others between jobs. That isn't normally a barrier, but if we find we need to have special calls or events to cater to a specific subsection, we'll do it!
   

Like the beautiful decorated eggs in this Spring floral arrangement, let's celebrate our differences and grow closer together through open dialogue and support.

My DREAM for this group is to have a spring getaway and a winter getaway retreat for rest, relaxation, rejuvination and reflection. A few of us from the Executive Women's forum (a TIA TravelCom event each spring) have pondered Havana as a possible destination for the first one. Our resident executive Cuban, Annette Hogan has just rejoined the Solutionz Group, so perhaps we'll start thinking about that! We'll see!!! Stay tuned.

Oh, and I just reconnected with Renie Cavaleri of Aspire who is just releasing her new book called "The Official Girlfriend Getaway Guide". She is helping me out on the LeisureLogix/RoadTrip Wizard by allowing us to build "adoptable" trips to match her recommendations. I will let you know how to order the book when it comes out and will post the link to the trips when she gets them posted.

You'll receive an evite to the first call, which is scheduled for August 1st at 430pm ET. It is my hope that you'll tell your admin (if you are lucky enough to have one) to block this time as a standing meeting. Fly home or shut down early on Fridays. You'll be happier for it. It isn't like you don't put in enough hours already.

If you have someone that you think should be included in the group/call, drop me a note. I'll also set up a group in Facebook so that we can leverage their invitation network capabilities.

I look forward to it!

Chicke

CEO Solutionz Group and founder of the Executive Girlfriend's Group
www.solutionz.com
chicke@solutionz.com
813-925-0789