Are you a “Hi-Po” or

... a“hippo”?

Last year, I attended the first ever Catalyst Canada Conference and it was a wonderful event – I sure thank God for the privilege of being there. I received many “nudges” and nuggets – I’ll share a few.

During one session, one of the moderators used the contraction “hi-po” (meaning “high potential”) – that was my first time of hearing that coinage. Well, the immediate opposite that came to mind was “hippo” so I decided to write on it – now I need to make it all stick…

Who needs you most?

I read a rather interesting article "Why Women still can't have it all" - it was even recommended by a senior male leader and one I recommend every woman reads:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2012/07/why-women-still-can-8217-t-have-it-all/9020/ 

I was opportuned to hear from the author of the article Anne-Marie Slaughter directly on Fareed Zakaria's show titled: Tough Decisions. I was really pleased that this made the list of tough decisions. Apparently, her article was the most read article in The Atlantic's 150-year history. Upon hearing that, the first thing that said to me is that everyone is out to see and learn from other people's real life experiences – we’re all drawn to authentic people.

Very many things in the article stuck me - too many to recount...the main one being the title of this post.

Mrs. Slaughter acknowledged that being the first woman Director of Policy Planning at the State Department hence a close aide to Secretary Hilary Clinton was a "foreign-policy dream job" and the career she'd always wanted. Unlike a number of professional women, she was clear on what she wanted; she was also honest in realizing the needs in her life. So when she considered her family and her career, she had to make a tough decision between need and want.