#InnerConfidence

Stereotypical Barbie is dead, long live the stereotype!

When I put a few pages about Barbie in my latest book – We-mind vs Me-mind, published in July – I wanted to illustrate how what we’ve learned to value in ourselves and others is making a lot of people deeply unhappy and perpetuates the very situation we want to change. Unfortunately, the latest Barbie …

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My Dad’s old suitcase. Let go of it?

My Dad has been resisting moving into a care home for years. He couldn’t let go of the world he created, even if it was less and less comfortable to be in. Last summer he couldn’t look after himself anymore. We, his daughters, took the tough decision to overrule his judgment. My youngest sister moved …

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‘Nobody could have done it but a woman’ — Lessons about leadership from a president

‘The thing about leadership is that you have to be prepared to fail and start again,’ says Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She is the living example of perseverance. She was jailed three times, had to flee the country and campaign more than once before becoming the first elected female head of state in Africa. For 12 …

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what gives life meaning

What gives life meaning? Find your Ultimate Why

Springtime. Stormy skies and sunshine. Sweet scenting flowers everywhere. Life is bursting from the earth. It makes me feel so alive, but exactly in this season we lost a dear member of my husband’s family. My husband and I had the privilege to be present at his deathbed. We were holding his hand while his …

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Yet another set back for women? Please!

Gender stereotypes can kill a woman’s self-confidence, new research by Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Katherine Coffman shows. Oh no! Yet another reason why we can’t make it?! [Women] lack confidence in their ability to compete in fields that men are stereotypically believed to perform more strongly in, such as science, math, and technology. Women …

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Leadership against victimhood

Domestic violence has struck about 750,000 adults in the Netherlands at least once in the last five years. 65% of these victims are women. 250,000 women experienced violence more than once and for 100,000 of them, the violence is routine. Between 90,000 and 120,000 children younger than 17 are experiencing abuse as well. Above age …

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Women leaders, please don’t be nice!

Women in leading positions are often judged to be not nice. This is one reason why so few women want to be boss, I believe. Yet, one condition to achieve Sustainable Leadership for Women is indeed to stop being so nice. Women needing to be nice is why we’re practically absent where the decisions are taken, …

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#1 issue to solve: the gender confidence gap

As the efforts to reach gender parity grow, more and more ‘gaps’ come to the surface. There is the pay gap, the career gap, the healthy movement gap, the chores gap, and so on. Lately I’ve come across articles about the gender confidence gap, and how to tackle it. I’m adding mine. A recent piece …

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