I went for a bike ride on the weekend – across the Sydney Harbour bridge. The harbour bridge bike lane is the only way for a bicycle to cross Sydney Harbour Bridge without dismounting or cycling in 80 km/hr traffic until you get as far west as Concord Road (20 kmContinue Reading
The AFR, once again, has an article reflecting my current obsessions in Corporate Woman. The headline; “it’s time to find alternatives to the 12-hour day” says it all really. It’s an extended quote from Lynn Wood, a successful executive who is now a corporate director with a “portfolio career” reflecting her desireContinue Reading
The Economist has an opinion piece this week on the death of the newspaper. In it, there’s a very rosy view of the difference the citizen journalist makes to the availability of news: In addition, a new force of “citizen” journalists and bloggers is itching to hold politicians to account.Continue Reading
Last weekend, I went to see 49 UP – a fascinating documentary made in Britain that has filmed people every seven years from the age of 7. I first saw the series when it was 28 UP – which makes me feel old itself, but it didn’t have quite as bigContinue Reading
I came across this story from Savannah – an accounting firm who has decided it makes business sense to shorten the working week. And they are a firm who serves clients! Said the managing director: “We have always said that our people are our most valuable asset. We believe thatContinue Reading
Terence Tao, a 31 year old Australian who is a maths professor at UCLA, has just won the Fields medal for mathematics. Its been described in all the articles I’ve read as the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel – not quite, from what I can see – just as rare (fourContinue Reading
I’m a big fan of the AFR‘s workspace. Every Tuesday, it’s two pages of writing about the culture of the workspace, which always includes an article called “Corporate Woman”, but often has another piece about work-life balance and the implications for companies. Unfortunately it’s subscription only, so you’ll just haveContinue Reading
A while ago, I posted about how I hated it when people started meetings or emails with the words “Jennifer and Gentlemen” because it was effectively singling me out as someone different. Well today at work I had a novel experience – I had an email entitled “Ladies and Kevin”.Continue Reading
I didn’t really notice this in all the excitement over the work choices legislation, but this case, from 2003 found that it was discriminatory to require a female employee to return to full time work after maternity leave. The case was (among other things) about a woman who wanted toContinue Reading
I came across this concept in two completely different areas recently – Flow, as described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Basically, a mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in theContinue Reading