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Comments by Denise Hall this month, as the lovely Deirdre is on leave...

When I read this headline in The Age , I immediately thought “you've got to be kidding!”. To summarise…

Women are being sacked for taking maternity leave, and told to quit if they can't juggle family and the work roster, the Fair Work Ombudsman's office has found. University of Sydney associate professor Marian Baird, an expert in maternity-leave research, said it is not only small businesses that are a problem - large companies often ”reorganise” while a woman is away, leaving no position to return to. New mothers are ”in a vulnerable position and often the last thing they want is to fight a battle with their employer”.

Professor Baird said employers need their female staff and companies ”risk very bad branding” if word got out that they made life difficult for women taking, or refused, maternity leave.
Read on…

No wonder more and more entrepreneurial mothers are vying to do our own thing. Even if it's not always ideal, you only have to sack yourself if need be, and it's no surprise either as you know it's coming! Seriously though, what I fail to understand is why such a valuable resource is not demonstrably deemed to be so, especially given that there is still a talent shortage, despite current economic fluctuations.

OK enough now already... bring Deirdre back, I hear you say...

One last thing, the annual "What Consultants Want?" study will kick off over the next week or two. Please take the 10 mins out of your day to complete the survey as the point of it is all about ensuring you live up to your full Consulting potential. As well as doing that, I encourage you to read the articles featured below, they are also definitely worth fitting into your day

Regards Denise
per Deirdre

Deirdre Gruiters is the Executive Director - Consulting for aCE talent NET, or in other words,
aCE talentNET's Corporate Talent Agent. She is also an internationally published author as a result being featured in the July 2008 edition of "Consulting Ahead" India (.pdf 5mb) . So if looking for Organisational Development resources is what you're needing to do, then Deirdre and the team of aCE talent NET know how to find them. Ask anyone of our mutually satisfied clients

develop youredge The following 3 articles are our favourites for this month; and a snapshot of the fabulous content on the aCE talentNET blog  ... feel free to visit and make comments What's Your CQ and Why Should You Care?  by David Livermore for ChangeThis.com “You've heard about IQ and EQ. But what's your CQ? CQ, or cultural intelligence , is more than just a kitschy catch phrase for cultural competence. It's a fresh, new approach to leading in our multicultural, globalized world. Cultural intelligence is defined as the capability to function effectively across national, ethnic, and organizational cultures. And research demonstrates a leader's CQ may easily be the single greatest difference between thriving in the 21st century world and becoming obsolete.” Read on…  Downsizing's Liberating Wake-Up Call by David Noer for ChangeThis.com “I'm told there is an ancient Chinese curse that translates into, “May you live an interesting life!” That is certainly true as we experience today's global pandemic of downsizing. Layoff victims and survivors alike react to this new reality with a toxic stew debilitating emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety, and depression–what I call layoff survivor sickness. We can change that; we can reframe the death toll of the old paradigm into a wake-up call that will help us create an exciting world of work that is more autonomous, personally relevant, and more in congruence with our unique gifts. Read on … Transparency Triumph… another beauty from trendwatching.com Think ‘transparency' is an established, maturing theme? You ain't seen nothing yet. Sure, we've been harping on forever about the many ways consumers can research, compare and review their way to a more powerful position, but every month brings us smart new examples of consumers and brands intent on making opinions, quality standards and prices even more transparent. So, it's time for a fresh look at the latest and greatest in the transparency arena*, where savvy consumers (as well as on-trend brands) can score triumph after triumph. We'll look at how reviews are set for even more spectacular growth, how price comparison is getting much more sophisticated, and how the inner-workings of companies will be exposed in pragmatic new ways. We then end this briefing with a countertrend, OPENLY OPAQUE, that raises the bar even higher. Read On …

Consultants

To be eligible for up-coming opportunities, please use this time to complete your online Consultant profile on the website. 

• We are delighted to welcome a number of new Consultants to aCE talentNET.
  
• If you do wish to see what your details are on file, now would be a great time to visit and update as required. However, don't despair if you have lost your password, simply request a new one be sent to you!  We look forward to seeing many of you update your details soon!!!
  
• And don't forget to add your CV directly into the database for ease of updating and information data access.
  
• Have you taken this months action to improve your marketability and increase your cashflow? refer your Talent Tuesday emails for details...