Dotsie,

I have some regrets about the time I didn't get to spend with my two girls. But I have a very good relationship with them now, and I travel to see them regularly. One of the reasons I took early retirement was to be able to do that. I have one grandson, and both my daughters are pregnant, so I expect to have a new one on April 1st and another one on April 17th. I love it!! We NineWomen are doing our best to help define new ways of living after retirement.

Judy

Smile,

You are right that having to make tough decisions about people working for you is difficult. When AT&T split off Lucent, I was given the job of managing the company-wide systems for Lucent. The first thing I had to do was to work with the person who was given the similar job for AT&T to decide how we’d split those information system employees and which ones we’d let go. Letting people go was the hardest, but there were also people who were afraid to leave AT&T and go to work for Lucent. As it turns out, those people’s fears were unjustified but you couldn’t tell them that then. I still remember how my stomach hurt after those meetings. And after it was all done I had 1200 employees working in my area, some of whom were really afraid of the future. On the good side, times were exciting and it was thrilling to help put together a new company.

Judy

Hi

This is Carol K from 9Women. I was the one who got forced out, and as Judy said, it's in my chapter, so I won't bore anyone with the details. I was devastated, but I'm a lot tougher now.

I now have time to work on being the person I never thought I could be. Much to my amazement, I've made significant progress on my personal "I can't" list. This has rounded out my self confidence. When I worked, I only had time to be good at two things - my family and my job. Now there's time for more.

Smilinize, I can't imagine owning my own business. You probably couldn't get away from it even in your sleep.

I emjoyed reading the messages.

Carol

Hi All,

Just wanted to say that interacting with you is interesting. I'm delighted that my friends Kathy and Carol could join us. They had very different experiences than me, and yet we continually find that our feelings about the past and our desires for the future mesh.

Judy

Hi All!
I need to post after I read so I know where I left off!

Thanks for your input Judy, I appreciate that want to support me.

Smile I owned my own company first before I went into corporate America and you are right it is very different. I ws fotunate and I think i succeeded so well because I understood what it meant to be an owner and looked at the corporation from that perspective. I skyrocketed in the corporate world (not huge company)but moved to the top quickly. I contribute that to my training as an owner.

Now I am balancing home and work because I am a Mom. Things change.

Thanks for the input.

Lynn

lYNN,

Tell me more. What did you do? What do you do now? Sounds intereting.

Judy

I am having so much fun putting your stories and posts with the photo on the back cover. I love it.

Well, here's my "corporate story." I owned a Dairy Queen! Actually, it owned me! Long days, heavy lifting, idiot employees, and the actuality that the buck really did stop with me!

My kids said I wasn't a very nice person during that time and they're right. I felt like screaming sometimes. A day off? What's that? After almost five years of that nightmare, I couldn't wait to sell that puppy and leave!

Wow, Dianne, inspiring!

Does military duty compare to corprate life?

I spent 10 years giving 110% to the USN...couldn't promote beyond a certain stage because I wasn't a man and couldn't go on a ship.

Some of the guys I worked with were lazy, and received the same GREAT reviews that I did because of the good old boy network.

I've been out over 12 years, have spent this time finding my passion and living it...I don't EVER (and I DO mean EVER) want to work for someone else again!

Danita

[ November 08, 2005, 06:35 PM: Message edited by: Danita ]

Diane,

That is a story! Can't imagine owning a Dairy Queen. There weren't a lot of things easy about my job, but one thing I can say is that the people who worked for me were bright and interesting. I thought very highly of them and tried my darndest to help them when I could. I especially had an "open-door policy" for women, not just those in my organization, but women throughout the company. I told my secretary if a woman called and said she wanted help with her career to find a slot for her. ..... BUT I have to say that my girls would tell you there were times I came home in a very bad mood. If we didn't show them our bad sides sometimes, how would they learn that life can be hard out there?

Judy