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Do Sneakers and Power Jackets Really Make A Madam Vice President?

The Vogue magazine controversy over the appropriate cover photo, showing “Madam Vice President! Kamala Harris And The New America” brings to center stage the issues for women of the meaning of authenticity, approachability, and authority.

The fashion and political press commentary concerning this brouhaha, have used terms such as “disrespectful and diminishing” to our first female, women of color Vice President.

Fashion aside! What can we as women, baby boomers, millennials, and indeed all women, learn from this Vogue magazine cover dilemma?
Women are conditioned based on their generation to view an image of a female public figure and then determine and define her authenticity and approachability. Is it really sneakers, a sometimes-giddy laugh, or the proper placement of hands and arms that really makes us decide who is competent and trustworthy? Is proper lighting, power colors the essential optics to determine who has genuine authority? Do we understand how our implicit biases and pre-conditioning makes us decide what female leadership should look like? Do we realize how complicit we are in helping to perpetuate a static image of a female leader’s authenticity, approachability, and authority?

Implicit in the question of approachability is the expectation of likeability. Women and especially men, require women on a public stage in a predominately male arena to be likable as well as strong and competent. Undermining likeability and authenticity include the descriptions “she is angry, ambitious, phony and more.”

I’m a baby boomer who confesses to my implicit biases and succumbing to the optics of color, style, hair color and cut and yes, looking the part! I am on an exciting, evolutionary journey, however, despite my generation’s conditioning, to see what will emerge as a new style and image of a successful female leader.

I love the idea of sneakers, new power colors, and no more inaugural ball gowns!

Stilettos and Sneakers is an Inter-Generational Conversation is designed to advance an inter-generational conversation on timely issues impacting women helping foster sharing, listening, and learning.

The initial focus is on how baby boomer and millennial women experience and handle failure. The feelings of failure and what influences how it is viewed are examined by taking a deep dive into self-confidence, relationships, life choices, and more.

As gender issues from all disciplines take their place on a world stage, Stilettos and Sneakers examines generational differences in style, approach, and leadership.

I am currently reading a (great) book entitled “Thank You for Being Late” by Thomas Friedman. Although I am in the early onsets of the book, there is one particular part that has stood out to me. According to the research of Friedman and his cited collaborators, the advancement of technology is increasing at a significantly higher rate than the human ability to adapt. I find this fascinating. There are so many people in the world criticizing the youth for being on their phones or using technology too much; furthermore, there are more businesses, schools, corporations etc claiming their company is advancing simply by investing more in technology. That brings me to the question of, why should I unplug?

I luckily grew up at a pivotal time in the world of technology and social media. I graduated high school in 2007, went off to college with my very cool, hip Facebook page and TV phone from Verizon, on my way towards the next step. The iPhone just got popular, and ranking your top 10 on MySpace was crucial. However, in today’s world, this is all OLD news. What happened back then, isn’t the now and what happened last year is certainly not the fad for this year, let alone this month. The world of technology and social media is growing so rapidly that it is difficult to keep up, or even take a break.

I ask the question why unplug, because so many critics out there believe that it is best for society to unplug, decompress, enjoy the great outdoors etc… However, I would say as someone looking to advance in this world, make an impact, and continue to strive for success, I can do BOTH! I can enjoy nature, I can meditate, I can have fun with my friends, while at the same time advancing my skills and knowledge in the field of technology so that I don’t miss a step and continue to advance in a vastly growing field. Why not master the skill of balance instead of giving up something that is not only necessary in my life, but also something I enjoy and am good at?

Would love comments!

Understanding your values allows you to develop a leadership style that best fits you. By fully committing yourself to your dreams, your journey through life will be filled with that much more love and life. You might value respect or commitment, maybe you value money or security. Whatever it is that you value becomes a direct reflection of what you stand for as a leader.

There are many different management styles. The better you understand what kind of leader you are, the better leader you can be for others. It is important to have your values relate to your management style in order for your team to fully be empowered. For example, if you are a laissez-faire leader yet your organizational structure is top-down, mixed messages would be sent. It would be difficult for you, the leader, to reach your full potential. Your direct report might not see you as a good fit for their organization, all because you were unable to line-up your values and your leadership style to match the organizational structure.

In order to develop my personal mission statement, I determined my values, identified my management style, researched an inspiring leader and how their values emulate mine and described my expectations. The result: I stand for belief in your dreams; I believe that hard work equals dedication; I value respect, commitment to excellence, selflessness, and self-confidence; my management style is a blend between democratic and authoritarian, with an emphasis on people; I wish to emulate my grandmother for her unconditional love, constant inclusiveness, and desire to leave the world a better place; and people can expect a person who lives their life to the fullest, loves harder each day, and never forgets to laugh.

What’s your personal mission statement?

When choosing a day camp, a parent looks for a place that will suit their child’s needs; their child’s likes and dislikes. Some families go to camp fairs, others go to open houses, some simply surf the web looking for the ideal summer getaway for their children to go and make life-lasting memories. What is it about a summer camp that makes a child savor and cherish a moment? Is it the games in the pool; the camp songs; the campouts? Summer camps offer a variety of options for your child to enjoy their youth and have some plain old fashion FUN, but what separates one camp from another? Aside from day-to-day offerings and unique facilities used on campus, have you ever considered the message the camp promotes? Sure camp promotes fun; all camps do in some way, shape, or form, but what camps go deeper in their mission statements and go above and beyond to make sure their mission of providing your child with the summer of a lifetime, happens?

As a leader of the Hi-Hills Day Camp staff, I found this an imperative question to answer. The people who are responsible for making your children’s summer are the staff of the camp. They provide the activities, the games, the events, and all of the other FUN that makes camp camp. A staff member’s job is to motivate a child’s life in a positive manner. They need to have the will, the mindset, and most importantly the training to do so. Each year camp brings along something new for the campers, whether that be a playground, a splash pad, or give-a-ways; this year Hi-Hills is bringing a fantastic staff to the table. With a combination of returners and new staff members, Hi-Hills has made their staff a priority for no other reason but to ensure that your child has the best summer ever.

We pride ourselves in giving your children limitless options of activities, state of the art facilities, and an atmosphere of fun. It is our mission at Hi-Hills to not only provide your child with the summer of a lifetime but give them the skills to make a difference in their lifetime. In doing so we have created an in-house motivation message called The Be Better Movement. Our movement consists of four parts: Be You, Be Creative, Be Challenged, Be Strong. Each part is unique and will provide your child with the necessary skills to make their journey through life the best that it can be. Our variety of activities allow your children to be who they want to be; our “your choice” daily sessions allow for your children to be creative by opening their mind; our lessons in swim, tennis, yoga, and other skill-based activities allow for your child to challenge themselves and show improvement; and the social exposure our camp provides allows for your child ‘s personality to grow in strength. Every week at Hi-Hills has a different theme. We will have a Be Better Bunk challenge at the end of each week that correlates with their skits to see which Bunk used the theme of the week to help them “Be Better”. This will allow for both the educational and physical growth of your children on a daily basis through the exposure of fairness, responsibility, and initiative.

As a staff, we find it very important that you as parents have access to your child’s day-to-day experiences. We will be creating a separate blog series, from our website, on the social media outlet Tumblr to provide parents with pictures, write-ups, and descriptions of the camper’s improvements with The Be Better Movement. This will not only be a great outlet for the camp to keep you updated with your child’s experiences, but it will also be great documentation of your child’s individual progress throughout the summer. This progress will show that your child is receiving the summer of a lifetime and is learning the life skills necessary to journey through life happily.

We will send frequent reminders as to when the Tumblr account has launched and other exciting things to look for via our social media outlets and website! If you have not registered for camp yet, visit our website at ​hihills.com​ and/or contact the Camp Office at 908-234-0067.