The other day I wrote about lessons learned from interrupting my daughter, and owned the revelation that I’d also been interrupting women I work with, both my customers and team members.

I’ve attached here a poorly rendered scan (12 things I can do to help women at work) of the last few pages of Joanne Lipman’s book, That’s What She Said.  Some simple and practical ideas of how men, or women, can honor women’s voices at work (and not repeat the mistakes I’ve made).  See what you think.

Here are three that I can immediately put into action:

1. Interrupt the interrupters.  “…if a woman is cut off in conversation, cut off the interrupter…”
2. Use amplification and brag buddies.  “… repeating her idea and ensuring that she is recognized for it …”
3. She’s not “sorry”, she’s not “lucky”, and she’s not asking you a question. (this is #5 on the PDF).  “Researchers have found that women often use qualifiers (‘Sorry to bother you but…’) to make themselves less threatening to others.  If they do act assertively, they are penalized for it, considered bossy, bitchy, or difficult to work with.  Solution: Women are highly aware of these verbal ticks and try to control them themselves.  But if they don’t, just remember the next time a woman ends a sentence in a question-mark “upspeak,” imagine she is instead stating it as a fact and banging on the table.

Bonus material – if you’ve not seen it, Pantene’s “Sorry, Not Sorry” commercial.