Edwin turned around two highly professional videos in less than a week after he conducted them. His company is in start-up mode and he's actively seeking both capital partners and clients. I highly recommend his work, and not just because he gave me two free videos. We'll be hiring his company to provide us with publicity before the month is over . . . we just have to negotiate the terms!

Without further ado, Edwin and She Negotiates.

Go to npr here.

The Davos World Economic Forum

The paucity of women at the Davos Economic Forum despite how rich the ones who attended are as described in this post by Forbes staff writer Louisa Kroll, The Richest Women at Davos.

Women's Davos Wardrobe Dilemmas covered by Moira Forbes as an unfortunate but still critical factor for the display of power necessary to be a player at the World Economic Forum.

A photo gallery of the executive conferences women CEOs love best.

The Continued Assault on the Glass Ceiling

Aman Singh's post on Why So Many Top Women Don't Make it to Executive Leadership.

Jenna Goudreau's Jobs Outlook:Careers Headed for the Trash Pile

Five Reasons Your Boss Wants to Give You a Raise This Year (Gender Neutral)

Negotiating with Mattie Ross of True Grit (Gender Neutral)

Sponsorship, Not Mentorship, Can Greatly Narrow the Wage Gap

Kucinich and the Olive Pit in a World of Injustice (gender neutral)

First You Wake Up, Then You Negotiate (gender neutral)

Jealousy's Underhanded Contribution to the Wage Gap by our Gen-Y blogger Katie Phillips.

Provocative Posts and Articles

Bad Career Advice:Nice Guys (and Girls) Finish Last by Christine Scivicque

Study says Dads Should be Less Involved in Parenting by Forbes Staff Writer Meghan Casserly as well as her terrific article on Sexy News Anchors' Distracting Effect on Viewers who can't seem to recall the news disseminated by these attractive women!

There's lots more over at ForbesWoman but those are the articles and blog posts that caught my own attention this week. Put ForbesWoman on your newsreader whether you're male or female, because it's pretty clear that women's economic power is growing and attention must be paid. 

You deserve a raise this year because you are working harder, longer and faster than you were before the recession. And as msnbc reported in 2009, you are doing so for less, not more, money.

 That means you are not only doing your own job, you’re also doing the jobs your laid off colleagues were doing. You’ll be difficult to replace because of that. Not only because John and Mary’s jobs are not in your historic employment description, but because fewer people will want to take on the work you’re doing now for the salary you’re now being paid.

 Your employer may need to hire two people to replace you. He or she will also have to incur the expense of hiring one or more new employees.

 You are more valuable than you believe yourself to be. You therefore have more bargaining strength than you believe yourself to have.

How to ask for a raise over at She Negotiates tomorrow.

• THE ASK - name your price first and to make your first number aggressive but not outlandish
  • you need at least three numbers to negotiate with - high, medium and bottom line
  • start with your high number
  • consider linking your high number to performance contingencies, i.e., if I do X and Y as I've promised, then my total compensation for 2011 will be Q; these performance contingencies can also be tied to the company's performance in 2011.
  • don't give all your reasons for your raise at the same time; you need a good reason for each of your high, medium and bottom line numbers - each round of negotiation requires "a number and a reason"
  • when making concessions, consider trading items of high value to you and low value to your employer, i.e., it doesn't cost your employer anything to let you work from home one or two days a week but it may well save you significant monies over the course of the year in transportation and incidental costs (this is called "log rolling")
  • go to your medium number reluctantly and stress that you are making a concession and expect reciprocity
  • go to your bottom line number only when you've completely run out of options

• PRETEND YOU ARE NEGOTIATING FOR SOMEONE ELSE
  • we women have a particular challenge in negotiating for ourselves because asking for ourselves contravenes gender norms
  • the research shows that we negotiate as effectively as men when we're negotiating for another but not when doing so for ourselves - so make yourself your own client and go out there and get the best deal for her

What does this man have that you don't?

A year-end 2009 salary of $21,340,547 during one of the worst year's in the history of his industry ~ banking.

Listen!  The recession is just another excuse for not paying you what you're worth.

How do we know?

Because the most effective negotiators on the planet ~ corporate CEO's ~ are finding the downturn to be the best time to squeeze every last living dollar out of their employers.

If they can do it, so can you!

 Here's the evidence:

	Bank of America Corp. Thomas Montag 2009 Total Compensation: $29,930,431		JPMorgan Chase & Co. James Dimon 2009 Total Compensation: $9,274,494
	Citigroup Inc. John Havens 2009 Total Compensation: $11,276,454		Morgan Stanley Walid Chammah 2009 Total Compensation: $10,021,969
	The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Lloyd Blankfein 2009 Total Compensation: $9,862,657		Wells Fargo John Stumpf 2009 Total Compensation: $21,340,547

 Whhaaaaaatttttt? do these men have that you don't have?

• Social networks with rich and powerful people who sit on their Boards of Directors and influence policy makers and Wall Street power brokers
• The self-created illusion that they are "too big to fail" /1
• The persuasive argument that only they, with their unique combination of experience, education, knowledge, savvy, can-do-spirit, and leadership qualities can pull these banks out of the sinkhole of the recession.
• Friends in very high places.
• Chutzpah and shamelessness (not that we'd want to encourage this second character flaw in our readers).
• Self-satisfaction.
• Entitlement.
• An employment history of asking for and receiving increasing levels of compensation based upon their salary negotiations at every career point possible (and every career point impossible)
• the demonstrated ability to produce results (our readers do possess this strength but haven't used it to their greatest advantage yet)
• the tendency to measure their market value by their value in the hands of their employer, not by what they "need" or what they are "worth" according to some internal metric that depends upon how they feel about thier accomplishments.

__________________

1/  This is where collective action comes in.  When we aggregate together America's employees, small business owners and homeowners, we get a non-corporate "entity" that is waaaayyyyyy bigger than some little piss-ant bank and it is we who are too big to fail.

Judy Martin, Business Journalist & Founder WorkLifeNation.com

"Lisa Gates reached into the very core of my being in order to bring me back into the reality of my dreams. Her talk is real and her methods concise. I no longer doubt what I'm doing...instead I speak, write, and live, knowing exactly why I do what I do and I realize that the goals I have set for myself are entirely up to me and attainable." 

Cicily R. Janus, Writing Away Retreats

O'Melveny & Myers ~ We attract, retain, and promote people of all backgrounds, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, or any other group characteristics.

201 male partners and 21 women ~ 10%.  In the legal realm, you win awards for this.

O’Melveny & Myers LLP has been named to The American Lawyer’s 2010 A-List, which recognizes the nation’s most elite law firms for stellar performance in the areas of revenue generation, pro bono commitment, associate satisfaction, and diversity representation.  This is the Firm’s third consecutive year on the list of 20 firms judged best at balancing the practice of law with their obligations to the profession.

I don't mean to pick on O'Melveny.  It's representative of the whole.  Any AmLaw100 law firm that would like to crow about its great track record in retaining and promoting women and minorities, please do drop by with your results and suggestions to your peers for improvements in these figures that the smartest guys in the room just can't seem to be capable of figuring out.  

Today, Forbes Corporate Social Responsibility Blog is commencing a series on how a serious commitment to diversity results in improved bottom line performance.  I commend that series to the attention of the real powers that be inside AmLaw 100 law firms and they cannot be found in the Diversity Programs, of that I can assure you.  Here's the intro to the McDonald's diversity program series:

How does a company that serves 56 million customers a day across 118 countries become a leader in diversity hiring and retention? According to the inclusion and diversity team at McDonald’s, it takes a combination of knowing how to leverage a multicultural customer base, a C-suite-led commitment to talent management, and academic-style learning labs.

If you're a woman, like me, we have our own garden to tend.  We leave the Fortune 50 and the AmLaw100 out of discouragement.  But part of that discouragement is born of our own diminished expectations and failures to build serious rain-making activities into our daily practices along with our failures to demand assignments to the types of cases where partners are made.

If your law firm or corporation does not have a serious diversity program, click your ruby slippers three times, say "there's no place like the board room," take the She Negotiates signature course, and kick a little butt. 

Remember, as Gloria Steinem said, "the truth shall set you free, but first, it will piss you off."

Cross-posted at She Negotiates.

At 8 PM Women on the Move gets down to business with attorney Victoria Pynchon, author of the Settle It Now Negotiation Blog, who has been called a “master of conflict resolution and deposition skills.”

Victoria recently became a regular contributor to Forbes.com’s “On the Docket” column.

You can call in with questions! 

Call-in Number: (347) 857-2102

If negotiation is a conversation with agreement as its goal, we should not be wasting our time arguing with one another about whose point of view is the best. We should be talking to one another about how we can both achieve as many of the goals we both want to achieve as a result of our conversation.

You do not have to change anyone's mind to give them what they want to get. And you don't have to grudgingly accept half a loaf (a portion of the pie) if, unbeknownst to one another, you possess five items of value your bargaining partner wants or needs, and your bargaining partner possesses a dozen items of value you want or need. In a really effective negotiation, you may find that together you and your bargaining partner can whip up a dozen pies and end up with more than either of you had imagined.

Wouldn't you like to be learning how to do this instead of working on that sanctions motion for your adversary's bad faith refusal to answer interrogatories?

The next game-changing She Negotiates month-long coached course begins on September 16.  Stop trying to change people's minds and start changing the world!

And gentlemen, tell your women friends.  Husbands and significant others benefit from this course as well!  My own happily came back from the gym the other day saying "I did what you taught me; I got two extra months of gym membership free."

They wanted that other woman who speaks on the topic of women negotiating.  You know the one . . . what's her name.  Yes, that's her.  The annual meeting committee gave her a ring and she quoted them $10,000 for an hour keynote.  To be fair, an hour keynote takes all day.  First, you've got to travel, then stay over night, then, if you're really serious about being of service to women lawyers, you get up early and listen to the morning speaker, talk to your table mates, find out what their challenges are, and, then alter, ever so slightly, your noon keynote to deliver exactly what this particular unique group of women need to hear.  You stay after, of course, to answer questions and sell copies of your book, which is, after all, your time, the time you'd be spending anyway spreading the good news that women can negotiate away the glass ceiling and the pay gap and their kids' private school tuitions.  Because that's just how you roll.  So it's never just an hour.

Still.

$10,000. 

"Did you negotiate with her?" I asked.

"The search committee didn't even try," said my friend.  "They figured her price was retail."

I don't mind being second choice.  That other woman, well, shoot, she pretty much started the whole women-negotiating-revolution.  I get it.  So I gave my quote and added, "but I'm not a suit on a hanger at Bloomies.  You don't have to buy me retail.  Remember some of what I taught you about money and value."

"Uhhhhh, make an aggressive first offer?"

"Well, yes.  But that's not what I'm talking about here.  I'm talking about the money is meaningless lesson.  You remember.  You can't eat or drink it.  It won't actually do the surgery nor build an addition to your house.  Remember how it just evaporated overnight right before George Bush left office?  Remember how your house was worth $500,000 on Monday and two fifty on Tuesday?

'Money has a value only because we give it value.  It's only worth what we say it's worth.

"Uhhhh . . . . "

"O.K.  I know.  I talk too much and too vaguely."

Here's the deal.  My price is X + expenses.  That's negotiable.  I don't tell you it's negotiable because as soon as I do you'll start negotiating!  And since it was me who taught you to negotiate, I'm not wild about bargaining with you.  The desire to teach is way to strong in me.

"I'm negotiable.  So is that other woman, the one whose book title is Ask for It!  And money isn't the only measure of value.  It would also be of value to me for your women's bar association to sell my book.  Of course I'll bring it with me to autograph and the like.  But you could also include it on your invitations.  If someone in your Bar Association blogs, they could give it a review.  If you haven't already pledged that you wouldn't give away anyone's email address, you could give me your mailing list so I can stay in touch with your members.  Each of your members also has her own network.  We could brainstorm about ways that you could give me the benefit of my pre-speech networking acumen to get more women to your convention.  It's hard to sell seats these days.  How many people are you expecting?  What if we double that?  Could you pay me my full fee then?

"None of us is a suit on a rack.  And what we can do for one another is so much greater than opening our wallets and shelling out a few dollars that money sometimes seems just laughable.  So let me say this again.  I know you've heard it before but I want to highlight it here again.

"I am a store of value and you are too.  My network, my social capital is a store of the store of value of each member in it.  And in that, you and I are both rich.

"Got it?"

My friend, my student, is smiling, even though I can't see that over the telephone.

"I got it."

"Now what was that offer again?"

 The next game changing She Negotiates workshop is still open for a few last-minute members.  We start on Monday.  Don't be a suit on a rack.  Join us!

(cross posted at She Negotiates)

I asked one of my consulting clients for a testimonial yesterday.

"Anything," she said, "it's genuinely changed the way I do everything.  It's not just the shift in my business relationship with [BigBiz, Inc.].  I dumped a boyfriend last week because of our conversations!  So, seriously, what would you like me to say?"

My client and I, like the few women commercial litigation clients I had during my twenty-five years as a lawyer (2%?) were quickly becoming friends.  And I was proud of her.  Truly proud.  Like a parent would be.

"I'm proud of you," I finally said, even though I'd been thinking it for weeks.  "You've shifted the power in your working relationship and that was difficult to do.  You were persistent.  You're a first class learner.  And you've been brave."

She laughed, the way we women do when we're praised, wanting the moment to pass instead of savoring it a little, particularly when we know deep down we've genuinely achieved something important in our own lives and careers but don't want to appear self-satisfied.

So I said it again.  "I'm really proud of you.  You've done great work and you never gave up.  You didn't fold to the power of BigBiz, Inc.  You stood up for yourself."

This is a powerful woman and she was powerful long before I met her.

Still.  It takes courage.  Don't for a moment believe that it's just you.  Yesterday at my Forbes "On the Docket" blog, I wrote about women lawyers who were angry about being bullied out of their "origination" credit.  "Origination" is the credit you get for bringing clients to the firm and sometimes for keeping them there simply by being damn good lawyers.  They feel initimidated and they're some of the most powerful women in the country.

"It takes courage," I said again to my client.  "Most women think it's them.  They believe they're the only ones who feel inadequate to the task of popping their head into the managing partner's doorway to say, 'I want to talk to you about sharing the origination credit for the work we've done for Major Petroleum Company, Inc.'"  We're all afraid of asking.  Hillary Clinton's afraid of asking.  Sure, Clinton can run for President, but I'd wager a cool thousand that it's not easy for her to ask for a raise."

"And practice," my client offered.

"Oh lord yes, practice," I responded.  "And here's the thing.  We tut-tut and shake our heads over the failure of citizens to confront their governments about genocide.  What were the German people thinking happened to all their Jewish neighbors?  They knew they'd been sent to camps and they knew they were being executed and starved to death.  Why didn't they do something?"

They were frightened.  We're not talking about blowing the whistle on corporate wrong-doing for which we might lose our jobs, disable ourselves from paying the mortgage and encounter long-term unemployment.   Any German who said, "hey, wait a minute - you can't put Jews in camps" was liable to be imprisoned and executed.  Any ordinary citizen who did what Miep Gies did in a effort to save Anne Frank's family put her own life and that of her family at risk."

"That's why we call them heroes and award them metals for bravery and uncommon valor.  If I do not practice standing up for myself and for those who don't have a voice here and now, I won't learn the lessons or develop the strength of character to stand up when the Nazis march into town."

"But my question," my client reminded me laughing.  "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to say that my consulting transformed your entire life in addition to getting you the business deal you wanted." 

"In your own words, of course."

The next life-altering She Negotiates month-long online coached negotiation class begins on July 19.  That's next week.  When, if ever, will you be more ready to stand up, speak up, and begin to earn what you know you're worth?

The blog, which is today offering prizes, is here.

Testimonials

It's the quality instruction, real world experience, and bevy of resources brought to you by Victoria Pynchon that makes this course a stand out. On the internet a lot of people purport to deliver courses that will 'transform your life' or 'bring you to a new level in your business,' but often prove to be nothing more than advertising vehicles to enhance their lives and not yours. Victoria, with the support of that fabulous woman behind the Craving Balance curtain, Lisa Gates, has created a real winner with this course. And yes, it is transformative--it changes your beliefs about what you're capable of doing and having, because you're given the know-how and tools to make it happen."

Doreen Lima, Wildly Successful Personal & Professional Development

 "I am embarrassed to admit that I had only a glimmer of the science behind the negotiation process. And I had not given much thought to how often we bargain every single day in every part of our lives. Victoria has opened my eyes and helped me to fill a huge gap in my business and life tools. The change in my attitude toward money was a surprising bonus! I no longer dread talking about the fees I charge for my services. I may never eagerly embrace negotiation, but I no longer fear it and better yet, I appreciate and enjoy the process now. Thanks to She Negotiates, I am making great bargains and walking away when I say it’s the right time."

CaZ of Writing Bytes and 2 Chicks at Home

"Thank you so much Vickie and Lisa for raising my level of awareness of the power of negotiation, for helping me re-examine my self worth, and for encouraging me to stand up for my bottom line and not be swayed by someone else's bottom line."

Lori Lacey, Corporate Learning Specialist and Coach

"I learned more during this hands-on negotiating course than in another higher-priced class I took. Victoria and Lisa helped me make the emotional changes necessary to demand a higher value for my work, and taught a step by step process for getting the most from sales negotiations." 

Linda Gryczan, Mediator

 "Victoria and Lisa are an amazing team. Their individual areas of expertise create the perfect blend and balance for understanding the subtle nuances of the art and science of negotiation, and they do so in a way that is fearless and authentic. Thank you for this incredible opportunity. You've empowered me and I am grateful."

Debra Healy, Beaverton, Oregon

Lisa Gates of Craving Balance and I are doing it again!  An entire month of negotiation classes that will change your life. 

When Lisa and I planned our first month-long course (you can see the testimonials here) I told her that the women participating in it would make back the cost of the class in the first negotiation they conducted after the course ended.

I was wrong.

They made it back before the course was over  it back.  One participant said after the first weekly group teleconference,

I could drop out now and feel that I'd gotten more than what I paid for.

The response to our second course (now starting its third week) is even more powerful.  So powerful that an attorney I ran into at the recent WLALAPalooza event said,

I took your 90-minute free teleseminar and tripled my hourly rate in response.  I just did it today!  I'm so excited and so proud of myself!

So we've decided not to let the grass grow under our feet or yours.  We're offering the course again - with a  money-back guarantee - beginning on July 19.

And here, for the comparison shoppers among you, is the cost of more traditional, less personally tailored courses, courses that do not provide the support women need to go out and do it!  

Tuition for Straus Institute 42-hour mediation (negotiation facilitation) course:  $2,195.00 per person

Two-day Karrass course $998 per person

Local mediator Jeff Krivis' Improvisational Negotiation Course at the Straus Institute $1,295 per person for two and one-half days of instruction ($518/day per person)

Local mediator Lee Jay Berman's one-day Negotiation Course: $345 per person.

Why Negotiating Women at Craving Balance?

The course Lisa and I have developed is an interactive, one-on-one and group negotiation experience in which we help women quickly move past their storied fear of bargaining by:

• recognizing the opportunities to negotiate better compensation for their services or products, whether they be solo entrepreneurs or professionals; managers or professionals in a corporate or legal setting; or, employees in any type of organization;
• recognizing the opportunities to negotiate better relationships with workmates, colleagues, competitors or opponents, as well as with family members;
• seizing these opportunities in a style best suited for the individual student;
• practicing negotiation (and dispute resolution) skills with coaching and follow-up; and,
• encouraging them to show up for themselves and their families by naming their true market value and claiming it in a manner that does not damage but improves relationships.

You will make up the cost of this course -- and more -- before you can say, "who me?  negotiate?"

And let me say this about the power of Lisa's coaching -- a side benefit of putting this course together with her - I become a smarter, wiser, more productive, funnier, better focused, more effective and happier person with her guidance than without it.  

And how many people can you say that about?

Sign up here today!

Here is an Excel spreadsheet of the data collected in this assessment.

8.4

It's easier for me to negotiate

for other people

8.1 

I negotiate for myself at

 least once a week.

 8   

I negotiate for my family/friends

at least once a week.

 6.3 

Before negotiating a purchase,

I do research

  5.7 

Before I negotiate, I know

my "bottom line"        

 4.7

Before negotiating I plan my arguments

to support my offers/counters.

 4.7 

Before negotiating, I prioritize my

5.3 

Before negotiating salary, I do research

6.1 

my "bottom line"  

4.9

Before negotiating salary, I make a list of  non-monetary items to exchange

 DIFFICULTY IN VALUING

 3.8 

 It is difficult for me to say "no."

 5.5 

 I am afraid I under value myself.

 8

I am afraid I over value myself.

 4.8

 I believe I fairly value myself.

 FEARS ABOUT NEGOTIATION

 5.4 

I am afraid that if I ask too much I’ll be harshly judged

7.7 

I am afraid of making offers that others might reject.

8.1 

I am afraid that others will consider me pushy or too aggressive if I negotiate price

DIFFICULTIES NEGOTIATING

7.3 

 It is difficult for me to make an

 8.3 

It is difficult for me to make a

counter-offer.

8.2 

It is difficult for me to talk about my own value.

NEGOTIATION PREFERENCES

8 

I do not enjoy selling.

8.6 

8

I am more interested in everyone getting

a fair deal rather than the best deal for me.

7.6 

I believe competitive bargaining is

necessary to get best deal.

4.3 

I do not like competitive bargaining.

8.7 

 I prefer cooperative negotiations to

competitive ones.

 9.2 

I prefer negotiations that make my

bargaining partner as happy as me.

9.4

I prefer negotiations that end with

a deal that gives me a better bargain than my bargaining partner.

3.6 

I do care if my bargaining partner is happy with the deal.

7 

 I do not know what to do at impasse.

 7.8 

 I enjoy brainstorming solutions to

problems with others.

 8.9

 I consider my bargaining partner a

mutual problem solver.

 7 

I am afraid of offending my bargaining partner

7.9

 Relationship is more important

to me than money.

8.2 

 I give up good deals to preserve

relationships.

ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN AND SELF CONCEPTION AS A WOMAN

 7.8 

 I don't like aggressive women.

 5.1 

I consider myself to be an aggressive woman.

4.5 

7.7 

But let's take a look at what's at stake here - your economic future.

Why this is Mission Critical

The wage and income gap is stuck at 33% despite the gains made by women in business and the professions over the past thirty years. That's simply unacceptable to me. And because I know the reason why, I've committed myself to spreading the word and teaching the skills necessary to close that gap NOW.

You Know Why the Wage Gap Persists?

I believe I do.  I'm no social scientist, but I am an expert negotiator with a master of laws degree in conflict resolution and five years of full-time experience facilitating the negotiated resolution of commercial litigation.

I've been teaching women to negotiate for the past two years and here's what I learned - both on the ground and through extensive research.

The month-long online course (beginning on July 19) will be taught by me and by author, actor, success whisperer and work-life balance coach, Lisa Gates.  Listen, there are a bazillion "life coaches" out there.  The term itself is something I've often simply snorted derisively at given my propensity to dismiss without investigation.  I didn't hire Lisa to coach me and she didn't hire me to teach her negotiation skills but when the two of us got together, the synergy was like . . . . cold fusion.  Together we are both many multiples more powerful than we are apart.  I'm so confident in Lisa (and frankly so confident in myself) that I guarantee you that a year from now this month-long course will cost at least two grand.

Why?

Because we're not giving women fish.  We're teaching women to fish.  And the value of that teaching; that coaching; that support; that wisdom; that insight; and, that ability to take anyone from zero to sixty in 30 seconds, is literally off the charts.

Here's my real purpose - money being just a means of storing value; keeping score; and, paying the rent.  

I want to send my women readers out into the world as skilled and effective negotiators because I know that each one of you will teach at least one other woman what you've learned and she'll teach another and that damn wage and income gap will just . . . . vanish.

That's how powerful YOU ALREADY ARE!

The moment you begin to see how many opportunities there are to negotiate for a better life for you and your family and your community; your state and your nation and your world, we'll give you the tools you need to do so. After that, it's just practice, practice, practice.

And then you will ROCK THE WORLD!

This is not just a class - this is a a movement.

Begin the journey to real economic power for yourself and your family today.

AND GENTLEMEN:  PLEASE SEND THIS LINK TO YOUR WOMEN FRIENDS - NEGOTIATION SKILLS VASTLY IMPROVE RELATIONSHIPS AND YOU WANT THAT TOO, RIGHT?

Just in case you were manning the Antarctic Ice Station at the time of the revelations prompting this post, here's the L.A. Times Executive Summary.

WellPoint Inc. revealed Friday that it boosted . . . chief executive [Angela Braly's] compensation 51% last year, even as the health insurance giant prepared massive rate increases in California that embroiled it in a national controversy over skyrocketing health insurance costs.

The proposed rate increases of up to 39% in individual policies turned the insurer into a flash point in the healthcare overhaul battle, breathing new life into President Obama's effort at a crucial time in the debate.

Digression alert:

Congratulations to Ms. Braly, by the way, for cracking the glass ceiling so thoroughly that she can now rightly take her place among the men who brought you the most compelling stories of American greed since Gordon Gekko walked a Hollywood beach carrying a 4-pound cell phone. 

End of Digression.

The point here is not greed.  The point is this:  you can justify a raise no matter what the economic climate and Gill Corkindale, former management editor of the Financial Times, and Harvard Business Review Blogger can tell you how below. 

I recently met a coach who specialised in helping women executives get the pay rises they wanted. Even though they held senior roles, he said, many of them were unable to find the right words — or the right moment — to pitch for a raise. They still laboured under the assumption that if they did a great job, a great salary would automatically follow. His job was to help them understand their worth, build the case for a raise and find the confidence to go in to their boss and negotiate.

In my own practice, I have come across many exceptional women — and men — who find it difficult to ask for a raise. It is partly a matter of confidence, partly pride. Some find it distasteful to talk openly about money and highlight their value to the company. Others question their own performance when recognition and reward do not automatically follow their hard work. Employers are often prepared to exploit such discomfort. One of my clients, a very senior woman banker, demanded a raise only when she discovered that her peer's junior report was earning far more than she was — even though he had considerably less experience and responsibility. She told me that sheer fury had driven her into her boss's office to demand a raise.

Navigating the complexities of salaries is never easy, but it has become even more difficult during the economic crisis of the last two years. When your company is restructuring, shedding jobs, and making deep cuts, it is hard to ask for a raise. But it is especially important to look after your career during these times. So what is the best approach to getting a raise and managing your personal career capital?

The first step is good preparation and research:

Continue reading here!