• Margaret Heffernan argues that women still face huge obstacles in corporate America. Explore potential examples of gender segregation and preferential treatment in non-corporate settings with your group. Do the restaurants you hold your meetings at or the bars where you have your happy hours have all-female or all-male staffs? Access statistics on gender segregation across industry and seek out examples of this nearby to evaluate against the data. Does the office building being built near you employ women construction workers? Are there any male nurses at your hospital or teaching at your kids' elementary schools? Take a trip to the grocery store. Since food shopping is traditionally a 'women's job,' do the stores cater to this? Observe the gender makeup of the shoppers in the store. Is there anything inherently female-centric about the design of the store?
• Nike Goddess is trying to make its share in the athletic apparel industry more women-friendly. How do other chains handle this ? Go to the mall on an advertising/marketing awareness blitz. Go into traditionally male and female stores that have crossed over into selling men and women's fashions, like Liz Claiborne or Polo. Does it strike you as more effective to keep men and women's clothes in the same store, or to separate them into two brands like Structure and Express? Visit Niketown and explore why women may find the store's layout unfriendly. Then if your town has a Nike Goddess, go there and compare the 'harsh' layout of Niketown to the 'toned down' women's store. Does it work? Lady Foot Locker beat Nike to creating a women's store. Visit there and compare the layout and experience.
• Colleta di Castebianco is quite a paradox -- a rustic village with better Internet access than most major cities. See if there's any interest in your group of making a get away to the 'rustic' region near you, such as a lake village or mountain getaway. Observe the level of technology they have compared to where you reside. Is it embraced or frowned upon? Brainstorm what you would install to make the area more friendly for business types.

Daniel Richards contributed this month's Flash Points.

August 2002 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps

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