Summer Symposium

OWL was pleased to partner with Women in Ophthalmology (WIO) for this year’s Summer Symposium held earlier this month in Pinehurst, NC.  Approximately 130 women attended the meeting.

OWL Board member Polly Neely (P.N. Consulting) spoke to participants about negotiating.

“It’s a great topic,” says Neely.  “All of us negotiate on a daily basis.  Whether it is scheduling staff time, hiring employees, asking for a promotion, buying a business or arranging a contract, we all at some point spend time negotiating for what we want.  While some negotiations are insignificant and others life-changing, at their core they all function the same.”

Negotiating effectively is a special challenge for women, who tend to feel “grateful for what they have and not push forward to chance messing it up,” says Neely.  She points to a study by Linda Babcock, a PhD candidate at the Heinz School at Carnegie Mellon.  Babcock’s team found that men initiate negotiations to advance their own interests about four times more than women do, and that men and women have very different negotiation styles. 

“The session was highly interactive and creative juices were flowing.  Participants discussed past negotiation experiences and strategies for upcoming negotiations,” says Neely.