DO YOU LOVE MUSIC?
I sure do. Music can lift us out of a funk, sooth a battered soul, transport us to out of our busy brains and into our bodies then light a fire within when we have lost our way.
Music is such a powerful tool, and with all great power comes great responsibility, which is what this post is all about.
What does this have to do with your career? There are many seemingly unrelated puzzle pieces scattered around us, and this post puts one into place.
Cue Motivation For Today’s Post
Don’t get me wrong, I am a raised-in-the-80’s pop diva and I love music of all kinds, especially with cheesy lyrics performed by artists with really big hair, and anything by Prince and George Michael.
It struck me one day that the amount of time I spend listening to music was considerable enough that I should pay more attention to the quality of the message.
Once I started down that path there was no going back.
You can’t unlearn a skill, and I can’t ignore the impact of paying attention on a big picture scale to the messages we are producing and receiving. I have the right to choose what I listen to, and so do you.
I listen to a lot of women.
I have a lot of respect for women. I consult and coach women for a living and I am blessed to have an insider look at their lives, values, struggles, career and pursuit of happiness.
Women are more educated, driven, generous, philanthropic, capable, health conscious, totally badass. We earn more degrees than men, have higher disposable income and more buying power at our disposal than ever before.
I invite you to vote with your wallets.
Despite the groovy beats and the way my kids (and mama) rock out to the latest chart topping tracks, I have started to weave and bob around certain lyrics like a Captain steering her vessel in stormy seas.
Yes I can….and so can you.
As I acknowledge the role certain lyrics play in keeping our income and opportunities smaller, it gets easier and easier to refine my playlists. 
TO ILLUSTRATE MY POINT
HERE ARE 3 POPULAR LYRICS
AND WHY I INCLUDED THEM
Lyric #1
“I’m in love with your body”
Call me crazy, but I don’t want to hear this on the radio or from my partner. I am the deep one when my friends get together and all; I don’t dig on superficial connection. Sure, if you are “here for a good time not a long time” then party on, but I want to be told that I made a difference, that I made you laugh, that our interaction shifted you into a better place, that I inspire you.
I shudder at the thought of my girls valuing this sentiment from potential suitors. This scene in Madagascar 2 and the direction it takes 1:05 into the short clip is brilliant and gives me great hope.
Lyric #2
“Hey baby girl”
What is with the number of songs on the radio that refer to grown women as baby girls? Most women I know want to be seen as capable, inspiring, intelligent, reasonable and determined. Not qualities I associate with babies.
Subtle yet important, this “baby girl” message goes out to the younger generation as acceptable vocabulary and perpetuates a stereotype that strips women of their power.
Which brings me to lyric #3
“I don’t want to talk”
In an evening class, the Head of Psychiatry at Stanford University shared that while men bond over activities, women bond over conversation. That the best thing a man can do for his longevity is to get married but for a woman it is to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.
Let that sink in.
In music, this sentiment if often referring to “activities” men enjoy doing. While women certainly enjoy these “activities” too, in my experience as a coach, woman and friend, I find it commonplace that women enjoy “activities” MUCH more when both parties are stimulated in the mind and the body.
Anything you can do, I can do better
According to the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs,
“While women represent 50 percent of the world’s population, they perform nearly two-thirds of all working hours, receive one tenth of the world income and own less than 1 percent of world property.”
If you feel like the fight for women’s equality already happened, think again. Throughout history, women from the Suffragettes to the feminist movement just a few decades ago, and so many more, have fought courageously and won important freedoms for women.
Despite the roles women are taking in business, medicine, politics and society, there is so much work left to be done. We live in a global society and where inequality runs deep, progress cannot be made.
I am pretty laid back, open-minded and liberal. The heart of my work is service; service to women who are striving for,
more abundance
respect
recognition
fun
community
happiness
quality
equality.
[Tweet “There are many great choices that rock the pop without selling out the sisterhood. #strongertogether”]
Who will join me in increasing awareness?
Please share this post and spread the word.
You make a difference. The efforts of an individual are the only thing that ever truly have.
Until next time, be fabulously YOU!
your Coach, Lisa
