We know that women represent only 4% of all CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies, and while we haven’t reached that level just yet, we are proud to be a company run by female execs. We also have the good fortune of being friends, so we are in near-constant contact about AEC and all the other things we're reading, watching, and trying. Each week, as we find the long reads and life hacks that we love, we invite you inside the C-Suite to hear all about what’s got us buzzing. Have a seat and get comfy!

Try: Moment

Here at AEC, we recognize how much value our smartphones bring to our lives. We’re all busy – as are you – with family, friends, work, service, and finding some time for fun so you’re likely to find us responding to emails on the go or checking our Google news alerts or staying in touch with friends via social media. That said, we are also learning how to carve out space away from our phones. I recently tried Moment, an app that tracks your phone usage. Here’s what I love: you can install it and forget it; there’s nothing to turn on or track manually. At any time, you can check to see your daily usage or weekly usage as well as which apps most drain your time or your battery. You can also track this information across several devices if you want to assess your family’s screen time (or do a “screen-free Sunday” competition with some friends). Data like these are incredibly useful and can prompt meaningful change. I deleted Instagram, set my phone to switch to “do not disturb” starting an hour before bedtime, and set up some automatic reminders for tasks I repeat weekly. If knowledge is power, knowing what consumes my time has given me more power over my time. 

Read: Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House, by Alyssa Mastromonaco

The tagline for this book reads, “If your funny older sister were the former deputy chief of staff for President Obama, her behind-the-scenes memoir would look something like this” and that is exactly what you get from Alyssa Mastromonaco’s insider look at the Obama White House. Mastromonaco provides a candid look into everything from her days in the campaign’s advance scheduling to intricate issues of international diplomacy when she became the deputy chief of staff. As a fellow list-obsessive, I was especially interested in her packing lists and to do lists (look out for why she carries extra grocery-store produce bags) but was equally intrigued by her assessment of the role of women among the president’s senior counselors. You’ll probably chuckle and cringe simultaneously when she talks about dealing with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) inside the Vatican and nod in agreement at her assessments of gender in the workplace. In particular, she talks about one difference between men and women: “Women need to know they are right before they stand up. Men are OK objecting if they just think they might be right.” In many ways, Mastromonaco’s book is a lesson in how to stand up, whether it’s to the president, on behalf of those who can’t, or for yourself. 

Share: Why There Aren’t More Female Pilots, from Condé Nast Traveler

You might have followed last week’s story of Tammie Jo Shults, who safely landed a Southwest Airlines jet despite engine failure. In the wake of her cool headedness, a host of stories quickly revealed that Shults was one of the US Navy’s first female fighter pilots. A second wave of stories questioned why aviation is still so heavily dominated by men. CN Traveler’s story takes a deep dive into the history of commercial pilots and some of the embedded structures that seem to privilege men. Many of those structures are recognizable to anyone in education: lack of paid maternity leave, erroneous assumptions that flying is physically difficult for women, and limited visibility of women in the highest levels of the organization. One captain’s comments are strikingly similar to Mastromonaco’s: “Men are assumed to be able to do their job well until they prove they cannot. Women are assumed not to be able to do it until they prove they can.” Ultimately, one of the most promising solutions is one we also think would work in schools and universities: mentorships among women are a huge source of support, encouragement, and professional sponsorship. The sky’s the limit. 

Lead: Data leadership

I’ve been doing a good deal of reading about data leadership; that is, what it takes to lead in education so that your staff is equipped to identify, analyze, and evaluate data for the purpose of making instructional and operational decisions. In a 2010 paper by Anderson, Leithwood, and Strauss, the researchers identify several practices of principals that help school staffs establish data use purposes and expectations. This is an important undertaking in a data-rich and data-demanding education landscape. The authors make three recommendations for enhancing the culture of data use in a school:

• Strong data leaders discuss and reference data often, indicating both that they are a priority in decision-making and also that data use is a foundation for democratic processes in the organization. 
• Make data use a collective activity. Leaders don’t need to be experts in data use, but they do need to make time in the professional development calendar and provide personnel with access to those data experts.
• Engage in longitudinal data use. Few leaders at the school or district level examined data over time, but doing so can yield insights that would otherwise be invisible in a cross-sectional (single moment of time) context. 

Let us know if you’ve read or tried anything we mention here – we’d love to hear what you’ve learned from any of the resources. Check back in next week.

-Lauren