The Orange Line: A Women's Guide to integrating Career, Family, and Life

Why do women find work-life balance so hard? Why is having it all such an illusive quest? Why haven’t women achieved equality yet in the leadership ranks? Authors Jodi Ecker Detjen, Michelle A. Waters, and Kelly Watson probe these questions and more in this highly anticipated new book: The Orange Line™ - A Woman’s Guide to Integrating Career Family & Life. Through interviews with 118 college-educated women, they document the varied career stories and day-to-day anecdotes in the ongoing work-life struggle. They also uncover a revolutionary new line of thinking: Women are holding themselves back with outdated ideals and rigid rules for how to act. Naming this limiting belief system The Feminine Filter™, the authors call on women to reframe their assumptions, shed their guilt, and pursue their vocation with passion. The authors provide tools to help women remove this Filter so they can see more clearly to a new career path that includes work, family, and themselves. It is the most radical call to arms for women in decades, but instead of asking governments and organizations to change, the authors inspire women to look inward to claim their power.

Jodi is a Professor of Management at Suffolk University, Boston. Jodi writes about the organizational aspects related to living an integrated life. She is a principal partner of a boutique consulting firm, the InTrinsic Group. Jodi works with organizations to deliver outcome-focused leadership development, process improvement to match performance strategy and coaching to foster effective performance. Prior to this, Jodi was as an international management consultant based in London, England working with Global 1000 clients focused on large-scale organizational change. Jodi received her MA in International Development Policy from Duke University and her B.Sc., from Virginia Tech in Management Science.

Michelle has worked in the finance, professional services and university sector as SVP Business Development, SM Policy & Diversity and general manager. Recently she led a project across four continents for a client while managing their Fortune 100 accounts. Prior to this, she designed and implemented an award winning Work Life Strategy for an Australian G8 University. She co-founded the Victorian Work/Life Association and Beacon Hills College. Michelle has led work-life projects and co-published the article, Family Friendly Polices: Useful or Symbolic, in the Asia Pacific Journal of HR. She has presented at AWLP conferences and given lectures in Work/Life at Masters level. Earlier Michelle established and managed childcare centers. She holds a B. Sp. Ed and M. Mgt from Monash University and CWS from the Institute of Social Welfare, Australia.

Kelly Watson is a former Technology Executive and now provides consulting services to a range of companies. She has implemented large-scale operations projects including e-commerce, Point-of-Sale systems, inventory control, Paperless Practice Medical software, and ERP systems. She has filled executive-level roles for her clients and has launched new businesses on their behalf. Kelly also has taught a popular MBA Business Consulting class at Loyola Marymount University. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada and an MBA from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she was recognized with high honors as a member of both Beta Gamma Sigma and Alpha Sigma Nu.