#5SmartReads - October 13, 2022

Hitha on maternity deserts, sending artifacts home, and Minda Harts' wisdom

October 13, 2022

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by PepTalkHer

One of the things that infuriated me about the Dobbs decision (and there are many) is the meager and depressing state of maternity care in this country.

But I didn’t know it was THIS bad - that 36% of the counties in this country lack a hospital or birth center offering obstetric care, and without any obstetric providers.

THIRTY. SIX. PERCENT.

While counties don’t necessarily correlate with population, those in need of these services the most among those who lack them - and this goes beyond access to just obstetric care.

When you examine this map and see where most of these counties are, they are concentrated in states that have banned access to abortion, limiting a person’s options even more.

So what can we do?

Medicaid expansion and subsidies are the least sexy and the most impactful immediate tool we have to expand access to care. The inclusion of midwifery services can certainly help, starting with the legal recognition of certified midwife providers in addition to certified nurse midwives, to help expand obstetric care in these areas.

While there’s no single that we can do to fix this problem, there are a number of little things we can do to help improve access to care and the care itself. But much of these solutions are up to the states, which unfortunately are largely run by anti-reproductive rights legislatures and governors.

So please make your plan to vote and to research your candidates, both in this election and every election.

Minda Harts is one of the smartest women I know. Her books The Memo and Right Within are my most recommended career books, and I had the great honor to interview her and include her wisdom in We’re Speaking.

After reading this interview, you’ll definitely pick up her books to get more of her guidance. But I’m going to leave you with the best career advice - documentation and planning your next step while you’re still at your current job.

“When I was experiencing the worst of the worst in the workplace, I had to work three or four more years before I was able to leave. But what I had to do was to say, how can I reframe this? How do I now make work work for me, where I’m no longer trying to make it work for Tom and Steve every day? For me, it was taking advantage of professional development stipends, getting certified, and preparing for my next best thing. I gave myself permission to do that because I knew at some point everything will prepare me for my next thing. I just changed my mindset.

The other part of that is the documentation. Even if you don’t talk about it with your manager or with HR, are you writing that down for you so that you see there are patterns? This isn’t something that you’ve made up in your mind. Once I started to put those things on paper, when I was ready to have conversations, it was rooted in facts.”

How to start documenting at work (in partnership with PepTalkHer)

Every Friday, I have a recurring 30 minute block to review the week and document anything of consequence.

I keep a document for each quarter, and at the end of every quarter, I summarize the big wins, losses, and lessons I learned during this time. It’s been one of the most powerful practices for my career, and how I’ve negotiated deals on behalf of the company, my own raises and promotions earlier in my career, and helps me stay aligned to my goals.

It doesn’t matter how you do it (digital or paper, in your favorite Notes app or in a private Slack channel), but getting in the habit of regularly documenting these details are critical when it’s time to prepare for a performance review, or if you’re requesting a raise or going for a promotion, or you’re trying to plan your next step.

If the very thought of starting this practice feels overwhelming, PepTalkHer’s Know Your Worth challenge starts next week and will help you establish this practice (and their app is a great resource to help you document your wins at work). If this is what you need, be sure to sign up!

This may be the first most high-profile petition for the return of artifacts seized during colonization - and I doubt it will be the last.

And it’s not just the citizens of Egypt calling for the return of the Rosetta Stone and other artifacts, but prominent archeologists who launched the petition. And they are not playing.

"This is a powerful opportunity for Britain to demonstrate moral leadership, and to choose to follow moral principle over profit and support the healing of the wounds inflicted by colonial powers."

Previous cases to repatriate antiquities to their country of origin haven’t been successful in international courts, but I wonder if both the passing of Queen Elizabeth and the Internet’s amplification of these calls will help sway public opinion enough to start planning a transfer of these items back to their countries of origin.

Likely in the immediate term? No. In our lifetime? I hope so.

There’s something very calming and empowering about Laura Vanderkam’s books. She lights a fire under my butt while also swaddling me in a cashmere blanket - at least that’s how my brain feels after finishing one of her books.

Laura has a very uncanny knack of publishing the book I really need to read at a specific moment, and Tranquility by Tuesday is exactly the kind of book I need right now, when I’ve let a lot of my good rituals go or am focused on just the bare minimum.

Embracing habits that are done 3 times a week instead of daily. Not adhering to doing things at a specific time each day, but going with the flow a bit more.

This excerpt is the perfect introduction to some of the concepts she details in the book, which is such a refreshing departure from most personal development books. While most hammer at a singular point over and over again, each chapter of Laura’s books brings incredible value and the data to back it up.

I’m a huge fan of SLOP (Second Lady of Pennsylvania) Gisele Barreto Fetterman. And I am in awe of the race her husband has run to become the junior senator of Pennsylvania.

Honestly, the whole story reads like the love child of The West Wing and VEEP - some moments are hilarious (the Snooki Cameo was genius), some were deeply concerning (the candidate was hospitalized with a stroke when he won the primary), and the past two years that Fetterman has been running is as American - and Pennsylvanian - as it gets.

Rebecca Traister’s feature on John Fetterman is really an incredible piece of reporting - it is detailed, clear, and shows masculine imperfection and vulnerability in a way we’re only seeing recently. Take the time to read this, and please share it with any loved ones you have in Pennsylvania. We (yes, I will always claim Pennsylvania allegiance first and forever) would be lucky to have him represent us.

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