Underpinnings Blog

Category: Uncategorized

  • Being Small

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    Peggy Hagerty Duffy
    in

    Taking Charge of Your Presence   During the writing of this post, in which we decried The Spread, I happened to be talking to a member of the Underpinnings community.  When I mentioned the subject of the post, she said, “I would never say anything if a guy did this.  I always just try to…

  • Field Dressing

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    Peggy Hagerty Duffy
    in

    De-Coding Dress Code   I was having a conversation the other day with another woman in the geotechnical field.  I mentioned a dynamic woman whom I admire in our industry, and the other woman looked apprehensive and said, “Yes, she’s good, but she wears such tight clothes to meetings.”  To her credit, before I could…

  • No, That Doesn’t Make Sense

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    Peggy Hagerty Duffy
    in

    Just Stop We are all in agreement that we, as women, need to stop apologizing, right?  We covered the subject here, and we aren’t the only ones who believe that women undermine ourselves when we constantly apologize as a conversational tool. Now that we have that out of the way….Okay, we probably don’t.  It doesn’t…

  • When One Gate Closes, Another Opens

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    Peggy Hagerty Duffy
    in , ,

    And In Second Place… First Runner Up in our anniversary contest, Lucky Nagarajan is a powerhouse in a tiny package, a true spitfire.  She is never without a smile and tackles every new task with a positive attitude.  She obtained her Master of Science in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington and…

  • How Did You Get Here?

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    Peggy Hagerty Duffy
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    Diluting Workforce Quality for the Better…Or Not How did you get where you are?  No, I’m not referring to your route to work this morning or whether you took a plane or a train to get to the conference you’re attending or how you managed to sneak out of the office to go shoe shopping.…

  • What Price Ambition?

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    Peggy Hagerty Duffy
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    Hey – Your Ambition is Showing By Ann Schmelzer, Guest Contributor (Editor’s Note: Ann is a top-level manager for a major international manufacturer.  Someday we will all be working for her, and that’s not a bad thing.  Although she is not in the deep foundations industry, she spends all day every day with men, most…

  • Tell Us More

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    Peggy Hagerty Duffy
    in

    Tell Us What You Think, What You Really Really Think So………what do you think?  Seriously.  We have addressed a number of topics here at Underpinnings over the past six months, and we’ve had a bit of discussion.  Some guests also have contributed their thoughts, which have expanded our collective voice. In the near future, we…

  • The Power of Affirmation

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    Helen Robinson
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    Positivity is Power Lately I have been thinking more about how powerful affirmation can be.  When I was younger, I assumed that people who are good at what they do, know it.  I didn’t always think about acknowledging people for their skills, or what effect that might have on them. My Mom continuously emphasized the importance…

  • Emotional Factor of Safety

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    by

    Helen Robinson
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    Crying At Work (About Work) Isn’t Okay Women are often stereotyped as being emotional, flighty, weak, and thinking with their hearts and not with their heads.  Men can be portrayed this way too- if a man tears up at an emotional scene he is “in touch with his feminine side”. Engineers and scientists on the…

  • Happy New Year

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    Peggy Hagerty Duffy
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    Congratulations on Whatever You Did!