Excerpt from the article: At the Top of Their Game by Laurie Wink.
Women executives excel at juggling career and family responsibilities.
Professional women traditionally take responsibility for managing households and families, and have to figure out how to achieve a work/life balance. As the following profiles of accomplished women attest, there's not a single path to the top.
“There's no specific recipe,” says Michelle Layman. “You have to find out what works for you and what makes you feel fulfilled.”
During a 27-year career at BP, Layman has held numerous executive positions. She is the Operations Manager for Ultimate Refining at the Whiting Refinery, and oversees continuous improvement techniques across the organization. Layman, 50, says she’s “blessed.” “My dreams were never as big as what I've accomplished. I'm still excited about finding the next adventure.”
As a tomboy, Layman played with Lincoln logs, built forts and hung out with boys. On a fourth grade field trip to Detroit's Ford Motor plant, she became fascinated by industrial operations. “I was just blown away,” she recalls. “They started with a block of steel at one end and rolled a car out the other end.”
Layman showed an aptitude for engineering, a field that didn't attract many females, but her mother encouraged her to do whatever she wanted. “She never set any limits on me.”
Layman graduated from Purdue University Calumet with a mechanical engineering degree in 1988 and was immediately hired by BP. She's managed to juggle job responsibilities with marriage and motherhood. At one point, she spent half of her time traveling overseas. Back home, she made international business calls in the morning and evening.
“I put a priority on my son,” she says. “I got to be a room mother and participate in a travel baseball league. I had breakfast with him and was there when he got home from school. And I never missed a birthday or the first day of school.”
As engaged parents with active careers, Layman and her husband Jack benefitted from having Michelle's live-in aunt share responsibilities. “You need to have a support system in place for those times when you get the call from work and you have to go,” Layman says.
She's grateful to mentors and sponsors who guided her career. As a mentor herself, she recommends women find a mix of advisors for personal issues and senior executives who can advocate for their career advancement.
“It's still a passion of mine to be able to give back what I was generously offered early and throughout my career,” Layman says.
