>> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc 7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. rebecca: thanks for joining us for a frfresh look at business and finance inhe washington region. coming up in today's show, shshortcutso be productive. in ourur roundtable, the stories makingng headlines t this week that impact a workplace. from maternity leave to the current tensions of race in america. but first, mentoring is part of any workplace and an excellentnt way to give backo those working up the ranks. there is a whole other dimension when it comes to having femal tang a younger worker under their wiwing. here to talk about this is

"washington business journal" rachel kronowitz and rosie aln-herring, nnifer nycz-conr. we have had youn the show. rachel, i have known you so ng and nev got to have you on the show. you are part of the big mentoring program inashington. jennifer that is the s setup to talk to you. the biggest mentoring program is under the auspices of "washington business journrnal" tell uwhatt is. >> it is called mentoring monday. it is march h 30. it is basically kind of likee speed dating but for mentors. you will have a chance to meet with 40 top-notch women arnd the area and have seven minutes apiece beforore the bell rings and

they move on, to get their tips and insights. >> some people think that " washington bususinesreport" is affiliated with "washington business journal"." i am not here to promote this has we are in a professional alliance. are different news organizations, dififferent owners, we are just big fans of "washington business jouournal" and one of the things i like is that your newspaper does so much more than news. you so he several awards that areiven every year. rosie and rachel are partt of the brands where powerful women in e community are nenetwork. along with sheila johnson, debbie jarvis. why be a news organation that wears a so many o other hats? >> bususiness is a about relationships. we worwith people that we know, we l we, we trust. that is what we strive for at

"washington business joual." to create community. the mtoring monday is how we cacan do that, to help people learn d to help em further their career. to really help us see the forest for the trees and fifigure out what those next steps may y be. this is a great way to dive in, maybybe if you never donone an official mentoring program, to try it out for a couple hours. these two ladies will two of the mentors. rebecca: you get this question a lot from other people, it is kind of i speed dating. you don't k know what kind of questitions will be ask by these young women. do y get approached by oth young women to be a mementor?? i never r realized that the menting w was a job assignmenent until i read "lean and -- lean in." dodo youentor others?

>> i think it is important. it is important as a formal mentoring program in the workplace. the informal mentoring that you get is very important. there has to be a synerg betweenhe mentor and the mint tea or it will not work. the has to be a real confidence that the relationship will work and peoplenderstand that they can n have real understanding. rebecca: i have had mentors my whole life. men and women who count as meors but it w was never a form arrangement. i never went upo someone and said, will you be my mentor and the way that they are asking people to do. do you have any formal relationships right now? >> absolutel part of minine started with a former mentoring program with an employer. i had some asome women who were fir mentors for me and

then of course i have some males along the way. much of the progress i have de has be because as s a mentor w saw something in me that i did not see it mysel who coach me about some things that i perhaps would not have and put me in touch with peopople whose ths and mind would not have crossed for whatever r reason. i have such an obligion and i bebeen so fortate. to me, it is a part of whi am because ieove to ntor. you get something out of it. we will keep you around for the roundtable. u are too powerful women in washington. thonly have about a minute left in the segmgment. i want both of you to explain to meow y would wanant to be approached by someone who wants a formal mentor relationship. you must be asked by summary people. how shou someone ask you? >> i would say be thoughtful about it. you don't want a knee-jerk kind

of conversation. it is abo helme think through what t it is i'm m looking to do. let themem know what you think they want to do them a what the areas of interest are. and bring something to the table. have a particular skill set i'm a quick lrner, i have initiative. at the end off the d, whoever you approach, make them feel like their time e will not be wasted and that they will not regret helping you. >> very good advice. you need to be clear when you're asking someone to be your mentor. ask them whayou'reooking for. your mentor probably learned something fromom you. rebecca: we hear that. marissa 11 said, we will learn from aoungerer generation by what they can teach us aut social media. --marissa levin, we will learn from younger generation. have you had someone who is ever met you,u, approaching you? >> eve single day.

rebecca: do you ever accept them? >> absololutely. rebecca: i don't understand how you manage the time the day. that will be theext segment, product to betty, is as high as it can be? you might want to stick around if you are your own or stemming when it comes to productivity. -- your own worst enemy wh [ male

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♪ rachel kronowitz in washington -- rebecca: in washon people showow how hard they work by brging about their 80 hour work week. our nextuest, work smarterer and not longer. multiple demands competing for

our attention. family demands charity wor so much more, it is time to mananage our te well. we have the solution and her names s marissa levin. she says, delegating is rule numberer one. we delegated to her solving your titime management problems. you have lots and lots of advice. what are the things you sasay is that it is a trying go of fact. it is three components, time management, energy management, and priorization. t's tackle each of those. i always talk about ener management. >> time management, there are a few things that we can do. we have to take control of our own titime. the first thing is saying no. rebecccca: youay that no is a complete stence. you also say, make decisions quickl >> seone saying to you, i want to mt you f for lunch

breakfast, dinne find out ithey havanan agenda and do not meet with anybody unless thehey have an agda. theyey should have at least three inc. they wanto accomplish and if they don' limited to three minutes. rebecca: people ask, let's get together for lunch, coffee. i always want to do it, some of are friends. you and i have been trying to schedule a lunch for twowo years and i just can't get it done. i don't get to go to lunch in my job. i poured all of the ti outside of mine job for my kids. -- i i hooard all of the time outside of my job for my kids. and it on skype. lets anythinyou're not good at, delegated to other people. -- >> anything you argood at, delegate it to other peopl rebecca: pple don't want to delegate. they say they do but they don't want to. >> don't keep trying to make

things absolutelely perfect. do it, put aime limit on it. move on. becca: keep repeating noo is a complete sentence. energy management. how you keep up your energy. a panel, i had women saying everythihing from weekly b-12 shots to ann executive saying, indulge in weekly massages. another said, i go out to eat at really nice restaurants. we are all looking for the way to boost our energy. >> eney is a rource, it is a ted resource, it is valuable rource and we have to protect it when people try to drag us io their drama, we have to say no. wee to put a force field around our selves. recca: distance yourself frorom the negative activity, dnot allow yourself to be dragged down by e d drama or the toxicity of other people. be aware of the impact of the

people have you. i wod sayay, you are hibit a of the otherer type of energy management. you take the time to work out and do other things. >> i take care of myself physically every single day with my workouts. meditate several tim a week. one thing that really nurtures my energy is being with g great trends. i make sure at i really nurture my friends because we cannot go at this crazy pace.e. rebecca: that is why i have not had time for the lunches.. i buy fitness mazazines and read themather than going to the gym. prioritization, create realistic goals, accountability partnerships. you have them some grt people and you ll it other and holdld each other accountablele. >> mlongtime accouability friend. rerebecca: somne i have ied to schele time with. >> we meet everyingle

thursday. just knowing i have to reportt into somomebody, that keeps me on task. i i use a tool with my clients and it really prioritizes based on time, money, energy, business. howas this link to our ststrategy. i make my clienents clear off everythingng on their plate excepept for the top two things. we single track them. rebecca: the accountabilityy component is s interesting. she is not in your fieleld, she is a wealth advisor. she doesn't know anything about bidding on government contracts but that is who you reach out to every week to keep you on tra >> our energy is congruent. it is symmetrical. when we want t to connect with other people that will push us forward, we cannotonnect with people who r run at a slower pace than we do. if we look at the people that are around us. the people that are arnd me

are moving, they are shaking things up. rebecca: i cannot keep up with you and and. i have to o step it up a little bit. we will have morore e on our facebook page. we will have a link to youour r blog and so much more. i have got a lotot of practicicing to do, accountability. i amame. be careful. stay tuned, the r rououndtable is next. th so many power women in the a block, talking about the news of the week. from maternity leave t to race relations and more. stay with us.

♪

rebecca: it is time for th roundtabable. there were some far bigger topics being t tackled in ththe news than just whethe or not consumers will buy an apple watch. wewe found ourselvlves confronng race relations. in aay that of us expected in 2015. the implications are being felt far beyond ferguson, missouri, madison, wisconsin. race is a topicic in schools, home, and in the workplace. we are brought back our block of power women. jennifer nycz-conner, rachel kronowitz, and rosie allen-herring. ladies, thank k you for joining us for the roundtle. let'talk about maternity leave. that story got a lot of attention for a companyot even based here in the u.s.. vodafone, and glglobal company has said from now on every woman that works for them in every

part of the world will get not only 16 weweeks of paid d maternity leave but when th come back t work, six months of 30 hour work weeks at full pay. jennifer nycz-conner, realistic in today's day and age? >> it is tougho do, especially 30 hours when you come back. one of the b biggest trouble spots when you come back is for a long time you feel like a fate -- a faure at home e and at work. that will be an interesting ththing to see how that plays out. rebecca: rachel, you have to advisese of the people who run companies. from the bosses perspective, itt is a great idea and the bit summary has to pay for it. rate idea, bad idea? >> it is a great idea. the busininess is vy competitive. we have to offer competitive maternity leave. we have to offer opportunities to work in nontraditional ways.

both sides have to be willing to work at it and make it work for clients. >> you are a workiking mom and the boss of a big organization. this is no indtment of my bosses becau it was a union issu i did not get one day of maternity leave. i to out loans e ery time i went on maternity leave. my advisor said, maybe you don't takehehe full 12 weeks. i said to her, i'm exhausted being pregnant much less havingg a newborn. i need thehe 12 weeks if you want meo come bacand be able to function in the workplace. even then, i came back exhausted. is this fair? what about the people that aren't getting maternity leave? sosomeone e has to go back to work in the workplace. >> only women can have babies. men do participate. rebecca: and there are some companies with paternity leave.

>> a lot of organizations recognize th. when you look at it being competitive fofor talent a when you look at really those people who are doing work, you find that not only are you just -- for your preferred eloyer. you are looking at t them not -- as an individu, not ju for the work they produce. rebecca: someone will papay for it. a bigger topic we will not solve today, race and america. i am on the board of visitors at the university of oklahoma collegege of international studies. i am a duke graduate, but grew up there. the president of the university i workeded for in the senate. i was shocked by the video ththat came out. i am told that tre are many outstanding young men and women but i was shocked by what i saw.

rosie, let's state the obvious. your afrfrican-amerin, were u shocked that that kind of song would be sung in 2015? what does it mean for the workplace at that kind of ignonce is out there? >> i was shocked. you would not think that in this day and age, given all that we ve gone through and just recently with commemorating the 50th anniversary of selma. rebecca: a day after president obama's speech.. >> i was very disappointed, that we have to ctinue to have this frustration. as a pson of color, a member of a national sorority that provides -- pres itself on service, it takes awayay from all that the sororities and fraternities are here fo the commodity- the camaraderie, the sisterhoo it is so disappointing that we have tcontinue to do something that wenonow is innately wrong.

rebecca: ou is an outstanding school it is not that kind of fraternity. what do we do? less than 30 seconds. >> we have to have conversations around dinner tables, in schools. my children actually went on a school sponsored trip to selma last weekend in order to be there to go to b birmingham, g go to the civil rights museumum, go to hear the president speak. that is because the conversation is happening in their high school. we have to talk about it. we cannot pretend it is not happening. rebecca: jennifer nycz-conner we are out of time. will have to integrate more of t the fraternities and sororities everywhere. there are lots of outstandingg african-amican fraternities and soroties. we have to find ways to integrate soso that pplple knonow people better. >> absolutely.

rebecca: thank you. a pop quiz and the next segment. stay tuned. ♪

rebecca: whonew, maris levin part of mentoring monday.

it will be a grereat program. i want to turn back to our roundtab that t the pop quiz. re i is, we tell opleo reach out f us onon social rosie, you have different ways.s. which is the most effective for you and united way? twitter, faceboo >> dinitely, twitter and facebook. rebecca: rachel, your favorites. >> i use linkedin. rebecca:hat are your favorites? >> twitter and linkedin. rebecca: i am becoming more and momore addicteto twitter but people are finding their way around it. whatever way it is that you use it, want you to reach out to us on social media and always join us every week for "washingtobusiness

[captioning performed the national captioning institute, which is responsible f its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this week on "government matters" -- >> ware talking aboutillions of dollalarsrs our data isis adding to the u.s.nomy. >> a team of experts will help the agency harness it's true matter. >> scale matter. you have to compete in a world that will bring your prices down. >> the m&a market heats up. we will take a look k at key deals reshaping the contractor landscape. >> a force multiplying effect, ich meant a 10-1 leverage. >> will geeks save the world? making the case for the platform. "government matters" starts right now. >> from abc 7 and news channel 8, this is "government matters." >> to our viewers around the world on the american