The word is overused, and overuse leads to misuse. (Misuse leads to annoyance, and then we’re at a place where no one even understands or cares what you mean.)

But “empower” is not just another piece of jargon to be casually tossed around:

Women’s desire to please can inhibit their ability to take charge. That is one of the many factors that contribute to women comprising more than half of the American workforce, yet only a small fraction of executives.

Groupthink is all too common when people work together in a brainstorming or planning session. This phenomenon can veer a team or company off course, or it can result in people stereotyping others, including their colleagues — neither is good for a company.

Comstock’s asked this year’s six Women In Leadership recipients to see how they prepare themselves for the day ahead.

Those recognized this month by Comstock’s as prominent women in leadership would likely attest to this. Each of them share one book that has impacted their professional thinking and life journey.

In the last 50 years, higher education’s customer base has become decidedly more female. In 1967, 40 percent of college students were women. By 2014, it was 56 percent. The U.S. Department of Education projects that will climb to 59 percent by 2025.

But the people responsible for delivering those educations are still overwhelmingly male.

The intersection of parenthood, motherhood particularly, and the workplace is not a space without landmines. Next time you’re at a party, ask who has it tougher — then, run.

Upon receiving her bachelor’s degree in 2014, Monica Sandoval became Future Sacramento’s first student to complete the program and graduate college.

Public speaking routinely tops the list of common phobias. Butterflies in the stomach, sweaty palms, anxiety are all typical manifestations of the discomfort, which is often much less noticeable to the audience than to the one doing the speaking. However, unlike being trapped in a dark room with snakes, glossophobia (fear of public speaking) affects the ability to do something much more common.

On this episode of Action Items, arts entrepreneur and restaurateur Clay Nutting joins Celestine Syphax to discuss what the grassroots art movement can learn from institutional arts organizations in the Capital Region — and vice versa.