Today's brave New World gives women the advantage.

Natural communicators, women are reaping the benefits of today's 24/7 world. Intuitive at building both personal and professional relationships, women are thriving in this era of e-mail, cell phones and pagers.

That was the message author Sally Helgesen brought to the October 2002 annual conference for Wisconsin Women in Higher Education Leadership (WWHEL) in Green Bay.

The counter point, of course, is that many women work themselves into a frenzy, providing leadership and teaching, balancing home and work responsibilities and striving to make an impression in the workplace, while trying to stay technologically connected and current.

At the conference and in her most recent book, Thriving in 24/7: Six Strategies for Taming the New World of Work, Helgesen discussed how women can use balance, visibility and relationships to make these times work to their advantage.

Balance vs. multi-tasking

Women are great at multi-tasking. They eat lunch at their desks while pulling together the latest research statistics, taking phone calls between bites. As technology places more diverse demands on workers, Helgesen said, they begin to understand the benefits of balance and the limitations to multi-tasking.

The biggest toll that the 24/7 life has taken on women is blurring the lines between professional leadership and home life. Although the cell phone has delivered so much convenience, it has also invaded lives, cars and homes. At a health club, she overheard a woman answering a work-related phone call in the shower. When will enough be enough?