"People say, 'I'm good and I'm capable and I can do that.' " Of course, many career executive assistants, like Ms. Jackel, love their jobs and have never aspired to management.
If your manager is a jerk, take heart: You've learned what not to do if you aspire to management.
"While not all women aspire to management and upper level positions," says Janice Kameir, vice president of human resources at Diversa, "the opportunities are there if women take responsibility for their own career success".
A recent study conducted for management consulting firm Bain & Company found that although 43percentt of female employees enter the workforce aspiring to top management roles, after just two years the number falls to about 16percentt.
Scientists aspiring to senior management positions must be forward-looking thinkers, have an entrepreneurial spirit, and be focused.
"We get them involved in the event by offering sets to aspiring DJs, stage management, and artist liaison opportunities," he told me.
These columns will be of interest to people leading small and medium sized companies today, many of whom have not had much formal training in management skills and techniques; for the many people in big companies who aspire to senior management; and for anyone who thinks: Give me a hint, how can I do this better?
Some argue that Norway's 46 weeks of paid maternity leave for mothers (fathers get 10 weeks) actually place those who aspire to senior management at a disadvantage.
There are worse places to be brought up in than Bishopbriggs, a commuter-belt town that is home to many who might aspire to middle management and a seat on the golf club committee.
"Management" aspires to be a hybrid of that great-granddaddy of modern romantic comedies about uncomfortable male initiation, "The Graduate," and smart American road-trip comedies like "Flirting With Disaster" and "Little Miss Sunshine".
