In the 2012 Catalyst census data, women made up 14.3 percent of Fortune 500 executive officers and 16.6 percent of the board members, a small improvement over 1998. So, the question remains: Is there a better way to identify and advance women who have the desire and skill to rise to the opportunity?

You're not the first person to reinvent yourself. Keep that in mind when it comes time to go back to the drawing board and you will be in better position to make the honest, accurate, and appropriate decisions that will lead to greater success in the future.

Don't we all wish there was some sort of recipe for getting what we want out of life? In my experience, there is. Here goes.

The extreme level of focus, commitment, determination, and relentless work ethic is something others can relate to in their non-Olympic careers.

Career decisions need to start not with risks, but creating a prioritized list of "happiness criteria," or aspects that will critically determine your long-term satisfaction.

Most of us have grown up assuming that career success is vertical. We climb the ladder and move from junior positions to senior ones. The problem is that today's work is no longer divided up into small tasks that require higher and higher layers of management to put together.

The "invisible promotion," where the job title and description stay the same but the responsibilities significantly expand.

It's daunting to think about the global environment, the automation of jobs, and the continual push to increase productivity. It's the new economy in which we live.

Why did it take a virtual purge for GM's executives to realize that it was time for change? Wasn't bankruptcy, a federal bailout, a near-death experience, and embarrassment enough?