After watching this “60 Minutes Overtime” interview with CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan — who was beaten and sexually assaulted in Cairo last week, prompting some media executives to consider pulling their female reporters out of Egypt — I’m struck by one observation she shares.

In the interview, which aired in September 2010, the 39-year-old journalist describes coming under fire while with US troops in Afghanistan. “I ran for cover. Usually, I would run for the cameraman,” she says. “But once you have two little babies at home, you have a little different perspective on things.”

As working moms, we’re all too aware of how other people may (or may not) perceive us once we become parents. Studies show that the age-old gender gap has been replaced by the motherhood penalty. Some companies woo parents with work-life balance-improving benefits and then penalize employees for using them. We worry that we’re seen as slackers if we have to dash out of work to pick up a sick child, or if we can’t stay late to work on an important project.

But what we don’t often talk about is whether our feelings about our jobs change when we have kids. Not whether we’d rather work from home (or go into an office) or whether we want to downshift from full time to part time or opt out of the workforce entirely. I mean how becoming a parent can influence the work we do, and the risks we’re willing to take while doing it.

So, let’s talk. Did you view your job differently once you became a parent? What do you do, and how did your perspective change?

Photo: CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan in Iraq (Photo from CBS News)

With all the chatter about social media, it makes sense to take advantage of every chance you get to promote your business or build your brand. Even if you’re attached to a large company, your own personal brand is important: It’s what helps you stand out in the crowd.

I’ve written a lot about Facebook and LinkedIn and why I think those two platforms are important. But Twitter? Twitter can feel like being at a cocktail party where everyone is shouting at once. Or it can feel like you’re surfing through channel after channel of third-rate infomercials for products you don’t need or use. How do you cut through the chaos to deliver your message, or to find the info or connect with the people you need?

Here are some tips for making Twitter work for you.
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Once upon a time, I had a proper home office, with a door that closed and everything.

It turned into a nursery.

My next home office became my oldest stepdaughter’s bedroom. My next one was a nook in the master bedroom, with a desk that could barely hold the massive computer monitor from 1998 (older than three of our five kids) and where I hated to work at night because it was so far away from the hub of the house.
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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the way women interact at work, the way we interact as mothers and as friends, and the way we inadvertently undermine our professional and personal relationships. And I’ve come to a pretty liberating conclusion: Much of the time, it’s about insecurity. But you can’t control other people’s behavior, only your own. Which is why you can’t make other people’s insecurities your problem.

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On my very first solo overseas trip, I spent three hours standing around a deserted airport in Bombay (it was still called Bombay, back then), waiting while my luggage sat, unattended, on the tarmack. On another trip, I plugged a borrowed laptop computer (borrowed from my employer, that is) into the wall in Hyderabad and watched, dumbstruck, while the outlet popped and sizzled before I yanked the power cord out of the wall.

On other trips over the years, I’ve ripped my luggage, packed wayyyy too much, packed wayyyyy too little, misplaced a passport, lost my purse, been unable to change money (pre-Euro) (who knew that Belgian Francs and French Francs weren’t interchangeable? Not me, then), had killer headaches and no medication in sight, and been inappropriately dressed while sight-seeing — all things that could have been prevented, if only I knew then what I know now.

But you can learn from my experience — and, of course, share your own in the comments! Here are some other things I wish I’d known the first time I traveled abroad by myself. And if you’re about to start traveling overseas for business, it might be good to print this out and pack it in your carry-on.

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I’ve been a stepparent for about a decade now, and so much of what you read in books, articles, and online highlights the negative aspects to what really can be a very difficult life choice. National Stepfamily Day was on September 16, and in honor of the occasion, I wanted to talk about the positives — and maybe help a few other stepparents find a way to celebrate what they have.

You can read my stepfamily article right here on Work It, Mom!, and you can read my interviews with three stepparenting experts here. But while doing my research and talking to these knowledgeable women, I was surprised to discover that many of the ways one can find happiness as a stepparent also apply to finding happiness — or at least peace — with your job.
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In sewing, there’s a really important type of stitch called a back tack. It’s created when you sew a seam forward on a sewing machine, then a little bit back on itself, and then forward again — a step taken backward in order to keep an entire long line of work from falling apart.

We do them in life, too. It’s just harder to accept, because 1) we can feel the backward step, but not necessarily the securing of the seam and 2) in our careers, especially as women, even more so as parents, sometimes the backwards steps feel like defeat instead of reinforcement.
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When I started working at my main job, I was fresh out of college, younger than some of the interns, and perpetually worried about being taken seriously. So I made sure to dress a little more formally than I had to, kept my long hair up in a severe-looking bun, and was extra-careful about my work. But still, if I had a dollar for every time an older coworker asked me to copy, collate, or fetch something for them that first year, my 401(k) would be a whole lot bigger than it is now.

I remember a coworker who, back in the mid-1990s, told me that I reminded him of all the women who wouldn’t date him when he was in college and treated me accordingly. Others asked me how I’d managed to get hired so young (no, nepotism was not involved, though hard work and luck and good advice were). I’d cringe a bit whenever someone asked me how old I was, not because it was an inappropriate question (though it is) but because I hated the way anything I did after that would be judged and downgraded.

Excelle has a list of 12 things you should never say to your younger and older coworkers, and while I found myself nodding along in sympathy as I clicked through their advice, I think there are a few tidbits I’d like to add.

1. Don’t judge a coworker by his or her peers. Were you flighty and irresponsible when you were 22? Fine, but that doesn’t mean the new hire is. And just because your mom doesn’t understand email, don’t assume that an employee your mom’s age won’t either.

2. Treat everyone as you’d like to be treated. It seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? Don’t be condescending, don’t be dismissive, and don’t forget that if you step on anyone on your way up the ladder they can kick you in the head on your way back down.

3. Help people. The new kid isn’t necessarily after your job. And the office veteran isn’t ncessarily looking forward to retirement. Find ways to make yourself valuable to your company instead of withholding your help or support. Even while you’re working together, your coworkers are part of your career network; it’s better to cultivate than it is to alienate the people you work with.

Do you have any stories to share from when you were a young, new employee? How do you wish you had been treated?

My husband was out of town all of last week, and this week my youngest kids are out of preschool, so it seems like a good time to revisit the whole “how on earth do I work when I have to look after my kids at the same time” idea.

Here’s how I’ve been managing. Without adversely affecting a.) my liver or b.) my reputation.
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I’ve written before about when it might make sense to work for free, and now I’m taking a look at the other side of that issue: If you initially took on extra responsibilities at your job without pay, then started getting paid to do them, are you obligated to continue to work for free if the company suddenly doesn’t want to pay you any more?
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