Yesterday was a tough day for women in the top ranks of business.

In a management shake-up at Bank of America Corp., wealth-management head Sallie Krawcheck, one of the highest-profile women on Wall Street, was ousted. Meanwhile, Yahoo's board fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone.

Notwithstanding their performance on the job, I've long admired the candor that both Bartz and Krawcheck have brought to the discussion of being a woman, a mother and above all a hard-workingexecutive. Both have eschewed the notion that work-life 'balance' is possible at a single moment. Instead, they have been candid about the balls they've dropped