In an ideal world, we would get to choose our boss. We would carefully consider who communicates effectively, leads with high emotional intelligence, can teach us the skills we need to succeed, can push and inspire us in the ways we want, can motivate us without micromanaging or under-leading, can coach us to grow, and
In my coaching work with leaders and teams, I often ask my clients whether they engage in workplace gossip. More often than not, they respond, “of course not!” with a look on their faces that indicates that they are insulted to have been asked such a question. But when I ask them whether they have
I take a Mental Health Day (almost) every Friday. It means that my four-day workweek schedule is pretty packed. It means that I run my errands on the weekend. It means that I say "no" a lot. And it also means that I often have to remind my boss that I need this, I want
A few months ago, my family and I moved to a new home. Among several decorating and renovating projects, we hired a team of four men to install carpets in the bedrooms. It was a long and hard day, and as I headed out to grab some lunch, I asked the project lead whether I
“Reach out if you need anything.” “I’m here if you have questions.” “My door is always open.” Chances are, you’ve said one, two, or all of these things as a people leader. And it’s highly likely that you not only said them but you meant them. After all, being available to your colleagues for questions,
"That's just not true." "I've never said that!" "Does anyone realize how hard my job is? If they did, nobody would say this about me." We've all been in a situation where we've given someone feedback, and they just couldn't--or wouldn't--hear it. The sting of learning how other people experience them was so hurtful, discouraging,
During the pandemic, my daughter Sophie started a clothing resale business out of her bedroom. Most days, she was boxing up sweatshirts, shoes, bags, and jackets that she bought at bargain prices and sold at a profit. When business was booming, she would have 30 boxes to fill, seal, and label in a single day.
As Coretta Scott King said, “Struggle is a never-ending process.” And yet, we don’t like to see others struggle, especially when we care about them. It’s particularly hard to see someone struggle when we believe that we can make things easier for them – and when we have the resources (knowledge, skills, time, money, connections,
It was 2013, and I was leading a workshop for a client in Baltimore when I got a call from a TV network asking if I could be interviewed on their show the next morning about how to deal with setbacks at work. I had always dreamed about being on television as a thought leader.
When I started my first job, I worried about disclosing my struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to my boss. I was almost certain that she wouldn’t understand. Once she knew, I told myself, she’d assume I was unreliable and uncommitted. I imagined she’d deem me unworthy of a promotion, or worse, be entirely dismissive. For
