Leading up to International Women’s Day today, my social media feeds have been overflowing with videos and images of female leaders and women gathering together to network with, learn from, and support one another. Female executives have been sharing their personal career development stories and how they were able to break the glass ceiling on their way to the boardroom. These stories should be told and amplified as much as possible, but with one caveat.
Six Keys to a Successful Listening Tour
Stepping in as a new manager to a team feels a lot like standing at the base of a mountain. You have a vision of what you’d like to achieve, but the hill to climb is steep and the pathway isn’t always certain. From the team’s perspective, gaining a new manager can be either a welcome relief or a cause for trepidation. The amount of excitement, anxiety, uncertainty, and ambiguity shared by all parties can make the first week as a new intact team quite tumultuous. Effective new managers often go on a “listening tour” for the first 30-60 days. … Read More
Beware the Busyness Trap
In the endless battle for better work/life balance, we say we want to work smarter, not harder. But do we? We search for life hacks and consume books on how to do more with less. But it seems we like the idea of the 4-hour workweek more than we’re capable of implementing the concepts. Intuitively, this just doesn’t make sense. Why do we complain about the lack of work/life balance, and also constantly brag about how busy we are? There are a number of factors at play here, but one disturbing factor is how much our culture rewards being busy.
Five Keys to Leading Virtually
As the polar vortex took the Midwest by surprise last week, I connected with my friends and colleagues who work in the areas most affected by the extreme temperatures. Other than frost on the inside of the window and a few heating repair bills, it seemed like a regular week for these professionals. They all work from home and have done so for years. They don’t have to worry about a nasty commute or dangerous roads. Their worst-case scenario is a toddler bursting in the room during a video chat.
Applying the KonMari Method to Management
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you’ve likely been inundated with stories of friends and colleagues who are transforming their lives thanks to the viral sensation Marie Kondo. Her show on Netflix, Tidying Up, has taken the world by storm and is making us all question why we ever folded our shirts flat in the first place. Marie is a professional organizing consultant whose method for identifying what holds value and what just takes up space helps people identify how to unclutter their lives. The method, dubbed KonMari, involves holding on to the item and asking yourself if … Read More
The Danger of ‘Fake It Till You Make It’
The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” always sounds great in theory. Certainly, there’s value in transforming the image that others hold of you. By looking and acting the part, it’s possible to shift perception and then perception becomes reality. Additionally, when you behave like the person you want to become versus the person you are in your most natural state, over time that enables you to change and adapt internally. But there’s a limit to dressing for the part. It takes more than a utility belt and a cape to become a superhero.