How to Overcome Breakdowns Without the Drama “I’m looking forward to partnering on what our contract will look like for next year,” you say. “But before we go any further, I just need to know…do you love those Godiva chocolates as much as I do?” “Sorry?” the client replies. “What do you mean?” “Oh,” you say,… Continue reading The Chocolates That Never Were
The notorious performance review has become a modern-day torture tactic somehow accepted into the canon of corporate best-practices. Year after year, millions of employees file into their annual review with an enthusiasm befitting a dental cleaning. Here’s how you measured up. Here’s where you did well, and here’s where you fell short. Now get back out… Continue reading How to Do Performance Reviews Better
Ah…procrastination. The enemy of productivity. The killer of dreams. In a world of unprecedented distraction, how do we defeat this persistent foe? I’ve always been a productivity nerd. I love tinkering with project management systems, email strategies, and to-do list templates–anything to get an edge in getting stuff done. So, my tendency to procrastinate, despite… Continue reading YOU WILL NEVER HACK YOUR PROCRASTINATION HABIT
I once worked with a chief operations officer—we’ll call him Nicolas—who was asked by his CEO to present an update to the board. Nicolas prepared beautiful charts and airtight talking points to walk the directors of this private equity owned company through its day-to-day operations. But, it didn’t go to plan. After the meeting, the… Continue reading How to (Actually) Get Heard by Your Stakeholders
The other day, I was in a meeting with my colleagues. It was our Monday all-staff call that I really look forward to each week. But on this day, I noticed I was a little distracted and anxious. At first, I wasn’t sure what was going on with me. Then, toward the end of the… Continue reading HOW TO ELEVATE YOUR MEETINGS AND ACCOMPLISH WHAT MATTERS
Have you ever heard those stories of normal people singlehandedly lifting cars to save someone pinned underneath? It’s a thing, and it has a name: hysterical strength. Hysterical strength is “a display of extreme strength by humans, beyond what is believed to be normal, usually occurring when people are in life-and-death situations.” The exact scientific explanation of this phenomenon is inconclusive, but there are more… Continue reading HOW TO LIFT A 3,000 POUND CAR
Oh no, I thought. This is no good. He’s upset. He’s really upset..and openly challenging my boss in front of 90 people! This is going to undermine the whole program—and we’ve barely gotten started! There I was. My first month on the job. My first time observing our leadership development work in-person. (Remember when we used to do things in-person?) The goal… Continue reading MY BOSS IS DRIVING US OFF A CLIFF!
“He’s going to be so annoyed.” That thought often occurs to me whenever I’m late finishing up the workday… It’s not like I plan it this way. When I tell my husband I’ll be done at 5:00 PM, I mean it. Truly. But you know how one thing leads to the next. A meeting runs… Continue reading HOW TO AVOID GETTING IN A FIGHT WITH YOUR PARTNER
All workplaces are subject to a certain degree of ebb and flow in employee morale. In these trying times, maintaining morale is both more challenging and more important for leaders to do.So, the question becomes: How do leaders boost morale? And how can they do so authentically, in a way that amounts to more than mere window… Continue reading FIVE PRINCIPLES FOR BOOSTING MORALE AUTHENTICALLY
Much has been written on the topic of how to write better emails. And much of that advice, concerns the basics: correct grammar and spelling, thorough fact-checking, general avoidance of emojis, and, of course, the holy grail of email etiquette: keeping messages short and to the point. These are all important—albeit obvious—pointers. I’d like to… Continue reading HOW TO INCREASE THE IMPACT OF YOUR EMAILS
