I started 2020 with what felt like big plans for my personal and professional growth. When March hit, everything ground to a halt and I found most of my expectations for the year had gone out the window. Now, I’m waking up in 2021 ready to kick-start my growth and development with a simple tool.
leadership as an art
Thoughts on what makes a leader others want to follow.
The challenge of leading in the arena
At the outset of the year, I reflected on my new role and recent roles I’ve held. I considered the three-year arc, and one thing I realized with the help of my mentor (and manager) is that I made a big move out of advising and into the arena. Advising offers comfort and certainty I […]
Four inclusion strategies for the holidays
Many people look forward to the winter holiday season as a time to connect with friends and loved ones. For some, the holidays may bring a different set of emotions to the surface. It might be otherness because they celebrate differently from the people around them. Or, like in my case, it might be that they […]
Addressing the elephant (or donkey) in the room
Given the impending midterm elections, I have politics on my mind. Over the past few years, politics has gone from something happening in the background of day-to-day life to this thing that shakes us awake in the morning and surprises us mid-day. It is the dominating overtone of media, culture, and conversation. And yet – […]
How to use your story to connect at work
Your story is more powerful when you move beyond knowing it and into sharing it. It is useful in work environments where there aren’t as many organic ways to go beyond surface-level interactions. This post offers ways to leverage your story in the office.
Put your Snuggie away and find some allies
I drove by a construction site on my way to work this morning. A piece of safety equipment caught my attention. It was a cone that read: ‘Danger, men working above’. On the surface, it was accurate. I should be careful, and the people working above the sign were men. It also made me consider how it would feel to be one of the few women working on the site. To walk by an overt reminder that you are different. Every day.
What do you mean, be human?
One of my opening moves as team leader was to bring the small group together for a kickoff, and to tell them how much I looked forward to working together, and talk a little about my leadership style. The first part of the conversation went as expected. I started off by saying, ‘to start with, I want us to be human together’. This was met with a long, awkward pause.
I have a dream, not, I have a plan
Today, Martin Luther King, Jr. would have turned 88 years old. He is known as a man who changed the world. A man who galvanized large groups of people to take action to achieve a seemingly impossible vision. And he did it with a dream, not a plan.