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.
Overcoming #fearface
I can feel it coming….the dread bubbling up inside and all of a sudden, I know it is showing up in the most public way possible. On my face. I call it #fearface, which is an acute version of impostor syndrome.
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.
A reformed runner
Although I could no longer run, I could still walk. Therefore, I figured I should walk up a mountain. Obviously. In my defense, I was sensible in my mountain selection process. I looked for a mountain that did not require technical climbing skills or oxygen and had less than 10 climbing deaths per year.
Not all feedback is created equal
I grew up being taught, as are all good little Minnesotans, that the ultimate goal is to be nice and make everyone happy. Enter the real working world. You can never make everyone happy. I repeat, you can never make everyone happy. So quit trying and move on to goals that you can reach.
To the women who came before me
I have a fundamental belief that the march towards equality should always move forward. Sometimes moving much more slowly than I would like, but never stopping and definitely never moving backward. After all, one can’t march backwards.
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.
The elusive digital unicorn
I define the perfect digital job candidate as a digital unicorn. They are so elusive that you may never have crossed paths with one. But if you are lucky enough to find one, hire him/her and don’t look back. A single digital unicorn can deliver impact equal to twenty digital ponies.
The fear of staying the same
While many people fear change, my biggest fear is staying the same. If you told me I had to do the same job, live in the same city, or be the same person for the next ten years, I would be despondent. It would likely require some funny cat videos to cheer me back up. […]
To blog or not to blog…
…that is the question and the source of much internal debate. As a digital marketer, I believe in rolling up my sleeves and practicing what I preach. As an introvert, my natural comfort zone is to be an observer and not put too much out on the public record. Clearly you see which side won. […]