Blog

Quiet Confident Leadership

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Last weekend was not only Mother’s Day but also one of my Grandmother’s birthdays so I’ve spent quite a bit of time this past week thinking about both my Grandmothers. I was fortunate enough to have them both in my life well into adulthood and both had a strong influence on me in many ways. They were different women but one thing I noticed they had in common was their ability to command respect from others. The more I thought about how they did this, the more I realized it was through quiet and confident leadership and through demonstrating kindness. [Read more...]

Is Your Career An Occupation or An Occupassion?

Thursday, May 9, 2013 (originally posted March 1, 2011)

One of my friends is in the midst of a career transition and was recently at a conference where she heard one of the presenters talk about how careers and jobs should be “occupassions”, not occupations. I love that word: occupassion, and wish I could give credit to the individual who used the term. It says so much about the importance of doing what you love so that you can love what you do. [Read more...]

It’s a Delicate Balance

Thursday, May 2, 2013

For the past year, I’ve been involved in a leadership development program with a client. My role is to provide group and individual coaching to emerging leaders as they progress through a week of leadership development. Over the past year, I have seen the same keynote speaker and same “master of ceremonies” at each session of the weeklong program; yet, have never received such positive feedback about them from program participants as during last week’s program. Why? The common thread was vulnerability.

For the first time, each shared personal pieces of information about their lives that they had never shared before. [Read more...]

Career Development Is Not “Something Else To Do”

Thursday, April 25, 2013

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from senior leaders is about how to embed career development in their company culture – the exact question is usually, “how do we get our managers to focus and spend time on their employees’ career development? They are already so busy and do not need any more to do”. I have two answers to this question – both usually work well, once these things become customary in your organization. [Read more...]

Excel Where You Are

Thursday, April 18, 2013 (originally posted March 22, 2011)

Often times, when people are seeking a career change or a promotion, they are so focused on the next thing that they forget about their current role. Excelling in your current role is a critical factor in determining whether you will move to the next one. And, sometimes we get so caught up in what’s next, we forget the importance of what’s in front of us.

In order to get ahead, it is essential to not only perform in your current role but excel in that role. How do you do that? [Read more...]

Clean Out The Cobwebs

Thursday, April 11. 2013

Spring is definitely in the air and we’ve started to get our garden ready to plant some vegetables and flowers in the coming months. Most of us know (either from doing or observing) that in order to create the best environment for the veggies and flowers to grow, first, the soil needs to be prepped. Weeds need to be pulled out, the soil needs to be turned and then fertilized so that when we finally plant our seeds, they have the best foundation for their roots to grow deep and then sprout beautiful flowers and vegetables.

I believe there is something to be said about practicing this in our own lives… the process of cleaning out the cobwebs and weeds of things that have crowded our mind through the winter months. [Read more...]

Assumptions and Authenticity

Thursday, April 4, 2013

I talk with my hands. For those of you who know me, you know it’s nearly impossible for me to talk without using my hands. It feels awkward and uncomfortable and unfortunately I experienced this fully during a recent video shoot for my new book (Letting Go Of The Status Quo). My co-author and I were shooting a video book trailer and our PR team was conducting the video shoot. As you might expect, they were extremely detail-oriented about everything from the placement of objects around us to the lighting on our faces to how straight we were sitting and the angle and stillness of our heads. My co-author Julie had her video sections shot first so, after observing her, I assumed I knew what I needed to do. [Read more...]

Don’t Overthink It

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Last weekend my boyfriend Matt & I had our first salsa lesson. I’ve always wanted to learn the basic steps to be able to dance the salsa and Matt was kind enough to join me. We had a lot of fun and one big lesson I learned was to not overthink things.

As you may already know, the salsa is a simple loose dance with an easy step and rhythm — there are a few things to remember, but for the most part, it’s probably one of the easiest dances to learn (and this is coming from me, who has zero dance experience beyond ballet lessons at age 6). However, Matt and I seemed to run into trouble when we had to switch from a basic step to a side step or a turn. Why? [Read more...]

Fact vs. Truth

Thursday, March 21, 2013

There are things that happen in our lives that are “fact” – we get stuck in traffic, we are late, we don’t do well during a presentation, we miss out on the promotion, etc. Every day we are surrounded by the facts of our life. How we interpret them is what becomes our truth. The fact may be that you missed out on the promotion or didn’t get the job you thought you had in the bag but what’s the truth? Does the fact that you didn’t get the promotion mean you are a bad leader and unable to lead at higher levels? Or does it mean that there is a better opportunity waiting for you? One of the many things I learned as I was reinventing my personal life after my divorce and also as I was reinventing my career is that what is fact in your life and what is your inner truth depend upon your perception. [Read more...]

What Will Everyone Think?

Thursday, March 14, 2013

If you’re anything like me, I’m sure that when you are making a big decision (or maybe even a small one) about something in your life you occasionally wonder, “what will everyone think?” What will other people think of my decision and how I am living my life…? If you are not like that and these thoughts do not cross your mind, bravo!! I need to learn more from you! I remember when I was going through my most recent career reinvention and in the process of deciding to leave my corporate career to start my own business I was overwhelmed by these thoughts. The following is a short excerpt from my most recent book (official launch is next week!), Letting Go Of The Status Quo, where I share how being concerned with what other people think impacted me and how I overcame it. [Read more...]