So what are the ways to put LL #3 into effect? Here are some symbolic things to demonstrate this to your team. They’re going to believe based on what you do, not what you say. Continue reading
Sisterhood
I have no sisters. But lately, I’m realizing that women in my life are becoming more and more important to me. Other women are becoming sources of strength, inspiration, and just making me feel better about myself. This comes as a surprise to me, because I have often looked at other women as competition (for men, popularity, attractiveness benchmarks), or threats (the mean girls).
But I have changed my mind because of the following thing that happened to me recently. Continue reading
Making Life Easier Hints
This is a new category…it will represent all the great “wow, that makes things so much easier” hints I come across. Here’s one regarding flights.
Quotes I Love
“Your whole life should be a quest to be the best version of yourself.”
Rick Goings, CEO Tupperware Brands
Making a Great Toast
I am hopelessly bad at this. I get tongue tied, lose my train of thought, and forget something I wanted to say.
Someone shared this with me, and I thought it was great. Even more, I witnessed him make a fantastic toast: it was heartfelt, touching, and wonderful. The secret? Continue reading
Feedback
I find feedback hard. I discount the positive, and I overreact to the negative.
Someone I trust said something interesting to me: “You don’t have to take all the feedback as true. But pay attention to the feedback that really bothers you.”
I thought that was a great comment to keep in mind when you receive feedback. My other observation? How seriously I take the feedback is proportionate to how much I respect the person.
If there are people who respect you, take a moment. Give them some real feedback about what they do well, and suggest some actionable items on how to work on their weaknesses. You’d be surprised on your impact.
A great article on someone’s approach to feedback: read about a high school valedictorian’s effort that will blow you away.
A Surprising Guest
I sometimes co-teach a class with an old colleague who’s now a professor…and this week I came to his class on leadership. So, as always I tend to talk about Lessons Learned as a guest speaker. Little did I know I was going to have a guest myself. Continue reading
“Work is the hot cup of coffee in your lap.”
That’s my saying…what do I mean?
It’s very hard to ignore work. Once you start reading emails, you will be lost to everyone around you. If you spend all your hours at work, your universe will be defined by the office. When you work on the weekends, you get annoyed at interruptions….except that’s when your friends and family get to see you.
If you let it, work will be come the hot cup of coffee: impossible to ignore.
So make sure you focus on leaving the office at a reasonable time. Don’t look at your blackberry constantly. Take vacations. Be present when you need to be. Put down the hot cup of coffee.
Trying to Change Your Job
Recently, someone told me about a young woman who’s looking to change jobs. She’s taken a course in the field she’s interested in, but hasn’t made the move yet. Here’s what I would share with her.
Continue reading
A Way to Use Lessons Learned
Some of you have the My Lessons Learned one pager posted where you work, which is really humbling to me that people find it that valuable that they want it as a reminder. Recently, someone told me that she has highlighted the ones that she wants to work on specifically as part of her development plan as a daily reminder.
I thought that was such a great idea: there are times when some of the lessons might be particularly relevant for what you’re dealing with or what you want to focus on improving…and highlighting it is a great reminder to focus your attention. And as you master those, you can focus on others. Until you’ve mastered the whole list.
Full disclosure: it’s been 20 + years, and I’m still working on it.