Managing Negativity: What to Do with the Complainer
[Pandemic aside, there is a complainer on almost every team: the person who has a lot to say and most of it is negative. For this blog, I’m not focusing on how to tackle the constant grumbler during COVID-19 times, as I don’t think we have to treat the complainer differently during a pandemic and WFH scenario. […]
Leadership and the Dog Days of Summer
I love to use times of the year as reasons to do things. These things need to be accomplished anyway and the time of year doesn’t really matter. For example, spring cleaning can and should be done any season. Since March my house is being used like never before, and it needs a deep cleaning every month, […]
Being Approachable—When You’re Not in the Office Together
Before COVID-19, I had lots of ideas for leaders on how to become more approachable: how to show people that you are open to their ideas, their questions, and their visits to your office or cube. Back then, it was easy to hide, intentionally or not, or be “busy” in conference rooms for several hours […]
The Mask, The Terminator, and the 98 Yr Old Leader
Focused on Wednesday. Lost on Thursday. And each afternoon feels like a Friday. It’s hard to stay focused these days, right? I know it’s not just me, as many of my coaching clients are saying the same. And my neighbors and my friends. You might feel productive one day and then lost the next. The […]
“I haven’t seen it” + The Magic 8 Ball + BLM
I’m starting off with politics. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, then I think you’re lucky that that statement is one of the things that makes you feel uncomfortable today. With all the fears, worries, and lost hopes around us today, yep, you’re lucky if this is what gets under your skin. Side note: for my friends […]
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Harvey Milk, and Dogs on Zoom
Yes, I’m pulling these three together. Keep reading. In April, I shared my thoughts about leaders we need to recognize. I wrote about how I needed to remind myself that there are awesome leaders out there, and they are working hard to move us (us = communities, cities, states, provinces, and countries—heck, the world) forward in a […]
Keep Looking for the Leaders Around You
Hello everyone, In my last newsletter, I shared my thinking about the leaders around us who are doing amazing jobs: the people to recognize and breathe a sigh of relief in as we see them, listen to them, read about them. They are the ones wearing Leader Hosen—embracing leadership and publicly and sanely guiding their teams. If you missed […]
Executives are People, Too: Tips for Working with Execs
What is it about the word “executive” that makes many of us nervous? Why is it so difficult to walk into a C-level person’s office and have a conversation? The executives at your company are people just like you, but their responsibilities and stresses are vastly different from yours, which can make you feel that you’re […]
Leaders Putting on their Leader Hosen (not a typo)
Hello everyone, This is not a story filled with tips to help you work more effectively at home. Instead, it’s a story about what I call Leader Hosen. Yes, Leader Hosen. This is a story about the leaders all around you, each day. People with big names and jobs—people you’ve probably read about recently or listened to over […]
Managing Poor Performers
Some of the leaders I work with remind me of tortoises when it comes to the poor performance of some of their team members: they hide from the reality of it and when they FINALLY emerge from their shells to see what’s going on (ugh), they are slow to address it. And I get it. […]
