Stereotypes and sloshed coffee
Little did I realize that one of my first decisions as a newly-promoted manager would be to decide if I was going to fit the stereotypes of the nice girl who sweetly poured coffee for the fellas or the b---- who refused to do so. Twenty-plus years ago, it was...
Tripping up the ladder of inference
Thanks to the fiendishly clever machinations of a major PC firm, I spent all of October and most of November trapped in the revolving door of using borrowed computers. Mine had been shipped far away for repairs, perpetually promised as just being two or three more...
Have these 5 courageous conversations
It took me over 20 years of working in corporate America to realize my soul was ebbing away a wee bit every year. Finally, l leapt and left before it was all gone. The relentless focus on the bottom line and the you're-only-as-good-as-your-last-set-of-numbers...
When the time is right, you’ll see the answer
"He’s done it again,” Molly sobbed. “Joe changed my project role without even talking to me. That man has no integrity at all." The tears were a surprise; Molly was always so positive and upbeat. Both Ryan and Molly had been laid off from big company jobs and took up...
December 5 Leadership Development Carnival – Holiday Celebration Edition
My holidays arrived earlier than expected – reading the Leadership Development Carnival submissions felt like opening present after present, 53 of them to be precise! Many posts were gifts of self-improvement or celebrations of connecting, aiding and giving. A few...
Employee engagement is irrefutably messy
It was a moment right out of the movie I Robot: the logic was irrefutable. Brad, the two-hundred-employee firm's president, had just spelled out the newly revised process—created by a small hand-picked team of three people—for manufacturing the company's flagship...
