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Writing for Inc. Magazine online, workforce performance expert Henna Pryor made up a term that is not only poetic, but useful for any leader. She says “birdsong leadership” is a way to make your employees feel safer and become more productive. She writes, “I was listening to the birds on my back porch last week…
I’ve worked in both a cramped cubicle and a spacious corner office with a view. There’s no doubt that my view of the treetops (3rd floor) and blue skies while sunshine poured in made me happier and my work easier. Whoever dreamed that workers would choose to return to the office to go back into…
Fridays have always had a different flavor from the rest of the week. It’s the day you start thinking ahead to your weekend, finish up projects, and take time to get organized so you can start next week with confidence. “Casual Fridays” were a nod to this in-house focus. More relaxed attire reflected a more…
Working from home has plenty of benefits, as millions of workers have discovered since the pandemic lockdowns. But WFH has blurred – make that erased – the line between “at work” and “at home.” Without a clean break, it’s much harder for you to relax and be present for your family during the evening. Remember…
Whether it’s a job offer or internal promotion, you always have the power to say “no thanks.” How you say it will make the difference in whether your relationship stays strong and your reputation remains undamaged. After all, it’s your reputation, experience, and skills that got you to the point of receiving an offer. Amanda…
More than half of workers say that they’d like to become digital nomads. In a recent FlexJobs survey, 50% of people said they’d take a pay cut for the freedom to work from any location, and 75% would use a work-from-anywhere policy if provided by their employer. And that freedom is valued more than pay. Half…
In this post and this post, I wrote about Katherine Morgan Schafler, who has authored a book that’s changing my life. In The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power, she frees up perfectionists to lean into their perfectionism as long as it’s doing no harm (more on that in future…
In a previous post, I wrote about Katherine Morgan Schafler, who has written a book that’s changing my life. In The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power, she frees up perfectionists to lean into their perfectionism as long as it’s doing no harm (more on that in future posts.) Schafler…
(Cambridge Dictionary) Perfectionist; /pərˈfek·ʃə·nɪst/ noun. A person who wants very much to get every detail exactly right. (My version) A person who needs to get everything exactly right. Every time. All the time. For years, I’ve been asking the wrong question. I’ve been told that my perfectionism wasn’t healthy. It was a bit…obsessive. A bit…too much. A bit… annoying. So I have…
There’s one interview I’ll never forget. I was hiring for a business services associate position. All the candidates we saw were polished, professional, and educated, and they were easy to talk to. The last interview of the day was with a woman in her 40s who looked great on paper and better in person. After…
When you ask someone what makes a good leader, plenty of qualities come to mind. Confidence, authority, gravitas, fairness, and empathy are a few I’ve heard recently. But even more important than how a leader presents themselves is how they think. Writing for The Big Think.com, Donna Wiggs cites psychologist and science journalist Adam Grant, author…
If I suggested that you lead like a Samurai warrior, you might be a bit alarmed. Especially if you’ve watched too many corny movies. In a Fast company article by Amanda Yello and Lori Tsugawa Whaley, Whaley says that the Samurai code of conduct was actually designed to create a space for benevolent leadership. She writes, “Benevolent…
If you’ve ever been assigned to a business project, you’ve probably heard of a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses (both internal factors) Opportunities and Threats (both external factors.) In an online article for SmartBrief, Denise Lee Yohn suggests you perform your own SWOT analysis to uncover new insights and help you become your…
A February 2024 Wall Street Journal headline read like this: 40% of Lawyers Are Women. 7% Are Black. America’s Workforce in Charts. The article analyzed The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which each year looks at the gender and racial composition of hundreds of occupations, offering a snapshot of how workers sort themselves into…
In a previous post, I wrote about the boomerang employee trend. Returning employees make up an estimated 25% of all new hires over the past couple of years, according to HR surveys. The 2020 pandemic caused millions of workers to re-think their careers. Now that the world has returned to (mostly) normal, many of those…
You made a mistake. The grass is not greener; it’s not even grass – it’s some sort of weird weed that you’re beginning to hate. The job isn’t what they promised. Your new “hybrid” schedule is mandatory cubicle time four days a week. You miss your teammates. You’re thinking of asking for your old job…
45% of workers expect a decrease in the number of remote job openings (A guest post from our friends at MyPerfectResume.com) San Francisco, CA, February, 2024 – MyPerfectResume® (MPR), a leading resource for resume and career advice, polled nearly 1,900 U.S.-based workers to investigate their sentiments around the 2024 job market, recruitment processes, professional development, mental health,…
It’s been a busy few years. We’ve lived through the Great Resignation (workers quitting in droves after the Pandemic), the Big Stay (workers hunkering down in their jobs after things normalized), and Quiet Quitting (staying, but doing the absolute minimum to keep from being fired. Now we have the Big Yawn (my words, not theirs.)…
Annette Simmons is the author of Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact. Her book is intended to help you get into “story thinking,” using stories as tools for persuasion in your personal and business life. One of the most important stories you can…
You’re never too old to pivot in your career. That’s the advice of career coach Patrice Lindo, CEO of Career Nomad, a consulting firm, in an online article from CNBC Make It. We’re learning that the pandemic created a sea change in the way people think about and manage their careers. From wanting more work from…
Annette Simmons is the author of Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact. Her book is intended to help you get into “story thinking,” using stories as tools for persuasion in your personal and business life. One of the most important stories you can…
If you were born in 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, you are lucky to be born in the Year of the Dragon. It goes without saying that the Dragon is the most glamorous and powerful sign of the Chinese zodiac. (For contrast, I was born in the Year of the Dog. No glamor…
Resume Now, an online resume builder, conducted a survey of 1.100 U.S. workers to find out how they’re feeling about their financial situation. You can see the full October 2023 Financial Transparency survey here and read through the findings. Here are some of the findings that stood out to me. Over half of respondents (58%)…
Annette Simmons is the author of Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact. She wrote the book to help people bring storytelling back into their repertoire of persuasive tactics, and she offers many tips for telling better stories. One of her most important ideas…
Annette Simmons is the author of Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact. She says that humans have used storytelling to communicate since the beginning of time, and today is no different. Her book is intended to help you tell stories that are more…
Almost every team has one: the negative personality whose poison is starting to affect everyone. Whether it’s snide comments in team meetings, passive-aggressive information withholding, or acid emails, a negative team member can quickly cause irreparable damage to productivity, comradery, and, eventually, retention. But containing - or removing – a toxic team member can be…
Annette Simmons is the author of Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact. Her book is intended to help you get into “story thinking,” using stories as tools for persuasion in your personal and business life. She defines stories as “a reimagined experience narrated…
Annette Simmons is the author of Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact. Her book is intended to help you get into “story thinking,” using stories as tools to bring emotion back into the decision-making process. She writes, “We know everything will change tomorrow…
A recent survey conducted by HR consultancy Gartner of nearly 3,500 respondents found that 50 percent of candidates accepted a job offer between May 2022 and May 2023, backed out, then started working for another employer. SHRM’s blog says among nearly 2,000 respondents who recently started a new job, 47 percent said they were still…
In a great post, The Eblin Group refers back to an ancient method for building leadership capacity in your staff. Large organizations simply don’t have the ability to provide all the answers from the top down, they say. It’s critical to teach your employees how to think through problems on their own. The master of…
In an online article, author Matthew Kirchner says (and this won’t be news to any of us) that attention spans are getting shorter. He writes, “Microsoft published a study that our attention spans had decreased by almost a third in the preceding 15 years, from 12 seconds to just eight. Goldfish, so we’re told, have an…
"I'm afraid being a jerk isn't against the law, even if we wish it could be." That’s a quote from yours truly when I worked as an executive for a regional nonprofit organization. I sometimes heard from employees outside my division, asking for advice on whether they should file a formal grievance about their boss.…
For many workers, the pandemic lockdowns meant they had to set up home offices overnight. Most believed (and hoped) that the setup would be temporary, so they carved out a place in the bedroom, on the dining room table, or the living room coffee table to call their “home office.” Others, with more means or…
What time does a meeting start? The agenda may start at a specific moment (give or take 10 minutes, in my sad experience), but you can be very productive in the minutes before a meeting actually begins. Those of us who are always early know this. In fact, we’re early for two reasons. One is…
When I entered the field of workforce development in 1997, I confidently predicted the demise of the 4-year degree. I spoke to anyone who would listen (employers and jobseekers) about the idea that employment trends were changing quickly, and that the pace of change was accelerating faster than universities and colleges could ever aspire to.…
In fact, everyone should have a side hustle, but that’s another post. Most parents encourage their college students to get a job, but a side hustle makes more sense – both now and for the long-term. First, let’s talk about the difference between a job and a side hustle. The difference is important. A job…
There are two kinds of safety leaders are responsible for in the workplace. Physical safety is one of them: making sure that employees’ health and wellbeing are important priorities (the pandemic changed what used to be a low priority in most settings to the primary issue in almost every industry.) Workers also want to know…
It’s always nice when the Motley Fool agrees with me. The Motley Fool has been providing sound financial advice since 1993, and they specialize in clear, actionable coaching that “makes the world smarter, happier, and richer.” In a great online article, they recommend starting a side hustle before you leave your full time career, something…
In an article for The New York Times, Adam Grant says the advice women get to eliminate “soft language” is bad advice. He writes, “If you’re a woman, you’ve probably gotten this advice from a mentor, a coach or a teacher. If you want to be heard, use more forceful language. If you want a…
What if there was one word – a simple word – that would increase your chances of persuading someone to do something by 50 percent? Sounds like magic, but it’s been tested and verified by social scientists for years. That word is “because.” Researchers have investigated persuasion for decades, and they’ve found that adding a…