The lingering scent of … problems

I bought a new-to-me used car about five years ago. It’s a good car. I like it, it’s got plenty of space for the dog, it drives well, and it gets decent gas mileage. The previous owner clearly loved her perfume. After five years, the car still stinks has a distinctly perfumey scent. Even my husband, who’s (yay for him) much …

What’s your take on values?

Serious question: What’s your take on values? How do you identify them and then commit to them? Is there a process you’ve used, or have you simply gone with what feels right? I’ve wrangled with this for years now, even as I’ve worked with clients to identify their values and help them integrate those values into their work, business, and …

Why won’t they change?

I know it’s hard to believe, but there are people in this world who refuse to change. (Yes, that was me being Captain Obvious.) They know they’re stuck in ways of thinking and acting that don’t support their career or their life, but they say things like, “I’m too old to change” (which I’ve heard from people in their 40s), …

But what can one manager do?

During a recent podcast interview (which I’ll post when it’s released), I was asked a tough question: If you’re working for a company that has, let’s say, a somewhat questionable culture, where it’s not as safe as it might be to raise questions or make mistakes, it’s easy to think that you’re stuck: your options are to either accept the …

Delegating Decisions

There’s more to delegation than, “Here, do this thing.” A lot more. But we typically don’t think of it beyond, well, “Here, do this thing.” But what about delegating decisions? Yikes. Scary, right? What if they decide wrongly, and it comes back on you? Two reasons to delegate decisions – despite the risks The obvious reason: you’re developing and growing …

The Hyde Effect in leadership

Remember Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? The mad scientist and his evil alter ego? A long time ago, I wrote an article on the “Jekyll & Hyde” effect of being promoted into leadership. It was mostly about how a leadership perspective on everything from strategy to budget is different – and rightly so – from the perspective of the individual …

Microaggressions, gaslighting, and other toxicities

I wrote this article for my LinkedIn newsletter The Leadership Leap. I don’t typically cross-post LinkedIn articles here on my blog, but this is an important topic, so I felt it deserved to be here as well as there. See the end of the article for links to subscribe to the Leap. There’s nothing “micro” about an endless stream of …

Is there room for Captain Obvious?

So much of what I see written about leadership, management, and corporate life in publications such as Harvard Business Review, FORTUNE magazine, Fast Company, and others, seems startlingly obvious to me. “Aye, aye, Captain Obvious”-level obvious. Yet these are well-respected, even venerated, publications. Which makes me wonder: maybe I’m missing something. (Who, me?!) It seems some things require repetition for us …

The problem with psychological safety

Problem?! How could psychological safety be a problem?! In the same way any tool can be used incorrectly, or even harmfully: when it’s misunderstood and mis-applied. Three examples. Is it a check-box / eye-roll item? Your employees know when a term is being used without substance behind it. And they’ll roll their eyes at any statement not backed up with action …

Where’s your “whole self”?

When I hear people talk about bringing the “whole self” to work, it raises some problematic questions. First off, where are we leaving the parts that don’t come with us? I mean, this is Halloween week, so I’m already primed to have some strange thoughts about ghosts and zombies (in fact, my LinkedIn Halloween post featured a zombie…). Okay. I …