“Don’t think of a pink elephant!” The problem, of course, is that you first have to think of what a pink elephant is before you can “not think” of it. On one of Brené Brown’s recent podcast episodes, she mentioned training lifeguards. They were taught to say “Please walk!” instead of “Don’t run!” Apparently, every time the whistle blew and someone …
A different end-of-year question
It’s coming up to the end of the year. Which means there must be the obligatory end-of-year article, right? But let’s look at things a little differently. I tend to notice (or at least, I try to notice) when I’m hearing the same message from multiple sources – and recently two people whose opinions and ideas I respect have been …
Everyday acts of everyday leadership
What’s one leadership quality you have? Think for a moment. What is it? Some of you reading this may immediately come up with a whole list. Good for you. Congratulations. But some of you reading this may be drawing a blank. Or maybe you can think of something, but you’re not sure if it’s actually a leadership quality, since you’re not …
“You’re fired” and other tales of psychological safety
The first thing I did when I was promoted to project manager was to ask my team to tell me if there were problems or delays, instead of waiting until things reached a crisis point. Looking back, I was at least attempting to create psychological safety in a company where that wasn’t exactly the norm. Long before anyone was fired …
Got productivity paranoia?
There’s an old, old saying: it’s not paranoia if someone really is after you. And hybrid or fully remote work is definitely causing some companies to “come after” their employees with monitoring tools that track what those employees are doing. As one website proclaims, “Employee monitoring software is an essential tool for business owners who want to verify that employees …
The day I yelled at an employee…
“Just do it!” I had reached the end of my patience. And I wasn’t quoting Nike. At the time, I was the Director of the consulting division at a mid-sized software company. And the client wanted us to do something in their installation that wasn’t the best option. I’d done what I could to convince them to take the better way, …
Yes, I’m writing about it: the Roe v. Wade decision
Many years ago when I was in college, I went with a friend to her abortion appointment. I cannot imagine what her life would have been like – hers and her boyfriend’s, who was 100% supportive – if she hadn’t been able to get an abortion. Much more recently, a young woman I know got an abortion, under circumstances I’ll …
Chiggers, mosquitoes, piranhas, and cats!
Chiggers, mosquitoes, piranhas, and cats. These are all things that bite, in increasing order of size. (I know. He looks cute, but rub that oh-so-soft belly fur, and you’ll… get bitten.) Chiggers are tiny – very tiny, invisible-to-the-naked-eye tiny – insects that live in the grass, can move from said grass to your waist in 15 minutes, can’t be seen …
Identical twins actually aren’t
Identical twins: two children created from a single egg fertilized by a single sperm, and therefore with identical DNA. Know any? Maybe you are one? We’ve all seen stories about identical twins playing pranks on people who can’t tell them apart, or even how identical twins separated at birth appear to have remarkably similar lives. But… Did you know that …
How do you define “culture”?
We can agree that a company’s culture is important – that it has a huge effect on employee experience, the ability to hire good people and then retain them, and ultimately on the customer experience and the company’s success. But what IS culture? Is it how you feel about going to work every day? Is it measured by your turnover …