Life is full of challenges. Work. Home. Relationships. Health. Finances. Time. Along the way, roadblocks can hold us back and leave us feeling stuck. For those who are looking for growth, fulfillment, and direction, a coach might be the missing piece. A personal...
On a recent episode of Edit Your Life podcast, Christine Koh interviews Kate Fogarty about reimagining midlife. They talk about midlife shifts like children moving out, caring for aging parents, physical changes, menopause, ageism, careers, and more. One point she...
The word hacking typically has a negative connotation. Many immediately associate the word with gaining illegal access to a computer system. Yet, there are other meanings. I was reminded of this recently. Fred Quijada gave a speech during my MIT Sustainability...
A while back, I wrote about income portfolios. This is when we diversify our income streams to reduce risk. Just like an investment portfolio. I’ve recently read a book that covers this topic. The book, The Search by Bruce Feiler, talks about five jobs that almost all...
The definition of significance is the quality of being worthy of attention. Being important. There is also statistical significance. A deviation from the expected due to random variations. Then there is the importance, relevance, and meaning of something in the grand...
As we move through the third quarter, we may already start thinking about the year ahead. Nothing specific, just ideas. Where might we want to focus? What could we change to make our lives just a bit better. Some ideas will be small. Others will have more of an...
There was a podcast last week talking about returning to the office. One point was a leadership fear of employees slacking off and being “lazy” at home. This statement first made me angry. Then, it got me thinking. Are people disengaged because they are inherently...
Careers are a funny thing. We define them individually and as a society. We talk about “retirement” after 30 years of work. Yet, the math on this equation doesn’t realistically work. If we start work in our early 20’s, retirement would be in our early 50s. Yet, we...
There was a post a while back that touched on our lives happening in eras (or chapters). Here’s a snippet of my perspective from that post: “I think the idea of eras has a more magical feel than chapters. Same concept, different perspective. I wonder what would happen...
Yesterday, I turned 55. To celebrate, I decided to create a list of 55 of my favorite blog posts (from the 385 I've published) to jump start your personal development. The look back reminded me of the topics I’ve dug into in the last two years. You’ll see that...
Fast Company recently published an article titled “The Resume is Dead. Here are 3 Reasons Why I Never Ask for One When Hiring”. The author brought forward resume challenges like the inability to understand soft skills, work ethic, and creativity. Going beyond the...
Our personal brand is all about how we are perceived by others. What do they say when we aren’t around? How do our skills, actions, and attitudes align? What message do we communicate. Sometimes we can tie ourselves in knots trying to figure out how to express our...
Yesterday, I wrote a post about becoming a "Me-EO" The post had me thinking about personal branding and being in charge of our career development. I wondered why this has always been a part of my journey and haven't seen it in others. Then, I remembered an article...
Today, nearly 60% of the workforce is comprised of knowledge workers. By the end of 2023, Gartner predicted 39% would be working hybrid. The pandemic brought on the Great Recession. Followed by Quiet Quitting. And, more recently, Coffee Badging - you swipe into the...
We’ve all heard the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know”. I didn’t realize that this came from psychology. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias that occurs when people who lack knowledge and skills have an unrealistically optimistic view of their...
I’m starting to realize the benefits of re-reading for business. Concepts shared by thought leaders 20-30 years ago are just as applicable today. This might not be the case in areas like technology, but it does ring true in organizational design and...
I’ve been writing about work contracts training and why this needs to happen. R/GA is officially piloting the type of program that could set a benchmark for the future. In the summer of 2023, they released news of a new program called /ASSOCIATES. Now, in Q2 2024, I’m...
I heard someone say that “coming of age” happens at many moments in our lives. Typically, the phrase is associated with the time we move from childhood to adulthood. A transition from one phase to another. Yet, there are many points in life that we make transitions....
There are many situations when we want to highlight our strengths. Performance reviews. Job interviews. LinkedIn profiles. Resumes. Just to name a few. The challenge we often face is how to highlight our uniqueness without bragging. My Perspective I’ve come across...
I’ve covered the concept of planting seeds twice in the past – here and here. The first post was when I was introduced to the idea and the second tied to our careers. These followed the philosophy of this quote: “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by...
There is a framework that is credited to Jack Balousek, former president of True North Communications. He said there are three phases of our life – the phase when we are learning, the phase where we take that learning and earn, and then the phase where we return what...