Category: Leadership & Team Management

A recent interview with Michele Molitor In my previous career, I was a creative director working in high tech in Silicon Valley. It was an exciting and demanding time of working 80-hour weeks. Looking back though, it was a toxic work environment, which led to being bullied out of my position, leaving me with a…

Routines are important.  If you have children, you know this to be a fact—but you may not have realized it remains true for adults as well.  It is important for us all to have usual times for when we go to bed and for when wake up in the morning.  Those sleep- routines optimize our rest and ability…

Modern men are easy to kill. Not just physically – though that’s certainly true. Two flights of stairs leave most gasping. But I mean something deeper. Most men today can be killed by: – Mean words – Harsh weather – Missed meals – Social disapproval – Minor discomfort Our ancestors would be horrified. They built…

Keep the People You Have “According to McKinsey’s latest American Opportunity Survey, nearly half of jobless workers canvassed said health issues were the main cause of their unemployment, with 30 percent saying they had to leave work because of physical health issues, and 15 percent citing mental health issues.” “A lack of affordable healthcare and health…

Why Teams Stay Something many leaders are thinking about right now is retention: How do we keep our great people? And there are a lot of possible answers to that question floating around: increase compensation (pay them more!), improve perks and benefits (give them free lunch and stuff!), make your people feel good (stroke their…

Healthy Conflict This is the 3rd post in a series on skills needed to survive (and succeed) in the workforce.  We often assume our employees come to us with everything they need to be able to do the job they were hired for.  But that’s not always true!  Sometimes we have to take a step…

The Perfectionism Trap – Breaking Free To Build Thriving Teams And Empowered Leaders What is one of the most universal challenges faced by leaders today? Perfectionism. A staggering 92% of people struggle with some form of perfectionism. Many of us believe that if we can achieve perfection, we will also achieve the success, peace of…

Emotions at Work I recently attended a fabulous presentation by Dan Hill, author of Emotionomics. He gave very specific ideas for how to improve your team members’ engagement, particularly around meetings (even remotely), by focusing on their emotions. One thing to note: Only 12% of managers are truly good at emotional intelligence — knowing themselves…

This is the 2nd post in a series on some of the skills needed to survive (and succeed) in the workforce.  We often assume our employees come to us with everything they need to be able to do the job they were hired for.  But that’s not always true!  Sometimes we have to take a…

There are many times in our lives when we need to have a difficult conversation – with a child, a romantic partner, or a colleague. These conversations never get easier, but we can get better at them. (For an in-depth look at these types of conversations, see the link below to an amazing book I…