The economic waves have settled a bit and my company is getting ready to hire several new employees. As the resumes have rolled in, more than I can ever remember, I thought back to my very first professional job and the anticipation of the world that was unfolding before me. When you started your career what was front and center on your work agenda? I was armed with a … [Read more...]
Leadership Dilemma: Why Are You Mad at Me?
Becoming keenly aware of why people’s buttons get pushed and what to do about it saves time, money, and aggravation. When you hear someone continuously ragging about the same person over and over and over (you get the point) it is time to look beyond the obvious and dig down past overt symptoms. Interpersonal tension isn’t fundamentally the result of economic … [Read more...]
A Woman Leader for Today
Here is the recipe: take a very large scoop of entrepreneurs ready to change the world add one powerful leader who ignores the word “can’t” drop in, one at a time, equally powerful women who hear the call to success mix with social media garnish with online and on-site programs blend with international flavors serve this nutritious combination everyday for … [Read more...]
Women Leadership Lessons and Tackling Tension
Long plane rides often bring me fresh ideas, or at least give me time to think in fresh, new ways. Flying from Newark to San Francisco is perfect. Just about six hours with little distraction from my writing and musings. Sometimes! On this particular plane were a brother and a sister, two or so years apart, I guessed. They were attractive, well behaved children whose parents … [Read more...]
Leadership and The Human Experience
In every field there are leaders who stand out in bright, bold colors in front of the pack. They are the teachers, not just for those who work for and with them; they are teachers and leaders for generations to come. When a leader is able to dive deeply into the essence of what makes us human there is a special quality that lingers long after what they have said or done is … [Read more...]
Mother’s Day and Great Gifts
In this column I talked about what a fiasco it was when I did not send flowers to my mother. It had become an iconic story in the family. On Saturday a gorgeous bouquet arrived in a fabulous vase. Of course it was from my daughters and their families. We are in the Pennsylvania, they in California so the gift and sentiment worked. However, I also received an amazing gift … [Read more...]
Happy Mother’s Day, You Ruined My Life!!!
Sometimes celebrations have an underlying edge of unfinished business that sits like a bad meal in the pit of the stomach. When it comes to family there is always unfinished business! This is not bad. It’s merely is an important point to consider. Holidays bring up the past. No, most folks don’t think about last year or the year before or the year before that consciously. … [Read more...]
Leadership Work vs. “Women’s Work”
The balance score card to measures a society is graded by how its leaders set policy for caring; for children, the sick, the elderly, and the poor. If I were asked to grade our country I’m saddened to say the marks would not get us into Harvard. What is missing? For me it boils down to the relationship aspect of how we care for each other. Remember the name of Hilary … [Read more...]
Bold Leadership
There are so many words to describe leadership and almost all point to action; leaders, the best leaders, act. This sounds so right, so intuitively right; yet, my question is about what is the right action? How do we know, how do we ever know if what we do when we act is going to be of benefit, going to move our lives, personally and professionally in the direction of … [Read more...]
Complexity of Women Leaders
Women in power in this century are, for the most part, dismissing the old notions of the vast dichotomy between their skills and those of their male counterparts. This has been an on-going debate for decades and essentially, leads nowhere. We are all complex, multi-layered human beings and we need to embrace that concept, female and male. A graduate of the Total Leadership … [Read more...]