15
September
2015
It May Not Sound Perfect – Speak Up Anyhow
My story’s a good one: my writing voice isn’t unique; I don’t have anything new to add to the conversation. This story has allowed me to take a pass multiple times and not do much writing, which I don’t like and don’t feel particularly competent nor confident doing. When asked to write an article or... Read More
02
July
2015
Inspired by these Women!
I spent last week with 78 amazing women from 24 countries, 10 states, and four continents. We gathered at Yale University’s Law School for the 2015 Women’s Campaign School at Yale (www.wcsyale.org), where we focused on how to get elected to office at all levels, both as candidates and as leaders committed to helping other... Read More
15
December
2014
Know Your Reputation —Ask How Others Perceive You
As the adage goes, without knowing where we’re going it’s pretty hard to get there because lots of roads look good. Similarly, without specific input about how others perceive us, it’s tough to do the hard work of fine-tuning our executive presence and managing our reputation. At the beginning of a coaching engagement with a... Read More
01
December
2014
Competence or Confidence in Associations?
In Associations Now‘s recent leadership blog “Leaning In Is Just the Beginning,“ Contributing Editor Mark Athitakis looks at how women in associations are stepping up and speaking out. The reality is women need to speak out a lot more! Women comprise roughly 75% of the association and nonprofit workforce, but hold only 45% of the... Read More
28
May
2014
Difficult Conversations at Work
Difficult conversations are just that – difficult. Lots of us go out of our way to avoid them, but it usually comes at a cost. At work it may mean we don’t ask for what we want; we avoid having those hard conversations around accountability with our colleagues; or we don’t provide our direct reports... Read More
20
February
2014
Talking Points # 1*
(*Public speaking, formally and informally, is a key skill for leaders and a necessary part of a strong executive presence. In this limited blog series we’ll focus on the main steps for building your public speaking presentation skills. Your questions are welcomed and will be addressed in future Talking Points.) Fear of public speaking is... Read More
03
February
2014
Strategic Planning Isn’t Just For Organizations
Perhaps you have had an opportunity in your work to lead or be part of creating an organization’s strategic plan. The plan, if used properly, is intended to help steer the organization’s work over a certain time period. Similarly, some of my clients create a personal strategic plan at the beginning of each year to... Read More
26
November
2013
Creating Your 2014 Personal Strategic Plan
End-of-year is a great time to work on (or update) your personal strategic plan. If you’re not convinced, consider for a moment the benefits of having a well-thought out plan to help guide your life over the coming year. Some people have no plan and are passive spectators as their lives unfold before them. Those... Read More
30
October
2013
What’s Your Story?
As simple as it sounds, one of the challenges my clients often ask help on is figuring out how to tell stories – and how to tell them in a way that connects with other people. Lots of corporations use stories to connect with their customers – think Kashi cereal commercials featuring their employees traveling... Read More
17
September
2013
Are you having the Real Conversation?
Too often we find ourselves talking around issues. For lots of reasons we leave meetings without saying what has to be said — and then we engage in the ‘side conversation’. Perhaps you’ve experienced the side conversation: ‘Can you believe what just happened in that meeting?’ Rather than speaking up, we rely on the side... Read More