Posts by Mary Ellen Clagett
Hold the Phone!
Strengths overused become weaknesses?!? What?!? It’s easy to get derailed by all the advice we are given about how to evolve our leadership. Work on my weaknesses. Work on my strengths. Don’t let my strengths become my weaknesses. As we think about it – knowing our brains are always looking for shortcuts – it can…
Read MoreReset?
Every New Year’s Eve, I write a letter to myself to be read the following New Year’s Eve. In it, I envision what the coming year will bring. As you can imagine, world events over the last few years have thrown some curve balls at my expectations. We didn’t win the HGTV Vermont house, but…
Read MoreOur Superpower
I’ve been on a mission these past weeks to save Monarch butterflies. While we have planted hundreds of milkweed plants, they have been eaten down to their stems. As a result, I’ve been searching for caterpillars and moving them around the yard to plants that still have some leaves. It’s been working. The metamorphosis from…
Read MoreWhat’s Your Brand?
We are constantly bombarded with advertisements and slogans establishing a company’s brand. To this day, if someone mentions the company Alka-Seltzer, their tagline (from the 1970s) “Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh what a relief it is” automatically plays in my head. I’m sure there are plenty of examples of brands playing around in yours. These…
Read MoreWhen the Stars Align …
I have been loving the recent NASA photos of our solar system and it has had me thinking about systems at work, especially in teams. I’m sure there must be a Star Trek episode (or two or three) that deals with “leveraging the wisdom of the system.” The phrase is right down its alley. The…
Read MoreA Human Experience
As Tracey noted in our last blog, we’ve been challenged with pre- and post- Ian activities. One takeaway we’ve all had is that, when needed, people step up to help one another. Boundaries disappear and connection drives us. We need to carry this into our everyday lives. This thought led me back to a blog…
Read MoreBreak the Cycle
History has been on my mind this past week with death of Queen Elizabeth II and the anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution. In her first televised address, Queen Elizabeth II said, “Today things are very different. I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice…
Read MoreTake the Step
I have been having a lot of conversations about fear lately and how to move past it. I’m resurfacing a blog I wrote a while back on the topic to share this week. Lessons often come to me when I’m playing, and that’s how this one came to me. Last week I found myself in…
Read MoreWhat?
I’ve recently started reading High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley. It’s a topic that resonates with me right now. So many of the conversations that I’m noticing are us vs them, and I’m seeking to understand how we get back to exchanging thoughts and ideas with one…
Read MoreTo Infinity and Beyond
Last week, the first photos from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope made it back to Earth. If you haven’t seen them yet, stop reading and take a look. As someone who grew up watching Star Trek, it really brings the vastness of space to life. I find it difficult to wrap my brain around the…
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