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Do as I say, not as I do…that is the sound of integrity missing, not showing up where it is needed. Right now, there are numerous examples of this (masks, murders, and mayhem). In contrast, Spring in the Northern Hemisphere has me seeing buzzing bees and floral blooms everywhere. This time of ‘awakening’ offers many…

Lately, some people I speak with say they are bored due to the Coronavirus pandemic keeping many of us at home. On the flip side, I know other people’s lives are quite chaotic right now. Whichever you are experiencing, you may be asking yourself, “When it will change?” Despite what is in front of us,…

What does the future hold? I hear a lot of people asking one another that question during this COVID-19 pandemic. We certainly did not want this to happen; but, instead of wishing it away, how can we lean into it and get what we want out of it? We could ask ourselves: What does my…

Whenever I coach an executive, I receive feedback about him/her from a variety of folks across all levels of the organization through one-on-one interviews.  When done well, sharing the output from what I’ve learned in those conversations can be life-changing for my client. How so? Here’s my feedback on feedback. When conducting one-on-ones, there are…

“Tell me what you want…what you really, really want.” The words of that 90’s Spice Girls song, Wannbe, ring through my ears as I listen to people skirt around what they really wish to say. Come on, spit it out! Okay, it’s not always easy…I know—and am sensitive to this—because I have a history of…

Over my corporate career, I inherited many different teams and had to get up to speed on whatever function I was then leading. My go-to way of creating strong team connection was to trust each person from the start. Trust? Another blog about trust? (See Jen’s great blog on trust and appreciation.) Well, it is…

I’ve never been “hip”. I’ve tried to be cool, but the truth is I was a bit of a “square” growing up…more conscientious than easy-going, always fretting about something versus letting it be. Sometimes, I can be so serious that I miss hidden meanings in sarcasm, a tactic employed frequently by my husband. As an…

I don’t like conflict may not be the words many people say aloud; however, they’re often the words that can drive a variety of behaviors: passive-aggressive actions; gossiping or back-channeling; “polite Southern” quips; hard-nosed attacks; or simply complete avoidance. Of course, none of these behaviors are “healthy”; however, there is a clear difference between the…

I like eggs…for breakfast. I like hot coals…they make beach BBQs a success nearly every time. But I walked on both of them for too many years, figuratively. I won’t go into all the reasons why I either avoided or went head-on into conflict, but I do know that tip-toeing around (“eggshell-walking”) certain people or…

When I was growing up, every year the Wizard of Oz would come on TV and the family would gather to watch it. My favorite scene was when the Wizard gave the Lion, Tinman, and Scarecrow their “gifts”. So, often when the subject of courage comes up, as it did in last week’s blog, I…