Blog

My husband, Doug, is not a picky eater and I am not a skilled cook. He eats anything I make, which isn’t very often. One time I misread my mom’s meatloaf recipe and put in two tablespoons of salt instead of 2 teaspoons. In spite of my asking if it was too salty – it…

I am blessed to have three nieces and a nephew in my life, along with the addition of twin great-nieces two years ago. With the excitement of a third great-niece any day now, I’ve been thinking about the first years of their early lives. While each had unique characteristics and special qualities, there were two…

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,…

Many of us are still sheltering in place and relying on technology to connect us. In some ways, the challenge of crossing boundaries is easier because we are eager to talk to someone other than the folks with whom we are sheltering. On the flip side, we’ve narrowed our audiences and our conversations to the…

It’s Monday morning and, as is our normal practice, this blog should already be in publication mode for Tuesday’s release. In fact, I should have written it a couple of weeks ago in order to avoid those hair-on-fire feelings and the last-minute requests of others who help support this weekly sharing. Today certainly isn’t the…

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…

Do you remember the first time you led a team that wasn’t? When I thought about it, the first memory that jumped into my head was when my team was at each other’s throats. It was completely unexpected. We had successfully met some major challenges and should have been riding high. Instead, there was discord…

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…

These are challenging times which are stretching our abilities as communicators. Everything around us is in flux. There is a cacophony of messages from leaders, the media, neighbors, friends, family, and the ones we tell ourselves … and many seem to be in conflict. Indeed, poor communication abounds across the board. And, there are shining…