Happy New Year! I wanted to start off 2025 discussing my passion: increasing the number of women in leadership positions. In my last blog post, I discussed the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles and the factors that contribute to this trend. But there are many studies that demonstrate the business benefits of gender diversity….
Today (Tuesday, October 8) is Ada Lovelace Day. Ada Lovelace was born in 1815 and has been called the world’s first computer programmer. Since 2009, Ada Lovelace Day has been held every year on the second Tuesday of October to celebrate the contributions of women to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). As a woman…
My blogging theme in 2024 has been how to make the most of your limited time. In my January post, I summarized the takeaways from an HBR article I often recommend to my clients, How CEOs Manage Time. In April, I shared the Eisenhower matrix, which helps you determine which things on our plate are…
My January blog post explained that one of the guiding principles of time management is setting your priorities and intentionally spending your time on your priorities. But it is easy to get lost in texts, emails, and other clutter that grabs our attention now. For example, email alerts pull us away from the task at…
It’s the beginning of a new year which means making resolutions for the new year. One of the most common challenges that my clients want to address is time management. So one of the articles I recommend most often is from the Harvard Business Review, How CEOs Manage Time. Even though the article was published…
In my last blog post, I wrote about how to improve your strategic thinking skills. While this is a necessary leadership capability, as a leader you will also engage others to determine the future direction of your department or organization. One of the biggest responsibilities you will have is to make sure that your team…
Strategic thinking is recognized as a critical leadership skill. The respected leadership consultancy Zenger Folkman found, “a key characteristic that is highly correlated with promotion is the ability to think strategically,” and “for senior leaders, the one competency that helped them stand out was Strategic Perspective.” And the results of a survey conducted by James…
I have developed and facilitate a class on strategic planning. One of the things we discuss is how organizational mission, vision, and core values are a foundation of strategic planning. As part of keeping my materials updated, I search for current examples of these from real companies. And I have found that it is difficult to find…
At the beginning of a new year, we often reflect on what we accomplished last year and what we want to accomplish this year. One of my achievements in 2022 was hiking to Angels Landing in Zion National Park. It is considered one of the most challenging hikes in the United States. The trail to…
In my last blog post, I wrote about how to enable personal change. This time, I want to tell you how to shift an interaction that is stymied and frustrating into something that is instead positive and productive. A client came to our coaching meeting and explained that she was having a hard time getting one…
Leadership development is about behavior shifts. Even with the desire to adopt new behaviors, and with good intentions to change, we may instead engage in self-defeating actions. The person who says they want better work-life balance but finds that they cannot say “no.” The person who says that their own professional development is a top priority…
I view the transition to a new year as a time for new possibilities. Instead of asking you to embrace new initiatives, I invite you to bring a fresh perspective to your current way of thinking. There is a term for this that comes from Zen Buddhism – “shoshin” or “beginner’s mind.” It means having an…
A new year is a natural time to reflect on what you are leaving behind and what you are moving toward. January 2021 marks an even more powerful inflection point for all of us. A year of abrupt change and uncertainty during Pandemic Life will be followed by the hope and promise of vaccines and…
One of the trainings I have developed and facilitate regularly is on resiliency. What used to be a topic of interest to some organizations now seems to have nearly universal relevancy. Isolation, risk, and uncertainty all contribute to our stress levels and the challenge of staying mentally focused and healthy during the pandemic. Here is…
Today I had a close-up view of a glacier. I’m still awestruck and amazed to see something that beautiful and thousands of years old, in the magnificent country of New Zealand. Accordingly, this seemed like the perfect time to write about living your life with more passion and energy. I realize that my experience today is not…
In my May blog post, I explained what executive coaching is. But before people choose to participate in executive coaching, they often want to know what they would gain. It’s a good question. Coachees must spend additional time and energy on an effort that is not their “day job,” and they often already have jam-packed…
With potential new coaching clients, one of the most important conversations we have is my explaining what coaching is, and distinguishing what it is not. I have found that there is not one simple, easily-Googled definition of what executive coaching entails. But after having this discussion numerous times, here’s a summary of what you can…
I last wrote about the leadership skill of influence a few years ago. Since then, the interest in influence among my executive coaching clients is growing. It makes sense. No matter your position in an organization, you cannot always depend on your title to give you the authority to make decisions and move a vision forward. …
One of my coaching clients was promoted earlier this year. In her new position, one of her priorities has been developing her ability to influence. A recent blog post from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) concurs that influence is a leadership capability that individuals often need help developing. So what exactly is influence, and why…
I am working with a client who wants to develop his emotional intelligence (EI). Since EI entails a broad range of attributes, I encouraged him to focus on specific areas. We started with the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0) framework, one of the models of emotional intelligence. From the framework, he decided he wanted to work…