Prepping for cocktail parties
Having a good story changes everything. I’ve been working with a lovely coaching client for a couple of months. She’s a senior professional working on a job search and, as an ancillary, on confidence and presence. She’s been through the wringer this year, both personally and professionally, and was a little shaky when she first […]
Double black diamond
I often tell my coaching clients to stop thinking. “Thinking is all bad,” I say. “You’ll just think about why it won’t work.” This comes up with clients working on a career transition. Clients who are dreaming about doing something new. Maybe something risky. I often tell these clients a ski story that I’ll also […]
Superpowers
“I want to assess my strengths and identify the best career for me,” a potential client told me on the phone. Career development doesn’t really work that way, I told her. “We definitely want to play to your strengths in your work,” I said. “You’ve been around for 30-some years – I bet you already […]
Networking in middle school
“Try not to get shot at school today,” I tell my kids every morning as they get on the school bus. “We’ll try, Mom,” they say. They don’t roll their eyes. We’re whistling past the graveyard. That’s how I regulate the terror I feel every single morning when my children leave for school. “Please don’t […]
Pebbles
I had a new coaching client in my office the other day. “I hate my job,” she told me as she sat down, barely holding back tears. “I fell into it 10 years ago. I’ve been promoted and I’ve moved around to different companies,” she said, naming a couple of premier Seattle employers. “But I […]
Dreadful questions
The room was full of software engineers and technologists. I was on stage to talk about confidence and impostor syndrome (both very coachable, by the way). Those engineers were looking at me skeptically. They were ready to eat me alive. “Bring it on,” I thought to myself. I flipped to the first slide of my […]
The back-to-school dilemma
“I’m thinking about going back to school,” a beloved coaching client told me. Those words always fill me with concern. Going back to school can be a great way to jump in a new direction or break through to the next level in your career. Going back to school can also be a colossal waste […]
Talking to old men
I went skiing the other day and talked to old men. The first was lying in the snow. The way he was lying there, struggling to get up, didn’t seem right so I skied over to see if I could help. “This is so embarrassing,” he said as he fell back into the icy snow. […]
The Rabbit Hutch
Making that career transition is like finding a rabbit hutch. I was recently talking with my lovely neighbor. She had a friend over, a nice person I’ve met once or twice over the years. As the three of us were talking, I happened to mention the bunny drama unfolding in my backyard: I had just […]
The Terror of Conferences
I admit it. I was filled with dread. I so regretted registering. I could have had a lovely, quiet day at my office. Instead, I was driving to Bellevue, to the Meydenbauer Center, during rush hour, for at least eight hours of keynote talks, training tracks, networking breaks, and other horrors. I’m fiercely introverted. It’s […]