UW Webinar: Maximize Your Career in Your Current Organization December 31, 2020In November 2020, I developed two webinars in a four-part series on career development for the University of Washington Professional and Continuing Education. The first, Maximize Your Career in Your Current Organization, covers what I describe as the three pillars of career management: Managing your career trajectory; managing your manager; and managing yourself. The second webinar, titled How to Network When Your Not Networking, covers what I describe as the career lifecycle and how (and why!) networking fits into that.…
UW Webinar: How to Network When You’re Not Networking December 31, 2020In November 2020, I developed two webinars in a four-part series on career development for the University of Washington Professional and Continuing Education. The first, Maximize Your Career in Your Current Organization, covers what I describe as the three pillars of career management: Managing your career trajectory; managing your manager; and managing yourself. The second webinar, titled How to Network When Your Not Networking, covers what I describe as the career lifecycle and how (and why!) networking fits into that.…
Stop being a pushover! February 3, 2020“I need to stop being such a pushover,” my coaching client said. I looked at the soft-spoken, whip-smart young woman in my office and sighed to myself. I think she’s crazy impressive, and I want her to see that in herself. “Tell me about a time you were a pushover,” I said. She described not challenging the talking heads in meetings, not correcting or contradicting her colleagues when their interpretation of the facts was slightly off. “Do you want to correct people,…
Apples to oranges January 20, 2020Deciding between two job offers, each with lots of pros and cons, can be like comparing apples to oranges. Try plotting the different factors on a grid to help simplify the decision. Here’s an example that illustrates how to do this. A coaching client had a tough choice: two very, very different job offers and no gut sense of which one she wanted. One of the opportunities was at a large, renowned company. “It’d be a feather in my cap…
Write like a girl January 13, 2020“Write like a girl,” I told my career coaching client. My client, a scientist with several years of postdoctoral research experience, was applying for a faculty position at a prestigious university. We were working through drafts of her cover letter. The first draft of her letter was good: well written, well organized, coherent and clear. But there was a tone. “Your letter reads very humble,” I told her as I marked up the document. “I think you have a lot…
What's your 2020 word? December 23, 2019As 2019 comes to a close, have you decided on your Word of the Year for 2020? Instead of a New Year’s resolution (which is generally a setup for failure), I like to ask my career coaching clients to think about a single word that will guide the upcoming year. My 2019 word was “relax.” In 2018, it was “rest.” See? Much nicer than a New Year’s resolution to lose 20 pounds. For 2020, I choose “learn.” I stumbled across…
When to quit December 9, 2019Quit or persevere? As a career coach, that’s one of the hardest questions I work on with my clients: Should they walk away from a difficult situation or grit it out? A coaching client called me, outrage in her voice. She had been passed over for a promotion. Another client described a belittling work environment, his shoulders slumping as he described losing confidence in his abilities. Stay or go? Walk away or double down? Business writer Seth Godin’s 2007 book, “The…
The wisdom of jealousy November 20, 2019I was jealous of my son and it changed my life. That sounds worrying, but let me explain. As a career coach, I often ask my clients whom they’re jealous of. Jealousy can be a useful emotion: It can be a signpost pointing toward what you actually want, cutting through the noise of what you’ve been telling yourself — or what other people may be telling you — that you should want in your career. I like the emotional honesty of the…
Don't wing it November 11, 2019Jack Reacher has some good career advice. He’s the formidable, former military police investigator who wanders around causing — and solving — all kinds of trouble in a reassuringly formulaic fiction series by Lee Child. In the latest book, “Blue Moon,” Reacher starts a turf war between rival gangs, among other plot complexities. “Suppose what you learn is that it’s hopeless?” a friend asks Reacher. “Not an acceptable outcome. Can only be a failure of planning,” says Reacher. That’s more or…
Where's your old mojo? October 28, 2019A coaching client wanted to talk about confidence. A senior vice president, she wonders where the younger, tougher version of herself has gone. “I used to be so badass,” she told me. “I need to regain my confidence.” This is a common theme in my office: accomplished middle-aged professionals talking about an ebbing of confidence. And in the funny way of things, I was driving home after meeting with this particular client and heard singer-songwriter Liz Phair interviewed on the radio.…
