Blue Jean Presence: Commanding the Room from a Bean Bag Chair
Today is the day. You’ve got your first meeting with your new team, and your manager has asked you to share your perspectives on what you’ve observed as some strengths and weaknesses of the team’s processes. …
Enlisting New Year’s Energy
At my house, the New Year never seems to happen peacefully. From the moment the clock strikes midnight and the next year officially begins, my to-do list seems to grow to epic proportions. First, there’s taking …
Learning from Letdowns
How many times has this happened to you? You have a great idea. No, make that a brilliant idea. You heard about an issue the company is having in your morning staff meeting on Monday, and …
The Seven Month Itch
Recently I listened to an interview with a departing executive from a major entertainment company. And after the usual round-about responses of “Oh, I love this company,” and “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve been …
Dodging Difficult Conversations
We’ve all been there. It’s your first performance review, your first meeting where a senior leader is in the room, or the first presentation that you’ll be giving solo. And you’re a little nervous. The performance discussion starts …
Please Don’t Make Me!: Why You Should Care about Setting Development Goals
It’s that time of year again. The fun of the holidays has come and gone and in the first few weeks of the New Year you’re flooded with renewed energy, renewed purpose…and renewed click-bait on how to maintain …
Exiting from E-Learning
Who among us has not fallen into the YouTube Trap? It starts off innocently enough. You just wanted to watch that two-minute video of a baby panda sneezing. But before that video is even done, you’re already …
Burnouts and Busts
Who here remembers having to take the President’s Fitness test in school? You know, that bizarre, poorly explained week in gym class where you had to wait in long lines before seeing how far you could …
Trust Me
Some of the best work I’ve done in my current role, I’ve done at the Blue Bottle coffee shop. They serve one of my favorite coffee brews, the service is always friendly, and there’s always a …