“I wonder…” Whenever I hear coaching clients start off a sentence with these two words, I feel heartened. It means wheels are turning…intuition is kicking in, and mobilization is in the offing. It means my clients are curious, and ready to move past what is safe…beyond the known. It signals that they’re ready to step out of their comfort zones. Curiosity does that. It’s the...

When young children misbehave, parents, teachers, and caregivers frequently insist on a time-out. Think how much better your workplace would be if you initiated the same approach. No, it’s not for your boss or coworkers, it’s for you. It’s hard to be amenable to reason or hear a contrary point of view when we’re stubbornly clinging to our position. It’s hard to hear a new idea when the chang...

The Birth of the American 40-Hour Week The Monday through Friday workweek was first introduced in 1926 when Henry Ford began shutting down his automotive factories on Saturday and Sunday to allow his labor force to rest. But it was not until 1940, when a provision of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act mandating a maximum 40-hour workweek went into effect, that the two-day weekend was adopted nationwide. Pencils Down on...

This week, I received an email from one of my LinkedIn followers in response to a recent episode I published of my Finding Brave podcast. While I don’t know this individual, she shared openly and emotionally about her situation about how she’d been terribly mistreated and, in fact, bullied in her latest job by her manager who was a director and also, later, by the head of HR, after she quit and gave a short noti...

You’re going to have to be more flexible and more giving than ever as an employer in the current economy, but it pays off. If you are looking to retain good employees, join the club. Every smart leader knows that a cohesive, enduring group of workers is the rock on which you build new ideas, new ventures, growth, and all the rest. So I think we can agree that, once you’ve got people you trust who are doing g...

To succeed in our continuously changing world we must embrace new ideas and technologies, and strengthen Quester traits such as adaptability and flexibility described in Questers Dare to Change Your Job and Life https://www.amazon.com/Questers-Dare-Change-Your-Life/dp/1508408963 Adaptability and flexibility have meanings which are broadly the same but not identical. Adaptable indicates long-term changes; flexible suggest...

You worked late on a project with another team, and the project manager didn’t even bother to thank you. We have all had the experience of going out of our way for someone only to have our efforts dismissed. Why does it bother us so much? This type of behavior is especially irritating because what everyone wants from other people is empathy. We all want to be recognized as unique individuals and to know that other peo...

In the business world, women haven't always had it easy. Until the end of the 20th century, it was uncommon for women to work at all. And even once we entered the hallowed halls of American companies, we struggled with unconscious bias and pay disparities. Fortunately, though, 21st-century business innovation is benefiting women in an unprecedented fashion. Let's explore a few recent innovations that have changed wo...

“I don’t know,” a young acquaintance mused. “I’m thinking about grad school, but it’s more work than I thought to prepare for the GREs. Then, if I do all that and don’t get into the program I want, it’s a waste of time. Plus, did you know it could cost more than $40,000 to get a masters degree? I don’t want that kind of debt, plus I’ll likely never make it up in a...

Raise your hand if you’re sick of hearing that life begins at the edge of your comfort zone. I know I am. It is impossible to escape the gurus and influencers on social media who preach that choosing safety is self-sabotage. That without getting uncomfortable on a daily basis, I’ll never get anywhere in life, my lack of courage realized. “It’s never as scary as it looks,” the Stanford gra...