Dealing with crabby colleagues


Posted by Jane Perdue

dealing with crabby colleaguesThere’s one in nearly every work group — that certain someone whose words and/or demeanor gets you all fired up. Perhaps their opinions and values are worlds apart from yours. Maybe they plain don’t like you. Could be a personality clash. Who knows.

But whatever the reason for the conflict, you can’t avoid or ignore them because your job requires you to interact with them.

So what’s a professional gal to do? What all savvy business women do: Take the personal high road and manage yourself. Continue reading →

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Face stereotypes or flee?


Posted by Jane Perdue

facing stereotypesI belong to a business club downtown. It’s a great place for meetings, one-on-one discussions and the occasional introspective time (fueled by their extraordinary chocolate chip cookies).

There were two of us in the member’s library that rainy afternoon – a white-haired gentleman and me. The gentleman had been on phone call after phone call, and I was in my “happy place” — a reflective frame of mind where I’m blissfully alone and totally immune to what’s going on around me.

Suddenly I’m aware of a shouting voice…one that’s directed at me. Continue reading →

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Shells


Posted by Amy Diederich

shellsYesterday I watched a short video called Shells. This video told the story of a young family going to the beach to collect shells.

The mother and father and two young sons had been collecting shell fragments quite sometime when they noticed a perfectly intact starfish “shell” floating just off the shore line. The youngest boy looked expectantly at the dad and the dad nodded yes. Continue reading →

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Maintaining your integrity: priceless


Posted by Jane Perdue

maintaining your integrity is pricelessSetting: Panel discussion presentation

Audience: Young (25 to 40) professional organization

Topic: Finding a job in a tough market

Question posed to the panel: What’s your view on “revising” a job title to fit a job posting, meaning it’s OK to call yourself a director on a resume because you did what you believed to be director level work but didn’t hold that actual job title. Continue reading →

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Furthering Gender Stereotypes? Me??


Posted by Amy Diederich

On the first day of school three of my girlfriends and I escaped for a simply decadent afternoon at the swimming pool. All morning as I packed lunches, checked book bags I had a silly grin on my face. I was looking forward to playing hooky with my friends. As my seven-year old daughter, Grace climbed in my SUV she spied my pool bag. She was completely perplexed. She questioned me as to why would the pool bag be in my car? Did  I not realize summer was over and school had started. When I explained that while she was at school I was retreating with my friends to the pool. Her expression was priceless. She was completely aghast that I would consider going to the pool without her. Today I was not only going to the pool without her but I was going to the pool while she was in school! Continue reading →

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3 tips for giving authentic and timely feedback


Posted by Jane Perdue

feedback breakfast of champions“Tell me why you didn’t say anything to Katy about her performance problems.”

“I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”

This exchange occurred during legal discovery in an unlawful termination lawsuit. Fed up with an employee’s ongoing failure to meet job requirements, the supervisor had fired her. Having not received any feedback about her job performance, the employee believed she had been let go because she was the oldest person in her department. Continue reading →

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Failure Is An Event…Not A Person


Posted by Jennifer Olney
Jennifer Olney is the Founder of GingerConsulting, specializing in working with organizations to create brand strategy, graphic design and creative marketing programs. Additionally, Jennifer hosts the #bealeader™ community and weekly #bealeader™ chat exclusively on Twitter. She also serves as a business mentor to individuals and organizations in need of leadership development and training. Reach Jennifer on Twitter at @gingerconsult or on her website.

failure is an eventWe all fail. There is it. Simple and plain, no one has ever not failed in life. No one. It happens to all of us at some point in our journey. Not one of us can claim the moniker of perfection. We are imperfect in our own unique ways.

So I have to ask, why is it then that is so many of us take failure personally? Why do we take it to heart and attach “failure” as a label to ourselves? Processes fail, ideas fail, but failure is not a person. As I’ve said, no one is perfect, so why would we beat ourselves up for failures? Failures are a chance to learn what is not working, what isn’t “perfect” and change the game. If we didn’t failure how would know what success looks and feels like. Continue reading →

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Dealing with On-Camera Anxiety & Nerves


Posted by Manoush Zomorodi
Manoush Zomorodi is the author of Camera Ready: How to Present Your Best Self and Ideas On Air or Online. Learn more about Manoush on her website  or ebook; connect with her via  Facebook and Twitter.

silencing inner criticWith the popularity of TedTalks, Slideshare, GoogleHangouts and Skype, presentations are everywhere. If you haven’t been doing them already, sooner or later you’ll be asked to show off what you know either onstage or on camera.

This is a debilitating prospect for many of us. I know so many people who are great 1-on-1 or in a small group, but get them in front of a big room and they either freeze up or turn into the most boring, monotone person on the planet. Continue reading →

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Girl Friends


Posted by Amy Diederich

Courtesy Dreamstime

Who do you think of when you think of a “great” girlfriend? Is it the person who  you call when you want to go on a long walk? or who  you call when you want to go see a movie? or is it the person you call  when your dog has just passed away? or is it the friend that lets you incessantly complain about work? or is it the person who shares your passion and life’s mission? Continue reading →

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